| Technology@Intel Magazine: Much of this piece, as the headline implies, is self-congratulatory (perhaps deservedly) in nature. However, the section that focuses on wireless — co-author Nigel Ballard's specialty — is worth reading. Parallel efforts apparently were under way after Hurricane Katrina. Ballard and another expert led Wi-Fi and WiMax initiatives aimed at creating a more permanent post-storm infrastructure, while the Red Cross supplied laptops. About 4,000 laptops were distributed. Drop kits with at least five laptops apiece, cabling, extra batteries, a printer and access points were thrown together. Arms were twisted to get pre-WiMax gear from Redline, a Canadian company, which literally ripped experimental gear off its roof during a rainstorm to help out. There is a lot to be learned on how corporations can maintain their own networks and help communities in which they have facilities. | Sponsor: Avaya | | A New Era of Intelligent Communications
Read an informative white paper to learn how business applications are enabling enterprises to unlock business value from the billions of dollars of investment in existing communications and network infrastructure. > Download the white paper today. | Wireless Developer Network: The fate of mobile data — whether it becomes the co-equal of voice or remains a handy but niche application — will have a big impact on the level of support it is given by carriers. It's a chicken and egg scenario as well: More services must be offered for mobile data to take off, but they won't be offered unless demand is demonstrated. This story reports on the latest Mobinet study of mobile phone use run by A.T. Kearney and the Judge Business School of Cambridge University. The study, which covered 4,000 users in 21 countries, found increasing comfort with data services but continued concern over content and price. The story offers a lot of interesting findings, including the fact that 56 percent of people with phones less than one year old — more than half of those surveyed — use their devices to access the Internet or check e-mail at least monthly. Thirty-six percent did so in the last Mobinet study. security.itworld.com: This piece begins with a joke: The best security advice for people using Bluetooth, the writer says, is to stay at least 30 feet away from everybody. The good news is that businesses appear to be awakening to the dangers posed by Bluetooth. Along with the awareness is the emergence of tools. This piece describes BlueSweep, a Bluetooth identification tool from AirMagnet. BlueSweep identifies Bluetooth devices, shows interconnections between them and displays the services each is capable of providing. Bluetooth is here — and expanding and evolving quickly — and corporate IT departments must be proactive. | | Special Offer: Free Report An Executive Look at the Evolution of Asset Management
This report provides asset management executives and professionals, and IT operations and service planning executives, with insights and guidelines that can assist in enabling new operational and business efficiencies. Through these efficiencies, IT can expect to realize savings in capital expenses and operational overhead, while enabling superior, and more consistent, service quality. Get the report today! | | | | NewsFactor Network: This piece provides some practical ideas on wireless device security. The first line of defense is the password. IT managers also can cut off the flow of e-mail to a device, so a misplaced cell phone can be rendered harmless. Another intermediate step is to remotely change a password or to set one for a device that doesn't have one when it is lost. IT departments can control how many times a user can attempt to enter the password. For instance, the machine can lock if more than five inaccurate passwords are input. In more extreme cases, the IT department can send a "poison pill" to the mobile device which wipes it clean. Another way to maintain security is to encrypt data. Encryption, however, requires processing overhead and must be used sparingly. The story makes clear that technology only is half the battle. The other side of the coin is to have strong policies that are enforced. The piece concludes by discussing and — by the way it is positioned, advocating — outsourcing of wireless security. BusinessWeek: This piece is a Q & A with a telecom services stock analyst with Standard & Poor's. The overriding point is that traditional telephone companies are losing ground to wireless companies, or the divisions of their companies that run wireless networks. That's no surprise. The point that is driven home is that the loss of subscribers — there are more wireless than wireline customers in the U.S. today — is turning off investors. This hurts budgets, of course, and can lead to problems that are felt by IT departments in terms of what services are available and how well they are supported. The only buys the analyst has are revealing: CenturyTel — a phone company specializing in less competitive rural areas — and Amdocs, a company that makes billing and customer care products for telephone and cable companies. EE Times: There may be nothing new under the sun, but there may be new ways to use it. A consortium led by the University of Delaware is in position to receive $53 million in grants to try to double the efficiency of solar cells within the next four-plus years. The commercial viability of any powering source is whether it works efficiently enough to make it worthwhile to produce the energy. The research aims to hike efficiency to 50 percent from today's yields, which are 24.7 percent of high-end devices and 15 percent to 20 percent for production line gear. The piece doesn't go into details, but an increase along those lines would probably make solar power far more widespread. The Consortium for Very High Efficiency Solar Cells is comprised of 15 universities and corporations, including DuPont and Corning. The group is getting $33.6 million from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and $19.3 from UD and consortium members. The first beneficiary of the cutting edge cells would be the military, but commercial applications would follow. 3 QUESTIONS:
Wireless Concerns About Mobility Grow Deeper
Question: What did the survey show?
