Thursday, March 14, 2002

WDU/CTIA 2002 WiFi coverage: Largest commercial system in the U.S.? If you're one of the 40,000 people expected in Orlando next week for Wireless Data University or the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association's Wireless 2002 conference and exposition, be sure to bring your 802.11b card.  WiFi network "aggregator" Boingo Wireless, in conjunction with the CTIA and other partners, will offer WiFi coverage throughout the Orange County (Orlando, Fla.) conference center. More than 1 million square feet will be covered in the conference center with more than 800 access points.  The largest conference implementation, I think, in the U.S.  The CTIA believes (it's hedging its bets!) this is the largest commercial implementation of WiFi in the U.S.  (Some huge corporations, such as Microsoft, have WiFi across their numerous buildings.  But these are not "commercial" implementations.) Special access, special pricing for WiFi Unlike when using Boingo's existing nationwide WiFi system, in Orlando virtually any computer will be able to use the network.  This includes computers with Windows 98, ME, 2000 and XP as well as Windows CE and Apple.  You may use Boingo's installation shell/dialer program (download it from the Web site or get an even more updated version at the show on a CD) if you have a card that's compatible with Boingo's system. If you don't have a compatible card or you use Windows CE or an Apple operating system, you can change your 802.11 card's SSID to "SmarTCitY" (it is case sensitive), launch your browser, and you should get into a "splash" page to sign up. One-day access is $7.95.  You can get three-day's access for the price of two: $15.90.  If you sign up for three months of Boingo Pro service ($24.95 per month), you can purchase an Avaya Wireless Gold WiFi PC Card for $25, compared to a retail price of $125.  You will also get four free days of service, so you can use WiFi during WDU and Wireless 2002, and it won't be credited against your ten sessions per month. Wireless LAN Web section I have posted lots of details about WiFi implementation on a new "Wireless LAN Resources" section on my main Web site.  The section also includes a page about how conference speakers could use 802.11 to enhance their presentations. Crummy speakers had better beware. If you're boring, you can expect the WiFi-enabled audience members to be merrily answering their e-mail, surfing the Web and sending instant messages cackling about how awful you are.  Indeed, if there are bloggers in the audience, such as Doc Searls, Glenn Fleishmann, Dan Bricklin or Dan Gillmor, there's a very good chance they will be posting comments about you -- good or bad. I know of at least one well known journalist and blogger who will be attending WDU, so I'd better do a good job during my tutorial and presentations! A WiFi Test Bed The WDU/CTIA will be a fascinating "test bed" for WiFi performance.  It will also be fun to hear the comments by cellular industry leaders about 802.11.  If you're going to Orlando you really should think about checking out the Boingo service.  WiFi is going to be a big part of "wireless Internet," and if you're in the wireless industry, you've got to know about this. (I'm not promoting this because I have a relationship with Boingo or its partners.  I don't.  I'm a partner in WDU, but I have no monetary arrangement with the WiFi implementation.  I simply believe in the value of WiFi and think you're crazy if you're in the wireless business and don't test it.) I'm going to discuss WiFi + cellular in detail during Wireless Data University as well as moderating a rountable discussion about WiFi at which Sky Dayton, the founder of Boingo, will participate. Hope to see you there. 6:00:29 PM

