The Martian NetDrive Wireless: 40 gigabytes of small, silent, 802.11b filesharing
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Vivato introduces outdoor switch at CTIA: In what will be a week of announcements from the cellular industyr's trade show in New Orleans, Vivato unveils its second product, an outdoor switch. Vivato claims four kilometers (2 1/2 miles) of outdoor coverage, as well as penetration of of exterior and interior walls of adjacent buildings. The outdoor switch differs from the indoor swtich by providing a ruggedized enclosure that can be mounted in environmentally challenging locations. They even have heat exchangers to keep the electronic from frying or freezing. The outdoor switch has three beams, like their previously announced but not yet shipping indoor switch. They offer 33 Mbps of Wi-Fi across those three beams (focused tracking Wi-Fi), although effective speeds may seem faster -- my analysis -- because of the lack of competition for spectrum among bursty users. A few beta users comment in the press release on the capacity, switching, and coverage. Imagine when it supports 802.11g and offers more beams. The unit's list price is $13,995, and it will appear in May through value-added resellers at the same time as the indoor switch.
Verizon to roll out EvDO in D.C., San Diego: Verizon has apparently acquired enough spectrum (and cheaply) in enough markets to roll out EvDO, a third-generation (3G) cell data technology that could allow from several hundred Kbps on the go to 2.4 Mbps for stationery use. I can't wait to see if those are real-world speeds, or full-shared circuit speeds: that is, 2.4 Mbps is the available per-cell speed, split among users of that cell. (The same story misreports that Verizon is rolling out Wi-Fi service to hotels and airports; rather, they'll resell Wayport service under their own brand.)
Three fixed wireless broadband service providers in California join sales, marketing, wholesaling efforts: NextWeb, SkyPipeline and SkyRiver Communications have partnered on an interconnect agreement that allow them to join sales and marketing, including wholesaling services, across all markets served by the three companies. The areas they serve include the San Francisco Bay Area, Silicon Valley, Orange County (NextWeb), Santa Barbara, Ventura County, San Fernando Valley, parts of the Los Angeles basin (SkyPipeline), and Ontario, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego (SkyRiver).
Nextel, Motorola to release Wi-Fi + cell phone: The phone, expected to be in trials by second quarter, will use GSM/GPRS networks, Nextel's iDEN network, and Wi-Fi. Handoffs will still be a problem, though, and you can see the cell carriers mindset when they say handoffs are hard. They are -- if you're relying on the network instead of a combination of device and network. NetMobile Wireless has a combination of client and server that can work on handhelds and laptops that allows handoffs in TCP/IP. If you're using Voice over IP, NetMobile's offering already provides that seamless network-agnostic handoff.
Intersil, Proxim settle patent dispute: Intersil and Proxim dropped the suit in favor of moving forward, cross licensing patents, and Intersil paying $6 million to Proxim. Proxim, meanwhile, will use some of Intersil's technology.
Truck stops unwire: In the latest update on truck stop wireless hot spots, Columbia Advanced Wireless will deploy 1,000 truck stops with wireless networks for truckers to stay on top of their loads and schedules. So far, they have two locations listed; watch for the 998 to come. (Truck stops are a reasonable place for non-truckers to stop, too, given that these wireless networks will most likely be in areas with otherwise limited broadband capability.)
Texas Instruments introduces WANDA: tri-mode wireless handheld concept design: The Wireless Any Network Digital Assistant (way too cute) will integrate Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GSM/GPRS and allow simultaneously phone calls, Internet access, and other services. WANDA incorporates oodles of TI technology to offer all of these technologies in a single form factor. TI is offering reference designs that manufacturers can license to produce variations on WANDA.
PCTEL updates Segue roaming client to work with PocketPCs: The new release aids connecting PocketPCs to Wi-Fi networks by sniffing and connecting to networks through settings that an individual, an IT manager, or a wISP sets up. The models supported include the Dell Axim X5, the Toshiba e740, and the HP iPAQ; PCTEL says it supports other PocketPCs as well. Interestingly, this client also is part of a family of clients that allow 2.5G, 3G, and Wi-Fi roaming.
Bluetooth buyer beware: incompatible profiles confuse users: A report from the CTIA workshop day's Bluetooth panel in which an aggravated attendee asked whether buyers had to caveat emptor: answer -- yes. Bluetooth is a standard, but many different uses exist and not all devices support all uses. Clear enough. But it's confusing which devices support which uses when you're trying to integrate. Obviously, the Bluetooth SIG should have adopted a program that lets you know, probably visually, which of a dozen uses a device supports.
Jupiter says 57 percent of US businesses use Wi-Fi: Another 22 percent will adopt it within 12 months.
HotSpotVPN launches for-fee VPN service: In what should be a giant relief to many wireless hot spot users, the first commercial service dedicated to offering on-demand VPN (virtual private network) encrypted tunnels to ordinary folks outside of corporate operations has launched. The service costs $8.88 in its introductory period and works with all major operating systems that have VPN support.
France Telecom and Accor story en anglais: Andy Abramson of Ken Radio wrote in with the English language version of the French Telecom/Accor announcement of Wi-Fi deployment in the Accor hotels.
Proxim and Trillion connected 500 schools in several southern states using Tsunami equipment: Trillion has wirelessly hooked up 500 schools, with 250 more on the way, comprising about 400,000 students in elementary and secondary education in Alabama, Tennessee, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Mississippi and Louisiana. A Tennessee school district estimates $100,000 in savings over a previous setup (probably wired?) with seven times the bandwidth.
GigaWave to provide Cisco Wireless Career Certification: Many readers ask about how to get trained and hired in wireless fields. With many enterprises standardizing on Cisco wireless equipment -- for the right or wrong reasons, such as, "nobody ever got fired to buying Cisco gear" -- this kind of training could be a useful career move.