Will Tablets Kill E-Readers?
So I've gotten a bunch of calls lately asking exactly that, no doubt spurred by the Apple iPad announcement. But I think this whole issue is much more complex than first meets the eye, begging a couple of far more interesting additional questions. But, still, it's fair to ask - will tablets kill e-readers? Read more
RCA's Airnergy: Yes and No
I was over at Network World recently to meet with John Cox, and ran into Matt Hamblen of Computerworld (see his article on the subject at hand) who wanted to talk about RCA's controversial Airnergy announcement at CES. If you've not seen this (don't look for it on RCA's Webs site; there's nothing there), it's a small box that, so RCA claims, converts Wi-Fi signals into DC energy capable of recharging a mobile device, such as a cellular handset. Read more
Cisco's Hidden Video Announcement
You're going to be hearing a lot about video on wireless LANs this year. I've been sending relatively low-bit-rate (3 Mbps) video around my house for a long time, with satisfactory results on the small (monitor) screen and acceptable results on the big (projector) screen - the latter over two wireless hops, by the way. Read more
Apple's iPad: No Surprises - Except One
My previous musings on the Apple tablet (now the iPad) were pretty much on target. OK, one notable exception - I had assumed that if the product were larger it would actually be a Mac. It became clear towards the end of last year (how come this company can't keep secrets anymore? Because they don't want to, perhaps?) that Apple was going the iPod route. So what we have here is a big iPod touch/iPhone (in some models), essentially a line extension. Read more
Why I Love the Otterbox
I ran into the marketing team from Otterbox while changing planes in Denver on my way to CES, and stopped by their booth on the show floor. This visit was motivated partially by the fact that there is a huge opportunity in aftermarket handset cases, and approximately a zillion vendors showing tens of zillions of these at CES. Read more
Guaranteeing WLAN Performance: Meru Rolls Out Service Assurance Program
Buying an enterprise-class WLAN usually boils down to guessing at the number of APs required (whether, BTW, one does a site survey or not), working up a budget, and then negotiating the best price and fixing the inevitable missteps in the production deployment with more APs and assorted configurational changes. Needless to say, customers would like a little more determinism in this process, especially as WLANs become the norm in mission-critical settings, multi-application environments, and especially as WLANs become the primary or default access for just about anyone with a mobile PC. Read more
Key Theme for 2010: Unified Networking
I've written about unified networking many times over the past few years, the idea here being that the seemingly natural division between wired and wireless LANs isn't quite so natural, and that a key to lowering costs, particularly operational but also capital, is in thinking unified across all portions of the network value chain: planning, deployment, and particularly operations. Read more
Nexus One - A Big Mistake?
Don't get me wrong, there's a lot to like in the latest from Google. This is one of the most powerful handsets available, thanks to the Qualcomm SnapDragron processor. I like the USB and SD expansion ports. The OLED screen is the latest and greatest, and it's gorgeous. It's huge at CES. When Verizon has it, I'll consider it as a replacement for the Samsung Omnia I currently use. We certainly have here a worthy competitor to the iPhone, although, of course, there is still no such thing as an iPhone killer. Read more
Measuring WLAN Performance: Ruckus Goes Open Source
As you probably know, I spend a lot of time benchmarking and otherwise testing wireless LAN systems. This is a tricky business; I've written widely on the topic, and the bottom line here is that it is very challenging in a freespace environment to definitively compare two different systems. We can of course use the same benchmark tools and traffic/load parameters in each case; the process here is essentially identical to what we'd do in the case of wire. But wireless introduces two additional variables over which one doing the testing has no control: Read more
2010: Meet the New Boss - Same as the Old Boss
The holidays were filled with speculation about the upcoming Apple Tablet product. As you know, I don't comment on rumors; there's enough hype and nonsense floating around without more contributions of questionable value. I did, however, write last year that, IMHO, I believe that Apple is developing a tablet-like device in the (revised here to; inflation and all) $600-$900 price range and that it will be a monster in the market. Read more
