Synergy Helps to Hit a Home Run

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The heavy hitters are involved, the rookies have embraced Wi-Fi big time, and the entrepreneurs are finding new and exciting ways to exploit the technology. But for the synergy to come full circle, the financial community must also join the Wi-Fi team. Grassroots organizations and start-up companies have limited budgets; that makes it difficult for such entities to get funding and to find other companies interested in them, their projects, and/or their products. Happily, the venture capital market finds Wi-Fi compelling and some within that industry are taking on the role of "team scout." Thus, contrary to the slump occurring in other investment areas, investors can be found to fund Wi-Fi projects and start-ups.

But, just as with the great American pastime of baseball, it takes a combination of "all-stars" and "rookies" to make up a winning team. A team of nothing but homerun hitters always has problems making it to the World Series-there's talent to spare and the hunger to win may be there, but something is lacking. Many times the missing ingredient is the infectious excitement generated by the rookies. That same kind of synergy-the establishment teaming up with the start-ups-is what will send Wi-Fi through the roof.

In 2001, a rookie company, Wayport, Inc., a provider of Wi-Fi wireless and wired high-speed Internet service to business travelers through its nationwide network of over 400 hotels and a number of airports, grew its revenue by pioneering the next evolution of the industry: wireless broadband roaming. To promote continued adoption of Wi-Fi and to make it easier for travelers to roam between service providers' networks, Way-port is pursuing roaming agreements with several providers, including cellular carriers. Wayport is also working with strategic partners, including homerun hitters, Microsoft, Sony, IBM and Dell, to drive wireless adoption.

Another good example of synergy is the top of the lineup collaboration between Intel and Intersil. Intersil Corporation (a market leader in the 802.11b chip space) and industry titan Intel Corporation joined together in an effort to accelerate deployment of current and future Wi-Fi technology and products. To that end, Intel incorporated Intersil's PRISM 2.5 chipset in its PRO/Wireless 2011B LAN products-a suite of products that can wirelessly transmit voice, data and video content at speeds up to 11 Mbps.

Today, Wi-Fi equipment makers, from newcomers like Pronto Wireless to veterans such as Cisco Systems, are focusing on improving the speed and quality of their equipment's functionality. Cisco, for instance, is developing a Wi-Fi network interface card (NIC) for laptops that won't drain a battery by constantly looking for an access point. Instead, the access point will "wake" the card into action when it's near a network.

Some within the communications industry are also working to provide a smooth transition between cellular and Wi-Fi networks. These include the aforementioned Ericsson, the communications industry's icon Lucent Technology, and software developer NetMotion Wireless.

What about Bluetooth, that alliance between mobile communications and mobile computing companies that led to a communications standard allowing wireless data communications at a 10 meters (33 feet) range? Well, Bluetooth technology hasn't been forgotten in all the rush to embrace Wi-Fi. For example, chipset developers Cambridge Silicon Radio, Mobilian and Silicon Wave (in partnership with chipset leader Intersil) have all launched dual-mode Bluetooth and Wi-Fi (802.11b) solutions. And Intersil / Cambridge Silicon Radio / Smart Modular Technologies have formed an alliance in the hopes of bringing a mini-PCI board to market, sometime in 2003, that combines 802.11b wireless LAN and Bluetooth technology. The importance of these announcements lies in the blending of two technologies once considered mutually exclusive-both technologies operate in the same part of the radio frequency spectrum (2.4 GHz), resulting in some interference between the two (although the level of interference and its impact on the reliability of both technologies is currently open to debate).

Developers are excited because the resulting technology offers Wi-Fi (and Bluetooth) developers an easier integration path. Co-location solutions will also reduce the overall cost of implementing both technologies as components can be shared, although Frost & Sullivan and other analysts believe that such dual-mode solutions need further development before they can be said to completely solve the Wi-Fi/Bluetooth conundrum. Still, they do admit that such solutions represent a major step in the right direction.

Bringing the focus back to Wi-Fi-synergy is at work everywhere. Note Cisco's announcement in late 2002, wherein it informed the public that it is partnering with Intersil to provide an IEEE 802.11g client reference design. That announcement sparked life in this almost lifeless specification. 802.11g endured innumerable delays as it made its way through the standardization process, and these delays caused a total lack of interest in the new specification within the industry, mainly due to the anticipated release of 802.11a products. In fact, there was even some doubt as to whether 802.11g end-products would ever be brought to market. Never mind that chip giant, Intersil, has worked very hard to advance Wi-Fi and 802.11g in the marketplace; indeed, the manufacturer has been promoting its 802.11g OFDM solution since early 2001. Now, Intersil has a powerful ally-Cisco. With Cisco's backing of the technology, 802.11g will certainly gain traction in the WLAN market, since Cisco's reach and influence in the business networking market is extensive. As illustration, witness the early 2003 upswing in announcements of chipsets containing 802.11g technology (albeit originally built upon a draft, not the ratified version, of the 802.11g specification) and the resulting products that have begun to hit store shelves.

Figure 3.3: A silicon chip is a tiny electronic circuit on a piece of silicon crystal. It contains hundreds of thousands of micro-miniature electronic circuit components, which are packed and interconnected in multiple layers within a single chip. Then the surface of the chip is overlaid with a grid of metallic contacts used to wire the chip to other electronic devices. And all of this is done in an area less than 2.5 millimeters square. (There are 2.54 centimeters to an inch, and each centimeter is 10 millimeters long.) These components can perform control, logic, and memory functions. Silicon chips are found in the printed circuits of, for example, personal computers, televisions, automobiles, appliances, etc.

Once you have the synergy going full steam, the inventors and engineers suddenly have the upper hand, devising new gear, products and applications for fledgling markets such as Wi-Fi.

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