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Kinko???s Dallas Location is First of 1,100 Branches to Offer Wi-Fi ??? CA, NY, NJ Next ??? While Others Talk about Wi-Fi Locations, T-Mobile Keeps Adding ???HotSpots???
DALLAS, TX. Fall 2003 - Long a destination where business gets done, Kinko???s?? is becoming the place wired-in businesspeople also work wirelessly. The company???s location on Greenville Avenue in Dallas today became the first to host T-Mobile HotSpot Wi-Fi service, providing a whole new way of doing business for mobile professionals with a Wi-Fi enabled laptop or handheld.
Earlier today, Jeff Heyman, retail vice president for Kinko???s, and Joe Sims, vice president and general manager of T-Mobile HotSpot, kicked off Kinko???s nationwide deployment of T-Mobile HotSpot wireless broadband Internet service at a ???cutting of the Ethernet cord??? ceremony at the Greenville Avenue location.
The Dallas event signaled the arrival of Wi-Fi at nearly 170 Kinko???s branches by the end of October. This first phase of installations includes Kinko???s locations in North Texas, Northern and Central California, New Jersey, and New York. By the beginning of next year, T-Mobile HotSpot service is expected in hundreds of Kinko???s U.S. locations, including branches in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Washington, DC. More than 1,100 Kinko???s nationwide plan to offer HotSpot access by April 2004.
Kinko???s joins more than 2,800 other active T-Mobile HotSpot locations. The service complements Kinko???s position in the marketplace as the ultimate businessperson???s ???office on the road.??? No longer caught in a labyrinth of wires and cables that chain them to their office, ???windshield warriors??? who routinely visit Kinko???s now get wireless Internet access as well as Kinko???s mission-critical business services such as videoconferencing, copying and printing, fax services, and business stationery.
???Working remotely with the same productivity as in the office is truly a challenge for today???s mobile worker,??? said Dan Connors, executive vice president and chief administrative officer for Kinko???s. ???Starting with our first installation here in Dallas, Kinko???s begins delivering the added convenience of Wi-Fi to this key customer segment. T-Mobile HotSpot subscribers around the country will soon wirelessly access the Internet, send documents for production, connect with their corporate networks or check e-mail ??? all at Kinko???s.???
According to Joe Sims, vice president and general manager of T-Mobile HotSpot, today???s announcement marks another important milestone for T-Mobile HotSpot. ???While others struggle to live up to lofty Wi-Fi aspirations, T-Mobile continues to make good on its promise to deliver wireless broadband services in places that we know people already visit as part of their everyday business lives,??? Sims said. ???Our internal research shows that 88 percent of T-Mobile HotSpot usage is for business purposes and our partnership with Kinko???s is yet another example that T-Mobile is the clear choice for businesspeople.???
T-Mobile HotSpot is the nationwide Wi-Fi service leader, making up the largest commercial network at airports, airline clubs and lounges of American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines, Borders Books and Music, Starbucks coffeehouses, and now Kinko???s. The company expects to have approximately 4,000 T-Mobile HotSpot locations by the end of this year.
In keeping with T-Mobile???s Get More?? promise to offer the best overall value in wireless, customers can get T-Mobile HotSpot service at rates starting as low as $9.99 for a 24-hour DayPass. Existing T-Mobile customers can easily add the T-Mobile HotSpot service to their monthly wireless voice and data bill for $19.99 a month for unlimited access.
Foundry Networks plans to go beyond its copper/fiber roots next month when it launches enterprise wireless LAN access points, supporting several 802.11 flavors with features such as Power over Ethernet and 802.1x security.
The company - known more for pushing big bandwidth over fiber and copper - reportedly also will offer software upgrades for its existing LAN equipment that will add WLAN switching capabilities, such as access point management and control.
Industry watchers and customers have anticipated such developments from Foundry, which has been mum, as rivals such as Enterasys, Extreme Networks, HP and Nortel have unveiled access point and WLAN switch products earlier this year.
"We're excited to be getting the Foundry [wireless] products," says Richard Nelson, director of information processing at the University of Southern California's Information Sciences Institute (USC-ISI), a supercomputing research center. Foundry's WLAN access points are slated for a beta test at the USC-ISI, which runs a network of Foundry switches for desktop connections, as well as Gigabit and 10G Ethernet in the core. Cisco Aironet WLAN equipment also is installed. Depending on how the beta test goes, Nelson says he might keep a dual-Cisco/Foundry Wi-Fi network, or opt for an all-Foundry infrastructure.
