Applications

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We've seen how the manufacturing sector is doing its part for the Wi-Fi cause. Now all that's needed is a compelling application that will make Wi-Fi the next "must have" tech product.

Wi-Fi must move beyond its current "one trick pony" slot (mobility/speed) if it is to continue its growth pattern. Currently, everyone views Wi-Fi as just a high-speed data transfer network that provides the end-user with mobility. But even the cell phone industry realizes that mobility alone isn't enough-more is needed to keep the buying public interested.

Industry experts say Wi-Fi's predicament could soon parallel some of the problems facing the traditional telcos after the break-up of the Bell monopoly in the 1980s. For years, the only telephone application was voice calls; this left the telcos with only one source of income. Competition (made possible by the Bell divestiture) forced the incumbent telcos (i.e. the Baby Bells) to look for new, compelling services that their customers would immediately latch onto. And that, dear readers, is how we got such value-added, "enhanced" services such as call waiting, call forwarding, "one number follow me," three-way calling, etc.

At the moment, Wi-Fi's only application is high-speed data transfer. It needs a true "killer app"-a specific application that practically compels the general populace to embrace Wi-Fi.

In their book, Unleashing the Killer App (Harvard Business School Press, 1998), Larry Downes and Chunka Mui define a killer app as "a new application so powerful that it transforms industries, redefines markets, and annihilates the competition. The compass, the steam engine, the cotton gin, and the Model T were all killer apps."

A killer app has important first-order effects (it does something better than anything that has come before it); but it also engenders even more important (and unpredictable) second-order effects-it can change the very workings of our daily lives. For example, do you remember life before email? Do you recall the huge, yawning gap in communications functionality that existed between the direct, confrontation phone call and the incredibly slow, impersonal letter sent by parcel post?

The term "killer app" has become so commonplace that whenever a new personal computer technology emerges, someone almost immediately jumps up and asks, "What's the killer app?" Some of the better-known data-related killer apps to appear in the last two decades or so have been: the web browser for the Internet, WordStar, WordPerfect and Lotus 1-2-3 for the new PC market, and Visi-calc for early Apple Computers.

The lucky among us with keen observational powers have perhaps some small chance of seeing a killer app coming and profiting from it, says Downes and Mui, because "A killer app is a new good or service that establishes an entirely new category and, by being first, dominates it, returning several hundred percent on the initial investment."

Problems arise, however, when a killer app is hypothesized before its underlying technology is sufficiently advanced (and inexpensive) for it to spawn. Back in the 1990s, when the telecommunications guru Harry Newton was publishing the magazine Computer Telephony (now called Communications Convergence), killer apps in the "computer telephony" arena were in abundance. Each month, Newton and his staff would treat the magazine's readers to a new, wondrous killer app idea made possible by the then nascent field of computer telephony, also known as computer telephone integration (CTI), which is basically the application of computer intelligence to telephony. But many times it took a bit of time before the killer app "exploded," particularly those for call centers (e.g. predictive dialers, automatic call distribution, "screen pops" of caller information instantly extracted from a database and presented to a call center agent).

Other computer telephony-based killer apps, such as unified messaging, while immediately identified as such, took several years for the technology to be perfected and the general public has only now begun to adopt it in earnest. Unified messaging is the general convergence in the world of communications. This advanced message management solution is applicable to all media types-PSTN, cellular, wireless-since it provides access to any message, anytime, anywhere, from any device.

Each killer app helps its related technology to skyrocket in popularity. But the killer app might not be a single application. The idea among the Wi-Fi industry is that to obtain more market penetration, all that may be needed is to tie together and productize what's already in place (e.g. gaming / entertainment / mobility and high-speed). AOL did this when it threw the doors to the Internet wide open for the general public-it neatly bundled the Internet, "content," and "ease of use" into a product you could acquire for a monthly fee.

Brainstorming about the next killer app is so compelling because of the many interesting ways the concepts of "location," "24x7 access," and "wireless technology" can be combined and molded into interesting new services. After all, with the increasing adoption of broadband services-including Wi-Fi-the proverbial information superhighway is now open for business, ready to provide device-to-device communications, with little or no human intervention required.

Visual Media

Could digital photography, video and related gear be Wi-Fi's ticket to fame and fortune? There is a lot of action in this market space.

Cameras: Sanyo Japan demonstrated a prototype of a Wi-Fi-enabled camera at the Networld + Interop 2002 Tokyo show. The camera, which is based on the 1.5 megapixel DSC-SX560, is designed for use with an IEEE 802.11b wireless CompactFlash card for connection to both public Wi-Fi networks as well as private indoor wireless LANs. The camera can be configured to upload the image immediately to a server on a Wi-Fi network.

