Introduction

"There is a way in which technology is inexorable, so I doubt there is a way to stop any of this," explains Dr. Nicholas Christakis, notable Harvard University sociologist. "Is there a socioeconomic class getting left behind? Sometimes, technology improves standards of living, and sometimes, it increases the difference between the top and the bottom. Regarding data and connectivity, like the washing machine and dishwasher benefits, we're all better off. Sure, there is still a difference between the top and the bottom, but the fundamental benefits are realized by all. We all drive cars; some drive Mercedes and some drive Hyundais, but we all get places."

Inescapable Data and the value of connectivity will be available to everyone, eventually. We may cross into the competence zone at different times and with varying degrees of sophistication with regard to the use of our new "toys." As we approach the middle years of the first decade of the twenty-first century, the main issue will be building the wireless "information" infrastructure, much as the main issue of the early 1990s was building the Internet infrastructure. Here, we examine the status and future of the great wireless build-out, because only when that is fully in place can society as a whole cross the connectivity divide.