Closing Out 2009 - Ease of Use Still Isn't Easy
Apple prides itself on ease of use - and I suppose, if one always uses the defaults they pick, Apple has achieved that goal. The Mac has proved remarkably reliable around here, especially after all those years with almost every release of Windows and the zillions of problems and hundreds of hours wasted due to complexity, unreliability, bad design, and just plain bugs. Read more
Farpoint Group Wins Prestigious "Best" Award
I am pleased (OK, not) to announce that the US Commerce Association has awarded my company, Farpoint Group, with their "2009 Best of Ashland Award in the Radiotelephone Communications Category". Wow! Really? The best in Radiotelephone Communications in all of the thriving metropolis of Ashland, Massachusetts? Yes, indeed, you can read the press release here. Read more
Hacking the Predator Drone – Piece of Cake
So I’m flipping on the news at zero dark thirty this morning, and, to my surprise, I discover that the video feeds from the Air Force’s super-duper unmanned Predator intelligence-gathering-and-Hellfire-missile-launching aircraft are unencrypted. Read more
Too Much Stuff in the Thing?
Hey, you’re probably reading this on your handset while you’re out shopping for holiday gifts, and, if you’re like me, you’re probably looking at all of the cool new consumer electronics products available. A noticeable trend in recent years has been electronic devices becoming distinctly more multi-function in nature. The wireless handset has in fact become the poster child for what some might call excess. It started, of course, as a phone, but then that subsumed the PDA and the smartphone was born. Read more
MobileIron, Mobile Device Management, and More on Personal Liability
I spoke with Bob Tinker, CEO of mobile-device-management vendor MobileIron last week about their announcement, made yesterday, of the newest version of their Virtual Smartphone Platform product. I've known Bob since his days at Airespace, which was of course acquired by Cisco and now forms the core of Cisco's WLAN product line. Read more
Casio's Ruggedized Handsets - A Lesson for Us All
An organization called Pepcom holds regular product-showcase events for the analyst and press community, and there was one in New York last week concurrent with Interop. I love these, primarily because it's a great way to see what's new in technology products in an easy-to-navigate environment well-staffed with vendor experts. Read more
Who Should Own the Enterprise Handset?
Farpoint Group has historically taken the view that enterprise handsets, like all other elements of enterprise IT, should belong to the enterprise. This is based on the observation that one cannot manage what one cannot secure, and one cannot secure what one does not own. Security must be paramount in essentially every enterprise, but, let's face it: Read more
What to Give (or Get) for the Holidays - The Annual Network World Gift Guide
OK, so I'm not getting a handset based on a standard cellphone architecture for the holidays this year. And, OK, granted, for this I may have to wait well past next year for this. But that doesn't mean that there aren't a whole bunch of other cool gadgets out there just waiting to warm the hearts of your favorite techno-nerd in 2009. For just a few examples, check out this year's edition of the always-eagerly-anticipated annual Network World Holiday Gift Guide. Read more
How Come We Don't Have a Standard Handset Architecture?
We wrapped up the Mobile Business Conference at Interop last week with three excellent sessions from Lisa Phifer on mobile management, both technical and operational. Among many other topics, Lisa mentioned the concept of personal liability, wherein employees use their personal cell phones for company business. This is already a common phenomenon, I know, but there are a good number of operational, practical, and financial concerns inherent here. Read more
Does 4x4 MIMO Make Sense? Yes x Yes!
As I mentioned before, I'm at Interop New York all this week, where I once again have the privilege of Chairing the Mobile Business element of the event. The best part about attending a conference often isn't the conference sessions or even all the cool new products on the exhibits floor. It's the discussions with attendees and speakers that (most often) occur in the hallways. Read more
- About Nearpoints
Mathias is a principal at Farpoint Group, a wireless advisory firm in Ashland, Mass.
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