Another Kind of Scalability

Written By
Peter Coffee
Peter Coffee
Published: Nov 26, 2001
Updated: Feb 2, 2021
1 minute read
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Literally towering above the Comdex show floor, this specimen from antenna tower maker Sisttemex (www.sisttemex.com) is a reminder that wireless networking doesnt come without hardware problems of its own.

“There is a serious shortage of qualified tower technicians,” warns the Society of Broadcast Engineers. We can see why: Typical position descriptions, according to SBE Chapter Secretary Vicki Kipp, in Madison, Wis., demand the “ability to climb towers and work efficiently at great heights, knowledge of proper methods of raising scaffolding, knowledge of antenna systems, knowledge of federal and state regulations pertaining to the lighting and painting of towers, and the ability to read structural drawings.

All of a sudden, those grueling afternoons in the wiring closet dont look so bad.

Peter Coffee

Peter Coffee is Director of Platform Research at salesforce.com, where he serves as a liaison with the developer community to define the opportunity and clarify developers' technical requirements on the company's evolving Apex Platform. Peter previously spent 18 years with eWEEK (formerly PC Week), the national news magazine of enterprise technology practice, where he reviewed software development tools and methods and wrote regular columns on emerging technologies and professional community issues.Before he began writing full-time in 1989, Peter spent eleven years in technical and management positions at Exxon and The Aerospace Corporation, including management of the latter company's first desktop computing planning team and applied research in applications of artificial intelligence techniques. He holds an engineering degree from MIT and an MBA from Pepperdine University, he has held teaching appointments in computer science, business analytics and information systems management at Pepperdine, UCLA, and Chapman College.

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