Category: Industry

February 15, 2007

Hopes Pinned on Walmart's RFID Rollout Recede

By Glenn Fleishman

RFID tags were supposed to be cheap and easy to use by now for logistics: But even with Walmart requiring top suppliers to use the radio tags, and equipping several warehouses for scanning, the effort is still nascent. Suppliers don’t want to criticize Walmart, but it’s clear that there’s no return on investment due to a lack of full integration of RFID into existing software systems for handling inventory, shipping, and tracking, and to the continued high per-tag cost. RFID tags used in this fashion are disposable.

As with Bluetooth, the hype preceded the utility. With a bazillion Bluetooth devices on the market, automotive integration, and audio use, you can’t find anyone now declaring Bluetooth dead, as was the case even a year or two ago. (Bluetooth still needs to evolve, of course.) Likewise, it’s not that RFID has failed, but rather that Walmart’s efforts have outstripped the pieces necessary to provide a real return on investment for either the retail giant or its suppliers.

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December 11, 2006

200m Wi-Fi Units Will Ship in 2006

By Glenn Fleishman

Impressive number: The 200m estimate of Wi-Fi units shipped in 2006 is due, in part, to the increasing prevalence of Wi-Fi as a prebuilt option—nay, necessity—in laptops, music devices, and gaming systems. The Wi-Fi Alliance noted today that the Zune, Wii, and PlayStation 3 all feature Wi-Fi built in. Odd that the Xbox 360 does not; Wi-Fi is a $100 add-on that might cost $10 if integrated. (Consumer electronics are often cost times 10 for separately sold items.)

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November 14, 2006

Trust But Verify: Measurement for Metro-Scale Networks

By Glenn Fleishman

New measurement firm joins two others that aim to audit performance of metropolitan-scale Wi-Fi networks: Wi-Fi veterans Phil Belanger and Ken Biba today launch Novarum, a firm that will produce 10 reports per quarter on how Wi-Fi networks that span cities and counties measure up. Novarum joins a field that’s not yet crowded, but has at least two competitors I spoke with that make measurement part of larger businesses. Each of the three firms has a distinct approach to taking stock of these new networks.

For some time, I’ve been banging the drum of network performance audits for muni-Fi, because it makes little sense for a city or civic group to ask the same group that they paid or allowed to design, build, and operate the network to also provide guidelines for evaluating that network’s performance. A disinterested third party with no financial stake in the outcome of a deployment should look at tests, pilot projects, and production rollouts to determine whether coverage and performance meets the contracted specifications.

I spoke with Belanger of Novarum, and the heads of Unplugged Cities and Uptown Services to learn about their methodology in measuring Wi-Fi networks of a scale that only came into being in the last year.

(Follow the link below for the rest of the article.)

Continue reading "Trust But Verify: Measurement for Metro-Scale Networks"

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