	Monday, March 11, 2002

CTIA to offer unlimited WiFi access during WDU, Wireless 2002 in Olando   The Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association (CTIA) will offer 802.11b (WiFi) access throughout the entire Orlando convention center during Wireless Data University, March 17 and Wireless 2002, March 18 - 20.   WDU (a day-long tutorial with roundtable discussions; I'm a partner in this) will have more than 300 attendees.  Wireless 2002 is the largest wireless conference and exhibition in the United States, with tens of thousands of attendees.    This will be the largest launch of WiFi at any U.S. conference -- unless any of you can tell me about a conference with more than, oh, 40,000 or so attendees.  Yesterday I wrote about CeBIT's WiFi implementation in Germany, which is larger than the CTIA's.   Sky Dayton, founder of Earthlink and founder of the WiFi company Boingo Wireless, is sponsoring the WiFi access.  Dayton, I believe, feels attendees should pay a modest amount -- to demonstrate that people will indeed pay for WiFi access.   I know the CTIA wanted to offer free WiFi access, but I also understand that Dayton is trying to build a nationwide WiFi business as an "aggregator" of WiFi networks across the United States.  I agree.  Reliable WiFi service is worth paying for.   Getting WiFi in Orlando   To access the WiFi service, WDU and Wireless 2002 attendees will have to use Boingo software.  Software for Boingo's newly-launched commercial service has been available on Boingo's site for subscribers to the company's new commercial service.  I assume you will not need any other "special" software for the WDU/CTIA events.    If you don't have a WiFi card, you may lease or buy equipment at the conference.  There will be at least three booths or areas where you may get WiFi equipment (WiFi cards and PDAs) and advice.  Mobile Planet will sell Microsoft PocketPCs.  I hear there will be significant discounts.   WiFi cards -- I assume both PC Cards and Compact Flash Cards -- will be available for lease or purchase.  Mobile Planet will sell Socket WiFi cards.  Avaya will sell its own cards.  Boingo Wireless also will have representatives at its booth or stand to help out.   My WiFi resources    WiFi is useful, and I'm going to do what I can to ensure the tutorial/conference attendees understand the value.  I am going to establish a special section on my main Web site to provide information about WiFi for WDU and Wireless 2002 attendees.  I'll probably have some articles posted by tomorrow.   Earlier this afternoon I e-mailed out a "special news alert" about WiFi at WDU/Wireless 2002 to subscribers of my free Reiter's Block e-mail commentaries.  In addition, I'll e-mail a regular edition of Reiter's Block with additional information, such as recommendations for speakers.   Also, I have Radio 8.X Weblogs, including one about the integration of wireless and blogging and one about the CTIA Wireless 2002.  I will be using WiFi to update my Weblogs and illustrate the value of wireless Weblogs.     Moreover, I will be discussing many aspects of WiFi during my three-hour tutorial at Wireless Data University and during a one-hour roundtable discussion about WiFi.  As I've written here previously, Sky Dayton will be one of the panelists on the WiFi roundtable.   Looking up   The wireless industry, especially the wireless data industry, has had some tough times.  The economy is to blame for some of the problems.  But the industry brought many of the problems upon itself by misleading the public about the implementation schedules, speeds and capabilities of wireless data/wireless Internet.  But things truly are looking up for wireless data.   WiFi implementation at WDU and Wireless 2002 is very good news.  The movers and shakers of the wireless and wireless data industry will be attending these events.  Assuming the service works well -- and this is very much a work-in-progress so there could be problems -- tens of thousands of attendees will have the opportunity to use and learn about 802.11. 2:50:42 PM

	Sunday, March 10, 2002

Wireless blogging from SXSW I never heard of the SXSW (South by Southwest) conferences which deal with film, music and interactive stuff.  SXSW 2002 is going on now in Austin and I was alerted by Dave Winer's Weblog today that several people at the conference are using WiFi to update their Weblogs.  Apparently, at least one person, Cory Doctorow, a science fiction writer and boingboing blogger, plugged in an extra WiFi access point and attendees can get onto the Internet. This indeed shows the power of WiFi.  You don't need to build a cellular network or roll in a relatively expensive portable cell site or pay per minute or per packet.  You just find an Internet connection, plug in a computer with an access point and you've got wireless connectivity.  (Yes, obviously, someone has to pay for the Internet connection.)  In addition to Cory, the WiFi bloggers appear to be Doc Searls and Dori Smith of the Backup Brain (I love that name!) Weblog. Another one:  Wesley Felter of the Hack the Planet Weblog also is using the homegrown WiFi solution to blog SXSW to say how boring the presentations are. Conference speakers beware!  WiFi (and 2.5G cellular if the pricing and speeds are good enough) will be your undoing if you're boring and the audience turns to the Web and ignores you.  It's already happening, as you see. 3:14:05 PM

