Email Delivery

Receive new posts as email.

Email address

Syndicate this site

RSS | Atom

Contact

About This Site
Contact Us
Privacy Policy

Search


November 2010
Sun Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat
  1 2 3 4 5 6
7 8 9 10 11 12 13
14 15 16 17 18 19 20
21 22 23 24 25 26 27
28 29 30        

Stories by Category

Basics :: Basics
Casting :: Casting Listen In Podcasts Videocasts
Culture :: Culture Hacking
Deals :: Deals
FAQ :: FAQ
Future :: Future
Hardware :: Hardware Adapters Appliances Chips Consumer Electronics Gaming Home Entertainment Music Photography Video Gadgets Mesh Monitoring and Testing PDAs Phones Smartphones
Industry :: Industry Conferences Financial Free Health Legal Research Vendor analysis
International :: International
Media :: Media Locally cached Streaming
Metro-Scale Networks :: Metro-Scale Networks Community Networking Municipal
Network Types :: Network Types Broadband Wireless Cellular 2.5G and 3G 4G Power Line Satellite
News :: News Mainstream Media
Politics :: Politics Regulation Sock Puppets
Schedules :: Schedules
Security :: Security 802.1X
Site Specific :: Site Specific Administrative Detail April Fool's Blogging Book review Cluelessness Guest Commentary History Humor Self-Promotion Unique Wee-Fi Who's Hot Today?
Software :: Software Open Source
Spectrum :: Spectrum 60 GHz
Standards :: Standards 802.11a 802.11ac 802.11ad 802.11e 802.11g 802.11n 802.20 Bluetooth MIMO UWB WiGig WiMAX ZigBee
Transportation and Lodging :: Transportation and Lodging Air Travel Aquatic Commuting Hotels Rails
Unclassified :: Unclassified
Vertical Markets :: Vertical Markets Academia Enterprise WLAN Switches Home Hot Spot Aggregators Hot Spot Advertising Road Warrior Roaming Libraries Location Medical Public Safety Residential Rural SOHO Small-Medium Sized Business Universities Utilities wISP
Voice :: Voice

Archives

November 2010 | October 2010 | September 2010 | August 2010 | July 2010 | June 2010 | May 2010 | April 2010 | March 2010 | February 2010 | January 2010 | December 2009 | November 2009 | October 2009 | September 2009 | August 2009 | July 2009 | June 2009 | May 2009 | April 2009 | March 2009 | February 2009 | January 2009 | December 2008 | November 2008 | October 2008 | September 2008 | August 2008 | July 2008 | June 2008 | May 2008 | April 2008 | March 2008 | February 2008 | January 2008 | December 2007 | November 2007 | October 2007 | September 2007 | August 2007 | July 2007 | June 2007 | May 2007 | April 2007 | March 2007 | February 2007 | January 2007 | December 2006 | November 2006 | October 2006 | September 2006 | August 2006 | July 2006 | June 2006 | May 2006 | April 2006 | March 2006 | February 2006 | January 2006 | December 2005 | November 2005 | October 2005 | September 2005 | August 2005 | July 2005 | June 2005 | May 2005 | April 2005 | March 2005 | February 2005 | January 2005 | December 2004 | November 2004 | October 2004 | September 2004 | August 2004 | July 2004 | June 2004 | May 2004 | April 2004 | March 2004 | February 2004 | January 2004 | December 2003 | November 2003 | October 2003 | September 2003 | August 2003 | July 2003 | June 2003 | May 2003 | April 2003 | March 2003 | February 2003 | January 2003 | December 2002 | November 2002 | October 2002 | September 2002 | August 2002 | July 2002 | June 2002 | May 2002 | April 2002 | March 2002 | February 2002 | January 2002 | December 2001 | November 2001 | October 2001 | September 2001 | August 2001 | July 2001 | June 2001 | May 2001 | April 2001 |

Recent Entries

In-Flight Wi-Fi and In-Flight Bombs
Can WPA Protect against Firesheep on Same Network?
Southwest Sets In-Flight Wi-Fi at $5
Eye-Fi Adds a View for Web Access
Firesheep Makes Sidejacking Easy
Wi-Fi Direct Certification Starts
Decaf on the Starbucks Digital Network
Google Did Snag Passwords
WiMax and LTE Not Technically 4G by ITU Standards
AT&T Wi-Fi Connections Keep High Growth with Free Service

Site Philosophy

This site operates as an independent editorial operation. Advertising, sponsorships, and other non-editorial materials represent the opinions and messages of their respective origins, and not of the site operator. Part of the FM Tech advertising network.

Copyright

Entire site and all contents except otherwise noted © Copyright 2001-2010 by Glenn Fleishman. Some images ©2006 Jupiterimages Corporation. All rights reserved. Please contact us for reprint rights. Linking is, of course, free and encouraged.

Powered by
Movable Type

« Evolution of a Case: Darwin Networks | Main | Weekend News »

May 16, 2002

FCC Amends Part 15: More, Better, Cleverer

Today's news:

FCC amends rules for greater diversity

Interview with Proxim's Ken Haase on HomeRF and 802.11a/b

Other News

FCC amends Part 15 rules for more flexibility, power, avoidance: the FCC issued an order today that allows more flexibility for Part 15 unlicensed devices in three bands (915 Mhz, 2.4 GHz, and 5.7 GHz). New, but unspecified modulations that are similar to direct sequence (DSSS) -- 802.11b's technique -- can be used in those bands as if they were DSSS. This may allow more and different technology to fill in niche gaps, as well as provide a future path for 802.11b/g and 802.11a development.

