The New World of Wireless
February 2001
The promise of the myriad of wireless options
now available and those yet to come is to allow anyone to access network and
Internet resources without resorting to plugging in cables. This article explains
some recent technology and its management applications.
by Steve
Anderson
SteveAnderson.com,
Inc.
Allowing the computer user to take computing power with them has been one
of the goals of manufacturers almost from the beginning of the development of
the personal computer. We remember using a "luggable" computer that weighed
at least 25 pounds and was the size of a small suitcase. Laptops continue to
get smaller, lighter, and contain longer life batteries so they can be used
anywhere, anytime. This move to mobile computing coupled with the need for Internet
access is driving the development of wireless connections.
Wireless connectivity will change (again!) how we access and use information
with different types of computing devices. We envision a day in the not too
distant future when network cabling is no longer necessary to share information
in your office or to access the Internet across the county. This article will
discuss several different types of wireless connections being developed and
how they might impact how you do business.
Wireless Web Telephones
The first frontier for accessing the Internet is your cell phone. Cell phones
are nothing new, and most producers would be lost without one. But using these
phones to get e-mail and other data has been much too difficult and therefore
not practical. That is about to change, and it is coming soon to a cell phone
near you.
We have had the opportunity to play with the Sprint PCS service using a Sanyo
SCP-4000 phone for the last few months. It is a standard cell phone with a big
difference. We can access information on the Internet using just the cell phone.
Access is limited to certain specific sites that have been modified to handle
large amounts of data displaying on the phone's small screen. Examples of sites
available include Amazon.com, Yahoo!, Fidelity, Bloomberg, FOX Sports, and CNN.
You can add others if you know the Web address.
Is this practical for agents to use in their day-to-day work? Yes and no.
Determining if this will work for you will be based on how you want to operate.
For example, using a wireless Web-equipped cell phone, you will be able to purchase
books on Amazon. We are not convinced, however, this is the best way to purchase
books. On the other hand, we do travel quite a bit and being able to check the
status of a flight in real time has proved to be very useful. We have actually
stood in front of an airport monitor when the display changed indicating a flight
delay. Quickly checking the phone, we found it indicated the same delay.
Where wireless Web access really becomes interesting is as a wireless modem
connected to a laptop or a handheld device like a Palm Pilot or PocketPC. You
use a serial cable to connect the phone to your laptop and use the Sprint PCS
service to connect to the Internet. The actual data transfer rate is 14.4 kb/s
(kilobits per second). Software provided with the cable, however, compresses
the data sent to and from the laptop so the effective transfer rate approaches
50 kb/s (approximate dial-up modem speed). A producer could be at a client's
office and dial directly into the agency system to answer questions about the
account in real time. Getting your e-mail on a hand-held device would be easy.
Sprint PCS has several different rate plans available. Wireless Web access is included
in the total number of minutes that are a part of your plan. We have used the
phone in about 12 different cities and it worked well in each as long as you
stayed within the metro area. The Sprint data system covers about 330 different
metropolitan areas.
Another system is AT&T Wireless
Service's PocketNet, based on cellular digital packet data (CDPD) which
allows full-time online connectivity. With this service, you would use a phone
such as the Ericsson R280. The majority of major wireless operators have similar
data offerings.
Wireless Networks
Wireless networks are the second part of "cutting the cord." Since we first
started using the Internet a few years ago we dreamed of the day when we could
have Internet access without being plugged into an electrical outlet and a telephone
jack. Our journey started about 2 years ago when we severed our ties with an
office desktop computer by purchasing a laptop. For the last 2 years, our laptop
has replaced the desktop computer. This has allowed unlimited flexibility for
us to be able to "work" on an airplane, in a hotel room, at a client's office,
or at home. In fact, this article is being written at the kitchen table. The
laptop computer has allowed us to cut the electrical cord (at least for a few
hours at a time) so our "office" is anywhere we are.