World's largest WiFi conference implementation CeBIT, the IT/wireless conference and exhibition in Hannover, Germany, is the world's largest conference of any type (I believe).  [I think Comdex/Fall is the largest conference of any type in the U.S.]  CeBIT occurs March 13 - 20.  It is also the location of the largest implementation of WiFi at any conference.  According to a Web page translated into English from German, CeBIT will have about 200 WiFi access points covering 300,000 square meters, including inside most of the exhibit halls. The service is provided by Mobilcom Systems using Cisco equipment.  If I have correctly read the English translation, 802.11 service is free but if you don't have a PC Card you can buy one for 197 Euros (about $171 U.S.).  You enter "mobilcom" as the SSID.  I think a Mobilecom page comes up in your browser and you have to enter a user name and password.  It also seems that WEP will not be enabled Last year almost 850,000 people attended the show.  I believe there will be something like 7,500 exhibit booths this year. CTIA and WiFi As I have been writing in my Weblogs, it appears the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Asssociation will be able to offer free 802.11 access to everyone attending Wireless Data University (I'm a partner in this) and Wireless 2002.  About 300 people are expected at WDU and 40,000 at Wireless 2002. Based on the CeBIT implementation, the CTIA should be able to promote its WiFi installation as the largest for any U.S. conference.  It certainly will be one of largest WiFi installations anywhere, although some major corporations (such as Microsoft) have 802.11 access points all over campus environments. Dale Coffing, the creator of the excellent PocketPC Passion Web site, is going to CeBIT to show off -- guess what? -- PocketPCs!  His Web site has a discussion about CeBIT from a wireless/logistical standpoint.  Dale will be one of the participants in my WiFi roundtable at WDU. 12:25:57 PM

	Monday, February 25, 2002

Wireless + photography I wrote about this previously, think.  Keep your eye on the integration of wireless and digital photography: 2.5G and 3G cellular as well as 802.11.  It's already practical and being done over 2G systems via SMS or WAP.  I'm not talking about transmitting brilliant color images from your new 4M or 5M pixel camera.  I'm talking about monochrome images of 50K or less, which are then compressed and sent to cellular phones. Today's higher speed cellular networks with 20K bps - 60K bps packet data rates will be able to handle smaller color photos.  Color photos will be no problem for 802.11 speeds. allNetDevices today published a brief item about Sprint PCS working with LightSurf, which has a wireless photography software platform.  LightSurf was established by Philippe Kahn, who created Borland International (I still fondly remember "Sidekick") and Starfish Software.  Starfish, which specializes in synchronization software for computer and wireless devices, was sold to Motorola for a couple of hundred million dollars, at least.  Philippe, who doesn't have to work, continues to foster interesting companies. Wireless digital photography success Wireless digital photography is going to succeed on a variety of levels for consumers and businesses.  It's already hot in Japan.  There are a number of ventures in this space in the U.S. and overseas.  Kodak, for example, has spun off Appairent Technologies, which is developing "TranspAirent" wireless modules for consumer electronics.  (It seems the value of the Web isn't very, uh, apparent to Appairent.  The Web site is "content free" with nothing about the mission, company executives, links to the Kodak press release, etc.  Another company paranoid about information?) One key to success in wireless digital photography is smart bundling, packaging and pricing of wireless and photographic products and services.  Cellular operators are rather lame at innovative bundling of anything besides voice minutes and a handset, but there are smart companies that certainly could do a good job. Wireless digital photography is one of the important and innovative wireless data business developments I'm going to discuss in greater detail during my "Forget Sisyphus; Think Athena" three-hour tutorial at Wireless Data University on March 17 in Orlando. 5:04:16 PM

	Thursday, February 14, 2002

Want to meet Sky Dayton of Boingo Wireless and Earthlink fame?   Sky Dayton is playing a major role in getting wireless data into the hands of consumers, and that role has recently expanded.    Sky is the founder of Earthlink, which offers a variety of wireless data services tied into Earthlink's e-mail capabilities.  Sky recently announced the formation of Boingo Wireless, which is aggregating 95 percent of the available 802.11b hotspots installed by the national (of sorts) WiFi networks.   He will be speaking at Wireless Data University (WDU) as part of a roundtable discussion I'm moderating on wireless LANs (802.11) and wireless PANs (Bluetooth) and the impact on cellular.   I’m also doing a roundtable discussion on the realities of wireless location technology.  What can and cannot be accomplished today?  LocatioNet and Qualcomm are among the participants.   We'll also have three-hour tutorials about the basics of wireless data, wireless applications and how the wireless industry has been shooting itself -- and consumers -- in the foot (and what to do about it).   Andy Seybold and I created WDU six years ago as an intensive day-long, executive-level tutorial in conjunction with the CTIA.    WDU will be held March 17 in Orlando, Fla., at the Orange County Convention Center, the day before the start of the CTIA's Wireless 2002 conference and exposition.  Some 650 people attended WDU at Wireless 2001.   So if you want to hear and speak with one of the movers and shakers of the wireless Internet industry (as well as many other top wireless data executives), you should be at WDU. 9:35:59 AM