Projectors: It's becoming more and more common to find networked projectors that can communicate via Wi-Fi. Some feature onboard computers for PC-less presentations and can transfer and store files. Still other projector makers see networking as an option that can be added to units through devices that can be connected to new and existing models. For instance:

• Sony Electronics Inc.'s VPL-FE110 networked projector features a built-in Windows CE operating system, wired or wireless networking capabilities and 64 MB of onboard file storage. The unit can directly connect to a LAN via a CAT-5 interface or wire-lessly via 802.11b by inserting a Wi-Fi card into its PCMCIA slot (now also called a "PC slot").

• Sharp Electronics Corp. created a user-friendly wireless unit in its NotevisionM25X (PG-M25X), which sends wireless images to a projector via an 802.11b network.

• NEC Solutions America Inc.'s LT series (models LT220, 240 and 260) wireless projectors feature ImageXpress technology for connection to a wireless system via 802.11b or a wired LAN using 10Base-T cabling. The projectors offer remote diagnostic and control capabilities, and allow users to both print what is onscreen and transmit data to the units.

• Sanyo Fisher Company introduced its new Wi-Fi-enabled products at the 2002 Info-comm in Las Vegas. One of Sanyo's newest proprietary technologies, the optional Wireless Imager, supports three new ultraportable projector models that are designed for use in the conference rooms or on the road, each unit weighs less than 10 pounds and is housed in a sleek, durable magnesium alloy cabinet. The imager enables the three new models-PLC-XU37, PLC-XU32 and PLC-SU32-to use IEEE 802.11b technology to transfer data from a computer to the projector without VGA or control cables for the PC.

Is Location Really Everything?

Perhaps what will send Wi-Fi adoption rates through the stratosphere will be "location aware" technology-providing conveniences like directions to the nearest restaurant or movie theater. Think about the convenience that location aware technology can provide. For instance, what if your automobile had an always-on digital service powered by Wi-Fi technology? It could constantly monitor diagnostics for the car, letting you know when the air in a tire is low, a tailpipe clogged, or it could provide continuous location information, so you would never become lost in your travels. You could even keep track of your teenager, that is, if he or she were driving a Wi-Fi-enabled car with location aware technology onboard. Driving around and hungry? You could check out information on the local area restaurants, even the menus and prices, and then make a reservation when you see something interesting. Of course, all of this marvelous technology requires interactive web access.

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The downside to location aware technology is that it could be used for obnoxious "spam." The Wi-Fi aficionados may find themselves assaulted with unwanted ads as they surf the Web while snuggled in their bed waiting for the Sand Man to visit peaceful slumber upon them. But never fear, I guarantee you that somewhere, some innovative person is working on a counter to this type of intrusive data feed.

Another tack that location-aware technology could take is the one propounded by the positioning technology firm, Ekahau. Its Ekahau Positioning Engine (EPE) 2.0 can locate Wi-Fi enabled devices-including Voice-over-IP (VoIP) telephones-to within about a meter (3.28 feet), at least according to Ekahau. This technology, which was developed by a team at the University of Helsinki, has been on the market since 2001.

The Ekahau product can be used in places such as a supermarket where shoppers could set network-connected carts to notify them of aisles with special offers. It also could be used to indicate the nearest helpful shop assistant. Additionally, the software could help a company improve productivity. For example, in a warehouse, staff could use the software to locate the nearest employee possessing the ability to carry out a specific task.

Given the low cost of rolling out a private Wi-Fi network with three access points (for triangulation purposes), Ekahau reckons there is a market for networks used primarily for location-based purposes as opposed to carrying other data.

Voice over Wi-Fi

Is the marriage of voice with Wi-Fi the magic bullet for which the public is searching? While transmitting voice over a wireless LAN isn't revolutionary (companies such as Symbol Technology and SpectraLink have been doing it for a few years), what is new is delivering voice outside the restricted area of a corporate WLAN.

TeleSym, a voice-over-IP (VoIP) technology company, is offering voice-over-Wi-Fi technology that has resolved the kind of quality issues that dog most VoIP applications. TeleSym has minimized the impact of latency by using Edge QoS real-time latency management in the client software. Other features include Caller ID and telephone dialing using a Microsoft Outlook contact database. The TeleSym voice-over-Wi-Fi offering can be used in two different deployments:

1. In a closed Wi-Fi-enabled workgroup environment such as a hospital or warehouse, workers can use their handhelds or notebooks for regular one-on-one phone conversations. A push-to-talk capability allows users to set up conference calls to all members of a workgroup by pressing a button that is located on the side of all Pocket PC 2002 devices.