Wireless access-point management is sometimes difficult, he adds, because there is no easy way to combine management functions of his Foundry wired and Cisco wireless gear. Having WLAN and wired LAN gear act seamlessly as one system is something Nelson says he has been hoping for.
"The ability to add wireless management to switches through a software upgrade is also interesting," Nelson says, because his organization won't have to buy new network gear to manage the access points.
Foundry next month is expected to release WLAN access points that will support IEEE 802.11a (54M bit/sec), 802.11b (11M bit/sec) and 802.11g, which supports speeds up to 54M bit/sec.
It's expected that Foundry's access points will support 802.3af PoE standard, letting the devices receive AC power and Ethernet connectivity over a single Category 5 or 6 wire. Competitors such as 3Com, Avaya, Cisco and HP offer POE access points and switches. The access points will work with Foundry's PoE switches, which the company released in March, or any other 802.3af-compliant products. For security, 802.1x port authentication will be included in the access points, allowing the devices to force authentication at the connection level through a RADIUS server.
In the fourth quarter, Foundry plans to release software upgrades for its FastIron stackable switches that will let boxes manage and configure Foundry access points attached to the switch. Industry watchers familiar with Foundry's plans say the upgrade basically will turn any Foundry stackable into a WLAN switch, with security, management and roaming management features comparable to those in products from Aruba Networks, AirSpace, Extreme, HP, Nortel and Trapeze.
Sources say Foundry will extend its WLAN switch software to its chassis switches in the first quarter of next year. This addition will allow gear such as BigIron and FastIron core switches to have WLAN control and configuration capabilities.
Foundry would not respond to specific questions on the unannounced products, but said it is developing a Wi-Fi strategy with products to be announced next month.
Foundry's wireless jump follows similar moves this year from competitors Extreme and HP. And in the second quarter, Enterasys announced new ASIC architecture that lets its gear provide some of the security, quality of service and manageability features that WLAN switches offer.
"Wireless is a move Foundry has to make," says Zeus Kerravala, an analyst with The Yankee Group. While not commenting specifically on any of Foundry's anticipated Wi-Fi products, Kerravala says wireless would complement Foundry's product menu, even if the technology is somewhat out of the vendor's focus.
"Foundry has always been known as the high-performance switch company," he says. "Wireless would be a bit of a diversion from that, but it's necessary for them to have." Keeping up with rivals 3Com, Cisco, Enterasys, Extreme, HP and Nortel has a lot to do with Foundry's strategy, he says.
By John Blau
IDG News Service
Home and small-business users seeking to connect bandwidth-hungry audio and visual devices will appreciate a new IEEE standard for streaming multimedia data over high-speed wireless networks.
The 802.15.3 standard for high-rate wireless personal area networks (WPAN) allows these networks to link as many as 245 wireless fixed and portable devices at data rates up to 55M bit/sec and at distances from a few centimeters to 100 meters, the IEEE said Wednesday.
The standard, which substantially increases the initial 1M bit/sec speed of WPANs, comes in response to strong demand from users, the IEEE said. Users want to connect multiple portable devices at low cost, yet run high-bandwidth applications, such as multimedia, digital images and high-quality video. The standard also addresses user priorities such as network economy, frequency performance, power consumption and data-rate scalability, the IEEE said.
To keep costs low the IEEE limited the need for external components and allowed the radio and protocol to appear on no more than two chips that fit within a compact flash card, it said.
The new WPAN standard uses the 2.4 GHz unlicensed frequency band and specifies raw data rates of 11M, 22M, 33M, 44M and 55M bit/sec.
Distance plays a role in transmission speed. The closer the device is to the access point, the higher the bandwidth. For instance, a device up to 50 meters away from an access point can transmit data at a speed of 55M bit/sec, while the transmission speed of a device 100 meters away drops to 22M bit/sec.
The highest rate, 55M bit/sec, is necessary for low-latency, multimedia connections and large-file transfers, while 11M bit/sec and 22M bit/sec rates are ideal for long-range connectivity for audio devices, the IEEE said.
Moreover, 802.15.3 offers reliable quality of service, the IEEE said. It uses time division multiple access to allocate channel time among devices to prevent conflicts and only provides new allocations for an application if enough bandwidth is available.
