I've written about the problems resulting from the lack of quality in tech products before, and it appears that the situation isn't getting any better. A report (based on a survey) just published by the Pew Internet and American Life Project reveals that "48% of technology users need help from others with new devices and many tech users encounter problems with their internet connections, home computers or cell phones".

Read more

I guess virtualization is all the rage this week. Now VMware, one of the leading firms in PC and server virtualization, has announced their VMware Mobile Virtualization Platform (MVP) that promises the ability to run multiple operating systems simultaneously on a single handset.

Read more

Motorola this week announced the first elements of their Total Enterprise Access and Mobility (TEAM) integrated voice and data portfolio, those being management and applications servers for their (and, really, anyone else's) wireless-LAN system, some very nice Windows Mobile 6.1-based Wi-Fi handsets, and associated software.

Read more

Meru Networks this week announced the concept (and their implementation) of virtual ports for wireless LANs. This is a little complex, but so is virtualization, which is the art of making something appear real when it is not. Most IT professionals are very familiar with virtualization as applied to virtual machines, taking advantage of hardware features that have been in x86 microprocessors for some time to create many virtual processors that behave the same as a real one.

Read more

Some carriers still (and rather provincially, IMHO) view Wi-Fi as a threat. Verizon is clearly in this camp, with no real offering to speak of in terms of either services or devices. The upcoming BlackBerry Storm, arguably Verizon's answer to the iPhone? No Wi-Fi.

Read more

The Web is buzzing this afternoon with news that WPA has been cracked. While we've known for some time that WPA and even WPA2 are susceptible to dictionary attacks (duh), this appears to be a new technique. While I'm going to wait to see a little more info on this crack before recommending that everyone panic, any news like this should be taken seriously until the whole story is known - and possibly after that as well.

Read more

I must begin today with offering my congratulations to our soon-to-be President, Senator Barack Obama. As a reforming political junkie (I was active in local politics for many years, and last night had the privilege of being part of our local cable-access election coverage programming, and, yes, I even won an election once myself), I don't get nearly as excited about political goings-on as I used to. But the fact that we're very clearly moving beyond the traumas that have occupied so much of our time in recent years is indeed exciting.

Read more

I know a lot of people have been more than skeptical of Verizon Wireless' claims, beginning in late 2007, that they would go open access, allowing any (technologically-compatible, obviously) device and any application on their network. Was this, as many assumed, just a ploy to influence the regulators, simply a cynical attempt to curry market favor supported by little or no real effort?

Read more

I was in Toronto yesterday speaking at a forum organized by Bell Canada and Trellia Networks. My part of the program was providing an update on wireless in general, and I stressed (as I always do) that an emphasis on cool radio technology and cool devices is often misplaced in an enterprise setting. The core emphasis must instead be instead on management, especially out to the device.

Read more

At least week's Mobile Internet World conference is Boston, Intel's Anand Chandrasekhar commented, in his keynote, that he didn't believe that the rapidly-emerging category of mobile PCs known as MIDs, netbooks, nettops, and whatever will replace the notebook PC.

Read more

I recently had the opportunity to spend a few days with a Nokia E71 equipped with the latest release of DiVitas Networks' client software. DiVitas is best known for its approach to mobile-to-mobile convergence, allowing both voice and data connections to be handed off between Wi-Fi and cellular networks.

Read more

Today is one of those days you'll always remember - and where you were when 802.11g, that mainstay of wireless LANs for, well, essentially forever, died. Yes, it happened today, as wireless-LAN chip leader Atheros Communications announced what I think will be the first of many replacements for 802.11g - and it is based on, no surprise so far, 802.11n. But many out there are unaware that all that MIMO stuff that makes .11n so cool (and more expensive than .11g) is, in fact, an optional element of the standard.

Read more

I spoke at the Mobile Internet World conference in Boston yesterday, and decided to stay for the day. This event is in its second year, and I've re-joined the Advisory Board for it for next year. I love the concept - everything about mobile (and wireless) access to the Internet, from basic technologies to (ugh) mobile advertising. My session was on wireless LANs, but that's not what I want to talk about here.

