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The companies take charge: The joy of 802.11b networking is that The Wi-Fi Alliance (formerly WECA) has provided a safe haven for consumers and businesses by certifying that devices carrying a Wi-Fi seal are all interoperable. This mark of approval has been one of the key factors that kept manufacturers from Balkanizing and rapidly drove Wi-Fi into a commodity market in which, for one of the few cases I can recall in my short life, the market forces did sort out the best solution, while economies of scale and technical innovation dropped prices while allowing the companies selling equipment to actually seem to make money by doing so.
The next stage of networking development, however, is about to hit a rocky spot. The various IEEE 802.11 working group's task forces for security, quality of service (streaming data, among other things), and higher 2.4 GHz bit rates have taken glacial steps for technical unity in the middle of this market expansion. The IEEE is acting entirely in the right modality, ensuring that the standards adopted, which may be in use 10 to 20 years from now, aren't designed as stopgaps which can't be upgraded, made interoperable, or made backwards compatible. The IEEE committees are interesting mixes of academic theory, engineering expertise, and market-driven decisionmaking.
Because the work of these committees has dragged on, however necessarily, the industry's manufacturers have finally stepped up to the plate, and written their own roadmap. The Wi-Fi Alliance's WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access) balances the current state of 802.11i (the security task group) against the constant bombardment of media reports that Wi-Fi is insecure. It's a compromise for interim deployment that can be upgraded to the final 802.11i specification while still being available as an upgrade to older silicon. It's also the first time the Wi-Fi Alliance mandated a specification. Because they'll test for interoperability, WPA should be just as much of an industry driver as Wi-Fi was in the first place.
More disturbingly, however, is the interim introduction of 802.11g-draft chipsets from several companies. These chipsets, while following the current draft proposal for 22 Mbps and 54 Mbps in the 2.4 GHz band, as well as backwards support for 802.11b's several speeds, could produce a near-term market confusion. The Wi-Fi Alliance won't be testing for 802.11g interoperability for some time -- possibly not until 2004 according to some reports. This puts a potential burr in the wheels of Broadcam, TI, Agere, Intersil, and other companies' plans to aggressively push out new, g-draft-compliant chipsets: they can't use an independent third party test lab to assure that all of these interim versions work together.
If consumers and businesses aggressively buy into the g-draft products, and the companies behind them don't stay on top of whatever interoperability testing they can do themselves, they risk alienating segments of the market that don't have the time or technical expertise to understand why they could buy two Wi-Fi devices this year that work together, and not two g-draft devices next year that don't. The risk is high for Balkanization and reducing customer faith. The industry should step up to the bat in assuring voluntary interoperability testing and compliance before Wi-Fi is able to formally create a program when 802.11g is finally ratified.
Other News
Proliferation of choice may confuse: As if to prove my point above, this article appears in Wired News today. With so many flavors of 802.11 networks now or shortly available, businesses and consumers may have a hard time sorting out what they need.
72-mile smackdown!: The HPWREN folks who created a 72-mile link between San Diego and San Clemente Island using 2.4 GHz equipment have dropped their power output after being told by Computerworld readers that they were radically over the EIRP limits for the band. The link is still holding, however, just at a lower speed.
Subscribe to the 802.11b Networking News Mailing List: This list, which I've had running for a while, will be used to send out essays and news on an occasional basis, rather than daily updates. If you want to receive an update whenever I post the first news items on a given day, follow the link to become a Member on the right navigation bar. There are no obligations; it's just a way to manage a subscription to the site's updates.
Verizon enters the business services market for WLANs: Verizon will offer an extremely useful service for small to medium sized networks by installing wireless LANs at a reasonable price. The question is: are they hiring expertise or training installers?
More unlicensed, more powerful: Sen. Barbara Boxer et al are promoting a new bill to open up unlicensed spectrum with more powerful transmission options to speed broadband outside of urban areas. It's clear from the mom-and-pop WISPs that are using current generation equipment that adding better transmission options would spur a new business cycle, and potentially regional companies, who would treat the rural market as an affordable and profitable way to provide broadband. Broadband isnt' a panacea, but connecting people with few resources to many has seemed to help more remote businesses and communities. However, Bill Gates recently discovered that his foundation's attempts to offer computers and Internet access in rural libraries hasn't so far stemmed the brain drain. (Of course, providing or offering wireless to people's homes is a far different proposition.)
Australian government spooks worry over commercial wireless deployment: Australian is opening up the point-to-point wireless business by waiving carrier fees, but government intelligence experts wants piles of information about the users and deployments to forestall their fears of...what?
Companies deploying on-the-road wireless security: Companies are getting smart about mobile users' secure access to the networks, and deploying VPN access themselves or purchasing peace of mind through service providers.