Fixed and portable devices in a WPAN connect in an ad hoc way and communicate by peer-to-peer networking, allowing them to connect without user intervention. The AES 128 (advanced encryption standard), approved by the U.S. government in 2001 to replace the older DES (data encryption standard), ensures data protection.
The 802.15.3 standard allows networks based on this specification to coexist with other 802.15 WPANs, such as Bluetooth systems, and with 802.11 WLANs, especially 802.11b and 802.11g, which also operate in the 2.4-GHz band.
By Richard Shim
CNET News.com
August 2003
Wireless access to networks has already made its way onto planes, and if Canadian start-up PointShot has its way, trains are the next stop.
PointShot Wireless on Monday will announce a test with Altamont Commuter Express Rail to make Wi-Fi access available on the California rail operator's trains. The test will begin in mid-September and last three months. Train travelers will have free access to the Internet through PointShot's servers, which will be stored on the train. The route runs from Stockton, Calif., to San Jose, Calif. Passengers will only need a notebook computer or a handheld with the ability to connect to Wi-Fi networks.
Ottawa, Canada-based PointShot plans to sell its RailPoint product to service providers, and it is in talks with several to be the partner for the test, according to its chief executive, Shawn Griffin. Pricing for the RailPoint product has not been determined. The company is also in talks with the California Department of Transportation to install a similar service on its trains, according to people familiar with the plans.
The experiment underscores the popularity of Wi-Fi technology and may be the most appropriate setting for it to shine. Some airlines have also installed wireless networks in their planes, allowing passengers to access the Internet.
"Adding connectivity to trains is almost a no-brainer," said Keith Waryas, an analyst with research firm IDC. He predicted that trains would prove to be a better medium than airplanes for attracting a large pool of service-using passengers.
"You've got captive business users who want connectivity," he said.
Altamont expects 25 percent to 30 percent of its passengers to use the service.
The service will use a satellite broadband connection to deliver content and a cellular connection to send requests for information. This will involve partnerships with multiple network carriers as well as government agencies, which could mean added red tape.
"These guys aren't known for great customer service," Waryas said, referring to the agencies.
PointShot is not initially looking for a cut of the revenue generated from monthly service fees, according to Griffin. Carriers will determine the fees, but Griffin expects them to be competitive with what is currently being offered in coffee shops and airports. Daily subscriptions for hot spot access are running up to $10, and monthly fees are between $20 and $40.
By Ben Charny
Staff Writer, CNET
July 21, 2003, 3:30 PM PT
The partnership would allow subscribers of AT&T Wireless Wi-Fi service to use the 2,100 wireless "hot spot" locations that Sprint PCS plans to launch later this year, said Jason Guesman, business marketing director at Sprint PCS. Similarly, Sprint customers would have access to AT&T's wireless network.
The negotiations are at too early a stage to provide much more detail, such as when the sharing would begin, Guesman said. In addition, the two carriers haven't decided whether--as with many cellular plans--they will charge consumers roaming fees.
The talks highlight a split among major U.S. cellular carriers over how to operate their networks of hot spots, which are public areas where Wi-Fi-based wireless access to the Internet or to a corporate computer system is sold.
AT&T Wireless and Sprint PCS want their customers to roam freely among different networks. But hot-spot operators Cometa and T-Mobile USA prefer to keep their locations off-limits to major competitors.
Roaming gives cellular service providers a quick way to expand and take advantage of the popularity of Wi-Fi networking. But closed-network supporters say their rivals are likely to create a bad first impression in setting up clunky networks that pose enormous administrative problems.
But Sprint PCS's Guesman said keeping networks closed off, as T-Mobile and others would like to do, would end up stifling Wi-Fi market growth.
"T-Mobile can't claim to be a huge proponent of Wi-Fi but at same time propose a model that will kill Wi-Fi in a public space," he said. "It will not survive under that model."
A T-Mobile representative said the company is open to Wi-Fi roaming but has yet to secure "the right kinds of roaming agreements that ensure an optimal and reliable customer experience as well as agreements that make sense from a business and technical perspective."
Sprinting into Wi-Fi
Sprint PCS also on Monday unveiled more details about its Wi-Fi subscription plan, which it is calling PCS Wi-Fi Access.
The carrier plans to sell Wi-Fi access inside 800 different locations by later this summer. By the end of the year, it expects to expand to a total of 2,100 locations.
The carrier did not announce price details for the service. Generally, Wi-Fi is sold either on a monthly subscription basis or via day passes--which usually cost less than $10--that allow access for 24 hours at one particular location.