Schelle: The users came back with some interesting responses, interesting to me after 20 years of being in the wireless business. We expected people to tell us that they were using wireless devices for e-mail. And in fact about half, a little more than that, came back and said that they were using their devices to access corporate e-mail. Another 40 percent said they also were using devices to access to personal Web mail such as Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, MSN Hotmail, etc. It was also interesting that 60 percent are using text and picture messaging features. And it may be a surprise that 65 percent of respondents said they were using wireless devices to search the Web. Question: What are ramifications to IT of this multiuse approach?
Schelle: I hope it forces an IT manager to think, because what immediately comes to the front of mind is that we are talking about what I call dual use of devices. These PDAs [and other devices] are being used for accessing corporate e-mail which, as an IT manager, I've probably done a lot of things to secure that information ... However, the same device is accessing the Internet which we all know is wide open. I, as a corporate IT manager don't know much about text and picture messaging and the security of that although I think I have to wonder, particularly on the picture messaging side where files are downloaded onto the same device that's accessing our corporate email server. Finally accessing Web-based account that's where spam and viruses are running rampant so for the first time I've got a device that literally in this example is only 25 percent under my control. I really better be thinking about how to get that device secure so that all kinds of problems are not coming in from those other three usage modes. Question: It sounds like IT departments have to worry about more things — such as personal use of business devices and use of unauthorized devices — that may be hidden from them. Is this so, and does it put even more emphasis on strong policies and their enforcement?
Schelle: For really again the first time I've got a device that is moving all over the place, accessing all kinds of different networks ... Wi-Fi hot spots, cellular data network, live LANs, my wireless LAN. They are doing some business functions, some not-business functions. I really better be thinking about how do I look at that device and how do I control it. Through all the variety of uses comes a variety of vulnerabilities. When we look at what users thought were the issues, they really said, "Hey, I'm worried about the protection of the data on the device." I always say data can be lots of things — e-mail contacts, calendars, pictures, songs. Sixty-seven percent said that they are worried about protecting that data. Sixty-four percent are worried about losing the devices. That's something new for corporate IT people because not many people lose their laptops, but lots of people lose their cell phones and PDAs ... Lastly, 61 percent — still a good majority — are worried if data is secure when transmitting through hotspots or cellular networks. The net of this — people said in the survey — because we are very worried about that stuff, my organization has slowed down buying wireless devices and services. That has impact on the corporation ... we all know and believe there is great ROI in mobilizing the workforce, but we are afraid to do it. I think the response is putting together a policy telling the users what the policy is, what will the policy let them do with the device, what data can be stored, what tools can be used to access corporate networks. That's the bright line here. Because devices are not expensive, people are buying them, showing up in the office and saying, "I'm ready to sync." The bright line is IT saying, "Hey, if you want to access the corporate network then I need you to do X." | | Also from IT Business Edge: Voice & Data Convergence Voice & Data Convergence examines the strategic and tactical implications of emerging IP telephony technologies, from VoIP services to advanced CRM systems to security considerations. Find out what every IT decision maker should know. Click here to sign up! | By the Numbers
21 million Approximate number of people from 5 to 19 years of age who had cell phones at the end of 2004, according to IDC. More than 20 million T-Mobile USA subscribers at the end of the third quarter, according to the company. 106 percent Wireless text messaging revenue increase in the U.S., according to Analysys. Wireless messaging accounted for 4.8 percent of operator mobile services revenue. This number will grow to 10 percent by 2008. Breaking Headlines
Audio Visual Information: NEC, which recently performed a trial of high-speed downlink packet access (HSDPA) 3G technology with Vodafone K.K. in Japan, said last week that it is making the technology available commercially worldwide. The test, according to the story, provided adequate performance and functionality. It supported high-speed Internet access, consecutive data transmissions and roaming. Deployments will begin this autumn and operational trials will be conducted in Europe and Asia. The system was jointly developed by NEC and Siemens.