We recently installed a Lucent Technologies ORiNOCO Wireless Network system
for about $450. We already have a simple peer-to-peer network set up sharing
a DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) Internet connection. The high-speed networking
system provides wireless connectivity to Internet service providers, and enables
sharing of various computer peripherals from anywhere within range of the radio
signal. The system operates in the unlicensed 2.4 GHz (gigahertz) band and has
a range of up to 150 meters at a full 11 Mbit/s (megabits per second) data transfer
speed either indoors or outdoors. The more walls you have that could block the
signal, the shorter the range and the slower the connection speed will be.
The wireless network requires an "access point" that acts as a central base
station for multiple wireless users, each using a PC radio card. It provides
Internet Sharing using Network Address Translation (NAT). The system we purchased
includes a built-in 56K modem that provides Internet access through a regular
phone line if you don't have a high-speed connection. It also includes an Ethernet®,
i.e., LAN, port that allows you to connect to a broadband cable, xDSL, or ISDN
modem.
In our case, we installed a PC card with a built-in antenna into our laptop
that communicates with the access point by radio waves. The setup was simple
and the connection operates just like you were wired to the network with a standard
Ethernet® cable.
Because the system relies on the 802.11 Wireless Network standard, the PC
card in our laptops will be able to access any wireless network that also adheres
to the standard. For example, all of the domestic American Airlines Admiral
Clubs now have wireless high speed Internet access. With our card, we are able
to connect to the network simply by walking into the club and starting Internet
Explorer.
Bluetooth on the Horizon
The third wireless development just starting to appear is called Bluetooth.
For over a year, member companies of the Bluetooth Consortium have been talking
about how Bluetooth's fast, easy wireless connection capabilities will change
the world of portable computing.
The Toshiba Bluetooth PC Card ($199 list) is the first and currently only
shipping Bluetooth product we've seen so far, and it provides an interesting
glimpse into the future of the Bluetooth. Bluetooth (named for a tenth-century
Danish king) is an ambitious wireless communication specification developed
by a number of companies including Ericsson, IBM, Intel, Lucent, Microsoft,
Motorola, Nokia, 3Com, and Toshiba. Over 1,300 additional companies have signed
up to develop products based on Bluetooth technology.
Bluetooth defines a specification for a small-form-factor, low-cost radio
link between portable PCs, wireless phones, and portable devices such as PDAs
(personal digital assistants), MP3 players, digital cameras, and other personal
appliances. The card is not computer-centric; it can be implemented in a wide
range of devices from cordless phones to notebook computers to wireless headsets.
Bluetooth is a juggling act of sorts; the balls in the air include performance,
power consumption, hardware cost, and reliability.
Bluetooth uses microwave radio to transmit data over short distances—about
33 feet—at up to 721 Kbps. Bluetooth isn't being touted as a replacement for
high-speed wired connections or the wireless networks we described above, but
rather as a technology of convenience. If everything goes according to plan,
Bluetooth devices will be able to recognize one another and create connections
with no user intervention or cables.
Bluetooth devices can identify themselves to one another, and each device
contains one or more profiles that tell the other devices what it is and what
it can do. This means that your Bluetooth phone would automatically create a
link to your Bluetooth-enabled PC and Bluetooth wireless earphone. You could
then use the earphone to talk on the phone or use your PC to connect to the
Internet through the digital phone—without wires, setup, or effort.
Bluetooth is similar in some ways to the 802.11 wireless Ethernet® standard
we talked about above. Both operate in the 2.4-GHz unlicensed radio band. There
has been some concern that Bluetooth and 802.11 may interfere with each other.
The Toshiba Bluetooth PC Card looks like an 802.11 wireless LAN card. A small
plastic antenna protrudes out the PC Card slot, and a single LED indicates when
the card is transmitting and receiving. Toshiba's offering takes Bluetooth about
as far as you can go in a PC-to-PC environment.
Conclusion
The promise of all of these wireless options is to allow anyone to access
network and Internet resources without resorting to plugging in cables. This
technology will dramatically affect how and where computing resources will be
available.
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