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    IBM Aims to Bring Order to Chaotic Wi-Fi Revolution

    By
    John Pallatto
    -
    December 2, 2004
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      SAN JOSE, Calif.—IBMs goal in the burgeoning Wi-Fi industry is to help customers deal with the chaos arising from the explosive growth in demand for Wi-Fi access, said James Keegan, IBMs vice president for Global Pervasive/Wireless e-business solutions.

      Speaking at Jupitermedia Corp.s Wi-Fi Planet conference here, Keegan said that to help make pervasive wireless computing a reality the computer industry has to work through the “chaos” arising from the challenge of integrating the diverse technologies required to slake the insatiable demand for new wireless services.

      People around the world want to implement a dizzying array of wireless applications, including everything from Wi-Fi on high-speed commuter trains to having Wi-Fi Internet access along with their lattes at Starbucks Coffee.

      The problem is not that the technology isnt available to create these applications, Keegan said. The problem is that system architects havent completely thought out how to assemble all the components that will support wireless applications that are reliable, effective and secure, he said.

      “Our objective is to help you address these challenges and address the chaos,” Keegan said. However, IBM doesnt pretend to have all the answers. It will take a diverse “ecosystem” of software, hardware and middleware producers to bring all the pieces together, he said.

      /zimages/6/28571.gifClick here to read why David Cohen, founder of the Wi-Fi Alliance, believes that Wi-Fi is ready for adoption in enterprises.

      Both consumers and the industry are trying to move toward the same goals, Keegan noted. They want nationwide Wi-Fi coverage with roaming capabilities just as they have with their cell phones. National media companies like Time-Warner Inc. and many other enterprises are looking for new ways “to deliver more content down to end users whether it is entertainment or in a pure data processing environment,” he said.

      The users of a wide array of new devices, whether it is cell phones, handheld computers, laptops or RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) devices, are competing for access and bandwidth on Wi-Fi networks.

      A major new wireless device is introduced in the market every six weeks, Keegan observed. And an emerging “wireless generation” wants to download everything from cell phone ring tones to movies, television shows and games.

      Computer users want nothing less than the ability to gravitate to a public Wi-Fi access point that provides “all you can eat” data access wherever and whenever they want, he said.

      Next Page: Making pervasive wireless a reality.

      Making wireless pervasive

      However companies, municipalities and industries that are actively working to implement Wi-Fi on a broad scale are also helping to make pervasive wireless a reality.

      For example, the Hong Kong railway system came to IBM looking for a way to implement wireless Internet access on its commuter trains, Keegan said. Metro Stores, a German supermarket chain, is using RFID technology to track goods as they leave the store shelves. Each one of these early applications helps prove the practicality of Wi-Fi technology and will help make pervasive wireless a reality, Keegan said.

      There are several market forces at work driving the demand for wireless broadband services, said Chris Couper, IBMs chief technology officer for wireless solutions.

      Chief among them in the United States is that the federal government has endorsed broadband wireless to promote economic, educational and social development. President Bush in particular has “pegged wireless broadband as one of the key technologies” that will help drive future economic groups.

      /zimages/6/28571.gifClick here to read what one New Mexico city is doing to give all its residents Wi-Fi Internet access.

      Its not just cell phones and computers that are sucking up bandwidth. Sensors that record a wide range of data are going to be communicating via wireless networks in the years ahead, he said.

      While there may be millions of PC users and billions of cell phones in use worldwide, there is a potential for literally trillions of sensors to being put to work to track the performance of a wide range of machines or electronic devices.

      These sensors will be smart enough to detect problems and record the status of the systems they monitor. They will also act to fix the problem and “will only tell the back-end systems what they achieved rather than what they did” to resolve the problem, he said.

      Wireless will become pervasive because an ever increasing number of people will constantly be looking for ways to wirelessly log onto the Internet wherever they are.

      They want to log on in virtually any public space, whether they are traveling, on a business or school campus, or are effectively “held captive” in what Couper called a “wall garden”—a convention center, train, plane or automobile where they have no choice but to stay in one place for perhaps hours at a time.

      /zimages/6/28571.gifCheck out eWEEK.coms for the latest news, reviews and analysis on mobile and wireless computing.

      John Pallatto
      John Pallatto has been editor in chief of QuinStreet Inc.'s eWEEK.com since October 2012. He has more than 40 years of experience as a professional journalist working at a daily newspaper and computer technology trade journals. He was an eWEEK managing editor from 2009 to 2012. From 2003 to 2007 he covered Enterprise Application Software for eWEEK. From June 2007 to 2008 he was eWEEK’s West Coast news editor. Pallatto was a member of the staff that launched PC Week in March 1984. From 1992 to 1996 he was PC Week’s West Coast Bureau chief. From 1996 to 1998 he was a senior editor with Ziff-Davis Internet Computing Magazine. From 2000 to 2002 Pallatto was West Coast bureau chief with Internet World Magazine. His professional journalism career started at the Hartford Courant daily newspaper where he worked from 1974 to 1983.

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