Most of the initial Sprint hot-spot locations will cater to the needs of traveling business executives and will be placed in airport executive lounges and hotels, Guesman said. The company plans to extend the network to convention centers as well.
By John Blau
IDG News Service
Home and small-business users seeking to connect bandwidth-hungry audio and visual devices will appreciate a new IEEE standard for streaming multimedia data over high-speed wireless networks.
The 802.15.3 standard for high-rate wireless personal area networks (WPAN) allows these networks to link as many as 245 wireless fixed and portable devices at data rates up to 55M bit/sec and at distances from a few centimeters to 100 meters, the IEEE said Wednesday.
The standard, which substantially increases the initial 1M bit/sec speed of WPANs, comes in response to strong demand from users, the IEEE said. Users want to connect multiple portable devices at low cost, yet run high-bandwidth applications, such as multimedia, digital images and high-quality video. The standard also addresses user priorities such as network economy, frequency performance, power consumption and data-rate scalability, the IEEE said.
To keep costs low the IEEE limited the need for external components and allowed the radio and protocol to appear on no more than two chips that fit within a compact flash card, it said.
The new WPAN standard uses the 2.4 GHz unlicensed frequency band and specifies raw data rates of 11M, 22M, 33M, 44M and 55M bit/sec.
Distance plays a role in transmission speed. The closer the device is to the access point, the higher the bandwidth. For instance, a device up to 50 meters away from an access point can transmit data at a speed of 55M bit/sec, while the transmission speed of a device 100 meters away drops to 22M bit/sec.
The highest rate, 55M bit/sec, is necessary for low-latency, multimedia connections and large-file transfers, while 11M bit/sec and 22M bit/sec rates are ideal for long-range connectivity for audio devices, the IEEE said.
Moreover, 802.15.3 offers reliable quality of service, the IEEE said. It uses time division multiple access to allocate channel time among devices to prevent conflicts and only provides new allocations for an application if enough bandwidth is available.
Fixed and portable devices in a WPAN connect in an ad hoc way and communicate by peer-to-peer networking, allowing them to connect without user intervention. The AES 128 (advanced encryption standard), approved by the U.S. government in 2001 to replace the older DES (data encryption standard), ensures data protection.
The 802.15.3 standard allows networks based on this specification to coexist with other 802.15 WPANs, such as Bluetooth systems, and with 802.11 WLANs, especially 802.11b and 802.11g, which also operate in the 2.4-GHz band.
IBM is committed to being the IT industry leader in bringing cutting-edge technology to customers and to the community. Bill Luse, Vice President of Personal Computing for IBM in Michigan, offers his views on the popularity of wireless fidelity and its potential uses in the classroom. Luce reasons that what is really needed now is to make the Web a learning technology -- to integrate the Web into the learning experience, as an adjunct to every subject, in every classroom.
He cites Michigan, where currently 8,000 children statewide have access to the Web, thanks to an educational program known as Michigan Wireless Learning. The program is an effort by the Michigan Department of Education and Michigan Virtual Learning.
As Wi-Fi becomes more popular and more affordable, it takes much of the sting out of the constant debate between education technology "haves and have-nots," and puts the wireless Web within economic reach of every school district and school.
That is where adults come in, Luse says, as this latest generation of wireless Web technology won't transform education all by itself.
Wireless industry expert TSI and leading Wi-Fi roaming provider Boingo Wireless team up to promote seamless WLAN and WWAN roaming to drive mass adoption and increased revenues for wireless operators
TAMPA - TSI Telecommunication Services Inc., a global communications technology company, and Boingo Wireless, the leading roaming provider for Wi-Fi Hot Spots, today announced an update to their strategic relationship to accelerate adoption of wireless data roaming by wireless operators and subscribers.
The two companies will combine TSI's long-term wireless industry clearing and settlement expertise with Boingo???'s Platform Services to establish cooperative roaming services for Wi-Fi WLAN networks and WWAN networks. Wireless Operators can leverage Boingo's Platform Services to add fully branded Wi-Fi WLAN services to their existing product offerings, while utilizing their existing relationship with TSI to integrate these services with their existing systems, including combining authentication and billing data into a seamless reporting stream to simplify customer billing.
"By combining TSI's authentication, billing and reporting expertise with Boingo's Hot Spot roaming network and customer software, wireless operators get a quick-to-market solution that unites Wi-Fi and wireless WAN," stated TSI CEO Ed Evans. "With TSI and Boingo, wireless operators get the best of both worlds - traditional roaming settlement and leading Wi-Fi services."