Search Engine Watch: One of the key tactical decisions a content provider must make is how best to adjust its content to play in the mobile world. The new Google Local service does this by stripping down to the bare minimum the information that normally would flow to a PC. For instance, the information detailing a business is limited to the address and phone number, with an option to call it via VoIP. Driving directions take the same minimalist approach: Results are given on a line-by-line basis. The entire itinerary is not provided. The full-fledged version must be used for directions for a long trip. Phones must be Java-enabled to use the service, this story says. ComputerWeekly.com: QualComm, which is defending itself in legal imbroglios in the U.S. and Europe, is turning the tables by suing Nokia over patent infringement issues related to GSM and 2.5G technology in the wireless device maker's handsets. The suit claims that Nokia is illegally using Qualcomm patents in delivering General Packet Radio Service and Enhanced Data GSM Environment (GPRS and EDGE) data services on the 2.5G wireless networks. A statement from Nokia says that Qualcomm hasn't engaged in license negotiations and that filing a suit without taking that step is unusual. Emerging Trends
Techworld: Several months ago, a company called xG introduced a technology, xMax. The company made aggressive claims about the distance that xMax could transmit wireless signals. This is an interesting diary of an engineer who went for a field demonstration of the equipment. The demo was across swampland in Florida. Perhaps the most interesting elements of the piece are the steps the testers took to make sure the results weren't faked. For instance, the visitors moved the transmitter slightly out of alignment with the receiver that was far away. The fact that the signal faded on an attached oscilloscope is evidence that the test was legitimate. If the reading was internally generated — i.e., bogus — the direction of the antenna in relation to the transmitter wouldn't matter. The visitors also used Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) readings to determine if they were as far away from the transmitter as xG claimed. The story says that the technology passed those tests and lays out some real-world problems xMax could encounter. Network World: Those who like the fact that there always seem to be a lot of new wireless technologies on the horizon also will like the fact that venture capital firms are queuing up to invest in wireless and wireless broadband companies. This story, which reports on the MoneyTree Survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers, Thomson Venture Economics and the National Venture Capital Association, says that during the third quarter 41 wireless-related companies received $455 million in investment funding. That brought the three-quarter total this year to 114 companies and $984 million in investment. In all of 2004, 135 companies were given investments of $1.1 billion. The top investment was in FiberTower, a wireless backhaul company, which scored $150 million. Wireless messaging application and service provider Visto got $70 million. ComNews.com: Generally, mobile workforce support refers to what IT can do to help traveling employees in other departments do their jobs from the road. In some cases, however, the skill sets are pointed inward to IT itself. This is a nice case study on how the IT department of the city of Norfolk, Va.— which is spread over 64 square miles and supports 70 wide-area network (WAN) sites — is using Internet protocol (IP)-based keyboard, video and mouse (KVM) technology to enable engineers to control the network infrastructure from remote locations, including their homes. The piece was written by Avocent, one of the leading KVM vendors. KVM over Ethernet has long been used by IT departments to make data centers run more efficiently and, by controlling gear from outside the data center, keep the sensitive servers relatively safer. Until the advent of IP, however, KVM was a short-range (usually in-building) solution. IT Business Edge: Empowering a Mobile Workforce
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Since late 2001 Carl Weinschenk has been a freelance information technology and telecommunications writer. His work has appeared online and in print at mobilepipeline, America's Network and a variety of other publications and sites. He is a contributing editor to Communications Technology magazine. Previously, Weinschenk held staff editing and writing positions at InternetWeek, tele.com, Cable World and Cable Marketing magazines. You can reach him at mobile@itbusiness
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