The order also allows for lower-power use of fewer hopping channels in 2.4 GHz for frequency hopping (FHSS) systems, like HomeRF and Bluetooth. Bluetooth has 79 channels of 1 MHz each that it hops among, changing 1,600 times per second. These narrow bands, which limit its current bandwidth to 1 Mbps, allow it the potential of using more power. HomeRF, on the other hand, uses wider bands (5 MHz) to carry its restricted power (125 mW) signals, which still allows them to operate at 10 Mbps.

The order will allow more leeway for avoiding interference by reducing the hopping requirement from 75 hopping channels down to as few as 15 using up to 5 MHz of bandwidth, but only at 125 mW. This allows devices employing this technique to more effectively avoid occupied bandwidth. 802.11b sits on 22 MHz of bandwidth in each channel in use, but even in a dense Wi-Fi installation, 15 channels for an FH device would almost certainly be available. (HomeRF already deploys certain time-bound avoidance techniques, but this would add another tool to its arsenal.)

The FCC also removed a constraint on DSSS systems: The Commission also eliminated the processing gain requirement for DSSS systems, concluding that manufacturers have market-driven incentives to design products that they can withstand interference from other radio frequency devices.

Proxim: Eggs in Different Baskets

A couple of weeks ago, I had the chance to have a talk with Ken Haase, the director of product marketing at Proxim. Proxim has been one of the chief developers and backers of the HomeRF specification, a 10 Mbps wireless protocol that works over the same 2.4 GHz band as Bluetooth, and 802.11b/g.

Proxim also has an extensive line-up of IEEE protocol wireless products: PC cards, access points, USB adapters for both 802.11b and 802.11a. They’ve been first to market lately with a number of technologies, and offer consumer and enterprise products.

It would seem like a contradiction to try to sell both HomeRF and Wi-Fi and 802.11 gear, but Haase explained how, although the technology isn’t per se complementary, that both protocols have a place in the market. There isn’t a “one size fits all” technology for consumers, Ken said.

It may surprise Wi-Fi advocates and users, but 45 percent of home wireless networks by unit volume purchased in 2000 were HomeRF-based, while that decreased to 30 percent in 2001, according to estimates from a Cahners InStat report.

This may sound like a retreat, until you examine the numbers: home networking shipments increased well over fivefold in the same period. Wi-Fi may be growing fast in the home, but HomeRF cannot be discounted. European sales of HomeRF equipment account for some of its strength, as the standard is compatible with the DECT protocol for cordless phones, unlike Wi-Fi.

Haase showed me the first real convergence product for HomeRF, which will start making a difference in how the product is product into homes. The Siemens Voice Data Gateway (PDF of press release) announced earlier this year will ship in the United States soon. It can accept a broadband feed via Ethernet and up to four phone lines. It can support up to 16 networks computing devices (through USB or PC Cards) and eight telephone handsets.

As I’ve said in previous analyses, until the HomeRF manufacturers could provide cable companies with an offering that they want to sell into the home as a value-added offering to subscribers, it would be a tough row to hoe. The Siemens device does that. Haase said that cable providers can see a tenfold increase in revenue per household between cable modem service and equipment sales and leasing.

Does this benefit the consumer? Sure. The HomeRF equipment is designed to be plug-and-play, unlike Wi-Fi, which requires tweaking for security and configuration. Add to that the telephone handsets, each with a (reportedly) crystal-clear quality, and, well, I have to think about whether my home can support both Wi-Fi and HomeRF at the same time.

Fortunately for my decisionmaking process, there are no Mac drivers for HomeRF equipment yet, but Haase promised that there would be. Proxim’s history includes its acquisition of Farallon, a long-time Mac firm that continues to be one of a couple of non-Apple providers of wireless and wired technology with Mac drivers and Mac support.

Haase noted that there are about 46 million households with a single computer, in which networking isn’t important at all—it’s one of Wi-Fi strengths. Rather, the ability to dial a phone number through a handset by clicking the number in Outlook, or scanning the subject line of email from a phone handset while sitting in the backyard may interest those houses more. That sort of integration is also one of the benefits of Bluetooth, but HomeRF can operate at Wi-Fi distances, instead of the dozen to few dozen feet that Bluetooth carries.

Haase explained some of their customer testing, as well, in which they discovered that an initial version of their software required 11 clicks to fully install. They’ve now reduced this to a short wizard that asks a few questions, easing setup.

The HomeRF equipment sells from Proxim as their Symphony line. Their 802.11a and b home equipment is called Skyline, and Harmony is their enterprise-level 802.11a and b line-up.

Proxim’s recent merger with Western Multiplex makes them a top-to-bottom wireless company, too: Western Multiplex sells final mile high-speed wireless, often in licensed bands. They have one product, for instance, that offers “five nines” or 99.999 percent reliability at 2 to 5 miles and speeds of 1 Gbps (full duplex: 480 Mbps each way). It’ll go farther, but they can’t guarantee it to the same degree.

Proxim is shipping plenty of 802.11a gear, but they haven’t made any announcement about a/b convergence: dual radio APs or cards. Haase was nice about avoiding the question, since no decisions are yet public, but he pointed out that system design for the two protocols are quite different, and that a combined a/b access point wouldn’t offer all the advantages of 802.11a. Pure 802.11a hubs be deployed more closely together and densely, as more nonoverlapping channels are available, and the signal can’t travel as far as the highest speeds.

News for 5/16/2002

I have seen the mermaids JPEGing each to each. I do not think they will GIF to me: Rob Flickenger used EtherPEG at the O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference to stare directly into the minds of attendees. When Tim O'Reilly speaks, however, people stop thei tomfool browsing.