2. With the addition of the SymPhone Connector on the server, users can also connect over the Internet back to their corporate PBX system, and from there they can place regular outbound calls. This type of set-up means that employees no longer have to carry multiple pieces of hardware, such as a cell phone for voice and a PDA to look up information.

Symbol Technology, Inc. offers a handheld that can transmit both voice and data over 802.11b networks and H.323 telephony infrastructures. The NetVision DataPhone is typically marketed to vertical industries such as retail, manufacturing and healthcare. According to the company, a classic application for the wireless phone is retail, where it can be used to scan products, access inventory records and enable personnel to wander throughout the store. The phone, of course, can also access the Web to provide access to data and support telephony.

BroadSoft is partnering with SJlabs, a provider of soft clients (software telephones) for mobile devices and industrial terminals, to develop a VoIP application. SJlabs' new Sjphone is the first Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)-based soft client for PDAs (i.e. software that extends the functionality of a PDA so that it can also act as a telephone). The combination of technologies from these two innovative developers should enable Wi-Fi users to get, for the first time, a complete suite of business telephony services over any PDA, as long as it's based on Microsoft's CE operating system running within an 802.11 network.

"We believe the addition of Wi-Fi voice to PDAs is another example of how using BroadWorks can help service providers to further differentiate themselves," says Michael Tessler, president and CEO of BroadSoft. He adds that the combination of 802.11's broadband speed capabilities and BroadWorks' wide array of business services will enable PDAs to provide much more than traditional phone services.

Global IP Sound's VON 2002 is a telephony program that runs on a standard PDA, such as HP's iPaq, via an 802.11b connection to the Internet. The application provides terrific sound since the software resolves 8 kHz of audio versus 3 kHz for conventional telephony applications and provides what the company calls "Edge QoS"-a combination of techniques that serve to reduce loss of quality due to packet jitter, data errors and packet loss. During the product demo the software ran on several different types of computing devices (e.g. laptops and desktops). Since the version that does 8 kHz audio at 80 Kbps has relatively low complexity, it could even run in telephone-like appliances with inexpensive processors.

Industry analysts predict that by 2007 close to 60 percent of the total PDA and other handheld devices sold will have dual-mode cellular / Wi-Fi capabilities. Consequently, it's not much of a leap to forecast that voice-over-Wi-Fi applications will become a popular Wi-Fi application.

If VoIP is the killer app that "closes the deal" for massive Wi-Fi acceptance, then within five years the solution to sub-par cellular service will be for subscribers not to use it. By that time, there will surely be enough Wi-Fi access points deployed so that VoIP phones could reign supreme.

Security and QoS

In spite of Wi-Fi's many stellar qualities, security and quality of service (QoS) represent a bit of a black hole for this technology. Yet, security is not as bad as all of the pundits would have you believe. Keep in mind that:

• Wired and wireless LANs share some of the same security issues, e.g. vulnerability to hackers and eavesdroppers.

• In order for a WLAN to be compromised, the modulation techniques, and radio domains, and channels and subchannels, and security ID, and passwords must be known.

• All certified Wi-Fi products include Wireless Equivalent Privacy (WEP) that can encrypt all data that passes between an access point and a wireless card. While, not perfect, if WEP is properly enabled, it usually will block casual snoops.

• IT managers can lock out users down to the wireless station level, thus users can be included or locked out at any time.

Admittedly more needs to be done. That's why there is a hotbed of activity going on throughout the industry as innovative engineers try to up the security quotient of the average Wi-Fi network.

To give the reader an idea of what is happening in the security and QoS area:

• Symbol Technologies, Inc., a global leader in wireless mobile computing, has come out with its Symbol Mobius Wireless System, which is designed to enhance QoS and deliver application-specific security to Wi-Fi networks, among other things.

• Cisco Systems, the leading global provider of networking gear, offers its Wi-Fi compliant Aironet technology, which is specifically designed to provide advanced security features to protect a Wi-Fi network against warwalkers and malicious hackers.

• The IEEE 802.11 Working Group has Task Groups working diligently on specifications, to address both of these issues: 802.11e for QoS and 802.11i for Security.

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Most of the QoS improvements are being implemented through software or firmware enhancements of the MAC so the equipment you buy today should be easy to update later with the latest and greatest in QoS and security.

Since these two issues are so critical to Wi-Fi's continued growth, and since there is so much that can be said about both, Chapters 16 and 17 are devoted to the ins and outs of QoS and security, respectively.

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