Read more

Just about every week now I'm getting a call from the PR rep for a new "mobile advertising" company wanting to see if I'd like to meet with their client. The answer is almost always no, because I think mobile advertising is fundamentally evil. I'd be happy to debate any of these companies on their value-add, or lack of it, and I'll report here if any of them ever take me up on my offer. But I can't say I wish them well.

Read more

WLAN chipset newcomer Quantenna today announced the first 4x4 MIMO 802.11n chip family, which extends raw throughput to 600 Mbps. I had not expected to see such capability for another year or so, but, let's face it, more throughput is always a good thing and startups tend to provide the innovation that produces such great leaps forward. And note here we are talking about 4x4 radios, not 4x4 streams or some other metric of chip configuration or performance.

Read more

I think, in hindsight, that I was wrong in my earlier forecast that the state of the US and global economy would not really affect wireless (although, to be fair, I was speaking about the energy crisis in that case and only indirectly about the overall economy). Looking back, it was clear that I (and even a lot of economists, so I don't feel too bad about this one) did not know the real extent of the problem.

Read more

I recently attended the New England Information Security Forum, one of a series of events sponsored by IANS (aka the Institute for Applied Network Security). These are closed, no-press conferences which have a Confidentiality Statement associated with them that generally prohibits discussion of anything one might hear in sessions or elsewhere. This is, BTW, good security practice. Neither I nor anyone else I spoke with discussed the actual solutions they had in place. I recommend this position to everyone.

Read more

I sometimes (OK, often) spend the weekend catching up on reading, and I started this weekend with Brad Reed's interesting piece in Network World on WiMAX technology in search of its niche.

Read more

I first wrote about RF Spectrum Management (RFSM) almost five years ago, and my feeling at the time was that, while very difficult, management of wireless LANs at the physical layer was not only possible, but would ultimately become a competitive battleground. Over the years, essentially every enterprise-class WLAN systems vendor developed their own take on setting channel assignments and transmit power levels, but really taming the airwaves remains challenging, partially because the bands used by WLANs are unlicensed and therefore subject to both interference and strict limitations on transmit power, and partially because the client-in-control protocols used  in .11 simply don't allow the degree of control one would expect from a fundamentally cellular architecture. Allowing clients to decide with which AP to associate and when to roam is madness. But that's the legacy of a standard developed much too early, before the usage models of WLANs had a chance to evolve. Ad-hoc was assumed to be the connection mode most users would apply, rather than today's world in which infrastructure mode is clearly dominant for obvious reasons.

Read more

The rumors (which, again, I never spread) that Sprint would turn on its first XOHM city, Baltimore, next week, turned out to be off by a few days. And folks in that town woke up today to the fastest wireless wide-area production broadband network in the country (and one of the fastest in the world), along with interesting pricing and the promise of more cities and more subscriber units - including a dual-mode CDMA/WiMAX handset - shortly. Quick analysis: This deployment is aimed at consumers, not businesses, as, unless you do all of your business in Baltimore, this ain't going to work for most of us. Throughput - the press release notes 2-4 Mbps - is in line with expectations, as is the pricing, at US$25-30/month ($25 for fixed, and $30 for mobile). A surprising feature is a $10 daily price, a la municipal Wi-Fi, but I don't think this is going to be a big seller. There's also a "Pick 2 for Life" family plan of sorts; not a huge discount, but anything helps. And they note no requirement for long-term contracts or cancellation fees, a surprising and most welcome plus.

The XOHM site talks about other cities coming on line soon, including Chicago and Washington, D.C., followed by Dallas, Forth Worth, Boston, Providence, and Philadelphia. But without a critical mass of say, the top 30 municipalities, with coverage extending beyond city centers and well into the suburbs, XOHM isn't going to compete for business users with broadband offerings from the other carriers, even if it is (for the moment) faster and cheaper. And it remains to be seen how the service and pricing will be affected by the transfer of ownership to Clearwire, which is plowing ahead.

Read more