"Wireless Internet access is on the verge of exploding in the United States and abroad," said David Hagan, president of Boingo Wireless. "Wireless operators need to be prepared to address customer requests for a combined Wi-Fi and wireless WAN service. Using Boingo's Platform Services with TSI's clearing, settlement and roaming facilitation services, operators can make WLAN and WWAN services appear seamless - both to the customer and through billing processing."
Red-Alert is the First Wireless Probe to Detect Both 802.11b WLAN And Bluetooth
Red-M, a developer of hardware and software tools for secure wireless control, introduced Red-Alert, the first wireless probe to detect the presence of both 802.11b WLAN and Bluetooth. Red-Alert prevents unauthorized users from penetrating network boundaries and gaining access to private data via wireless devices such as PCs, PDAs or cell phones.
"The central issue for all networks is control, and it's the foundation of all our products," said Karl W. Feilder, CEO of Red-M. "Enterprises need help controlling every aspect of their networks as wireless technology distributes data much more widely than it's ever been distributed before. You can't take advantage of the freedom and ROI wireless technology offers until you take responsibility for controlling that freedom."
Low network security in wireless networks remains a barrier that must be removed in order to realize the enormous benefits of wireless technology. Detecting intrusion is just the first step.
"By monitoring airspace and issuing real-time wireless intrusion alerts, Red-Alert enables enterprises to actually see what is going on in the airspace around their networks and makes it safe for enterprises to move from a wired to a wireless environment," said Christopher W. Weiss, director of technology for Red-M.
Red-Alert Capabilities
With 24x7 monitoring, Red-Alert helps enterprises protect their corporate data by reclaiming control of the airspace around their networks. Red-Alert:
-- Scans multiple Wi-Fi channels while simultaneously monitoring for
Bluetooth-enabled devices;
-- Sends automatic alerts when security breaches occur;
-- Distinguishes between the wireless devices and access points belonging
to the enterprise, its neighbors and intruders;
-- Enables the user to define events of interest;
-- Permanently connects to the enterprise network;
-- Works with existing network management systems.
By Robert Hoskins
Intel and Alvarion Will Work Together to Develop WiMAX-Certified* Products
SANTA CLARA, Calif., July 9, 2003 - Intel Corporation today announced its intention to develop silicon product based on the IEEE 802.16a* standard that will provide a broadband wireless access alternative to existing "last mile" methods such as cable and digital subscriber lines (DSL). Intel is working with Alvarion, a leader in last mile broadband wireless access equipment, to deliver low-cost WiMAX-Certified equipment based on Intel?? 802.16a silicon.
The IEEE 802.16a standard is a wireless metropolitan area network (WMAN) technology that connects wireless hotspots, which offer users wireless Internet access via the IEEE 802.11 or Wi-Fi standard, and other locations such as businesses and homes to the wired Internet backbone. It is expected that networks based on the 802.16a standard will have a range up to 30 miles and the ability to transfer data, voice and video at speeds of up to 70 Megabits-per-second (Mbps).
"Intel is committed to enabling computing and communications anytime, anywhere over any device, and we see WiMAX as a critical technology for making that vision a reality," said Sean Maloney, executive vice president and general manager, Intel Communications Group. "Our silicon products for WiMAX equipment will complement existing Intel wireless building blocks including Intel?? Centrino??? mobile technology for wireless notebooks, Intel?? PRO/Wireless network connections, and Intel?? IXP4XX network processors for wireless infrastructure equipment."
Products based on 802.16a can provide wireless broadband connectivity to businesses with guaranteed levels of service required for enterprise applications, and to homes for residential broadband applications. These products will also enable service providers to offer voice and data services.
The IEEE 802.16a standard was approved in January of this year. Since then, over 25 leading communications equipment companies have joined the non-profit WiMAX Forum to help promote and certify the compatibility and interoperability of 802.16a equipment.
"We believe that WiMAX will be the catalyst for growth of the broadband wireless access market, similar to the impact Wi-Fi had on the Wireless LAN market," said Zvi Slonimsky, CEO of Alvarion. "Without the 802.16a standard, equipment makers have to make everything themselves; including the fundamental silicon, the customer premise equipment, the base station and the network management software. With the standard, equipment makers can innovate in the areas where they excel most, resulting in dramatic industry price/performance gains."
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