Got $50,000?  Sponsor WiFi at Wireless 2002 The Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association (CTIA) is working hard to get 802.11 coverage throughout the Orange County Convention Center for Wireless 2002, March 18 - 20 in Orlando.  It has been strongly encouraging, so to speak, the convention center to improve its WiFi coverage. It looks as if Wireless 2002 attendees and exhibitors could get extensive coverage.  True "wireless Internet."   But to enable everyone to get free access the CTIA needs a sponsor for $50,000.  The convention center WiFi operator is unable to bill attendees individually!   The CTIA expects 40,000 attendees expected and more than 1,000 exhibitors at Wireless 2002.   If you manufacture WiFi cards, for example, the CTIA will let you sell or lease cards (or give them away, if you like) with a free stand outside of the exhibit hall.  You'll get plenty of publicity and signs from the CTIA.   As I've written previously in "Wireless Blogging," (among other places), I believe wireless Internet access will change -- for the better -- the way public conferences and corporate meetings are operated.   I don't get anything from publicizing this for the CTIA, except the satisfaction of encouraging the use of WiFi.   If you are interested in sponsoring WiFi coverage, contact Robert Mesirow, the vice president of conferences and business development at the CTIA.  His e-mail address is rmesirow@ctia.org. 9:12:34 AM

	Monday, February 11, 2002

Dan Bricklin's photo Weblog Dan Bricklin, co-developer of the Apple killer app, VisiCalc, is posting photos of the Demo conference.  He notes that Cisco is providing free WiFi cards.  I don't know if he's posting the photos via WiFi, but WiFi speeds + Weblog software certainly make this easy and practical. The future of conferences and corporate meetings is right in front of your eye. 10:10:13 PM

VoiceStream purchases MobileStar Glenn Fleishman of 802.11b Networking News fame got the scoop here.  VoiceStream has purchased MobileStar and is "welcoming" existing MobileStar customers. Now we have VoiceStream with MobileStar going head-to-head against Sky Dayton's 802.11 "aggregator" company, Boingo Wireless. The cellular industry has entered WiFi space, and I'm getting very involved in this concept.  I just sent out a news alert to Reiter's Block subscribers. Dan Gillmor's wireless blogging Demo Dan Gillmor, the well-known San Jose Mercury News computer columnist and Weblogger, has set up a special section for using WiFi for updates about the Demo conference he's attending.  Yesterday I mentioned Dan hoped to do this. There appears to be a fair number of wireless demonstrations at Demo.  Dan writes that Sky Dayton is discussing Boingo Wireless' WiFi venture.  (I'm almost finished with an analysis of Boingo's business model, which I'll e-mail to my Reiter's Block e-mail subscribers.)  Embrace Networks is demonstrating placing Web servers on different devices and connecting wirelessly, Dan says. Sprint is demonstrating a voice recognition/voice synthesis product from its "labs":  E-Sandy, is a voice "assistant" that Dan says is similar to Wildfire, but more sophisticated.  Dan says he hates the artificial voice. The power of wireless + Weblogs As I have written -- and will continue to write -- wireless + Weblogs create a powerful combination.  I am bringing that message to the wireless industry. WiFi is preferred because of the high speed and relatively low (or free) cost.  But the launch of next generation cellular systems (GSM GPRS and CDMA 1xRTT) will enable users to, finally, get close to landline dialup speeds, perhaps even faster.  Wireless + Weblogs have tremendous implications for conferences, corporate meetings, journalism and information distribution in general. 5:03:38 PM

	Sunday, February 10, 2002

Dave Gillmor hoping to "wireless blog" at Demo San Jose Mercury News columnist Dave Gillmor, one of the country's premier computer columnists who also writes a great Weblog (redesigned a couple of days ago), is going to the Demo conference in Phoenix this week.  Gillmor writes today that there will be a wireless network (WiFi, I assume) at Demo and he expects to update his Weblog. In the not-too-distant-future, I believe attendees at conferences -- certainly at high-tech events -- will demand WiFi access in the meeting rooms and exhibit halls.  I think attendees will consider conferences that don't have at least some areas with 802.11 coverage as being rather primitive.  Personally, I think that is the right attitude! As I have previously written (blogged), the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association will have at least some WiFi coverage during its big Wireless 2002 annual conference and exposition at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando in March. 4:58:08 PM

© Copyright 2002 Alan A. Reiter. Last update: 2/7/2002; 1:38:48 PM.