Powerline Carrier – Close, but Likely No Cigar
I have been experimenting with powerline carrier modems for many years, going back to the first 10 Mbps products of more than a decade ago. These do exactly what you think - turn the electrical wiring in your house into a virtual LAN cable. In one sense, we might even call this wireless, since we're using somebody else's wire. Read more
Farpoint Group’s New Video Series: Farpoint Focus
I have done literally dozens of video productions over the years, but always from the front side of the camera. I know most people working in motion pictures want to direct, but what I really wanted to do is produce. Directing is making sure all of the pieces are there - producing is telling the story. There's concept, scripting, pre-production, scheduling, principal photography, other photography like screen captures, editing and post-production (the really time-consuming part), and final production. Read more
Enterasys Embraces Unified Networking – OneFabric Edge, and Another New Farpoint Group White Paper
Enterasys Networks yesterday announced extensions and new products under the umbrella of OneFabric Edge that augment their OneFabric architecture, announced a few months ago. There's quite a bit here - wireless LANs, a new line (the K-Series) of switches, and, most importantly, unified wired/wireless management. Read more
Management Changes at RIM – But Will Any of this Matter?
The shift in management at BlackBerry maker Research in Motion (RIM) announced over the weekend is, as I previously discussed, a step in the right direction. No more Co-Presidents/Co-Chairmen/Co-CEOs nonsense. But the two gentlemen who previously held all those titles remain on the Board of Directors, as perhaps they might given their large percentage of ownership in the firm. Read more
Wireless is Redefining Retail – Motorola’s New Announcements, and a New Farpoint Group White Paper
There's a popular belief that the Web will eventually eliminate the need for most local retail. OK, a good many retail stores are indeed becoming showrooms for what eventually turns into an online sale for a competitor with lower prices and lower costs. But there's a lot that retailers can do - especially with IT - to remain the preferable alternative to Web-based sellers. Read more
Using Handsets While Driving: A Tale of Two Solutions
OK, I know my (consistent, by the way) support of the suggested ban on using handsets while operating a motor vehicle hasn't been popular. The counterarguments range from the federal government overstepping its bounds (I agree with that one) to the fact that there are many more potential distractions while driving (also true, but irrelevant) to the classic fallback of other-idiots-can't-handle-multitasking-but-I-can. Read more
.11ac on the Move – Broadcom’s Big Announcement
With the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) upon us next week, I'm now drowning in press releases announcing new products that promise to shape the wireless and mobile landscape for 2012 and beyond. And, as I've written previously, the upcoming IEEE 802.11ac standard must already be included among the big developments of the year. Read more
Winding Down 2011
Submitted by Craig Mathias on Wed, 12/21/11 - 8:05am.It's hard to believe, but 2011 is winding down. I remember Y2K like it was yesterday. Ditto for the founding of Farpoint Group in 1991. Time goes by so quickly; everyone is so busy and we have so little time for reflection. So, a little downtime, or, just as good, a little time spent on something other than the usual day-to-day activities, can be very beneficial in providing perspective and reflection. Or, at the very least, a little time to work on the network. Read more
Mobile Unified Communications: Looking at the Benefits – and the Costs
Unified communications can have, depending upon whom you ask, a very broad set of definitions, but the general idea is to logically merge multiple communications modes (say, wired and wireless, or multiple forms of wireless like cellular and Wi-Fi) and to present services running over these in a device-independent manner. In other words, virtualize the telephone and present the same set of services to users whether in the office or on the go. Read more
Year-End Surprise: AT&T Abandons T-Mobile Deal
I really thought the acquisition of T-Mobile by AT&T would go through, but it really is dead. Now, from a competitive perspective, this (as I said earlier) likely wouldn't have been great for the market - fewer competitors inevitably mean less consumer choice, less innovation, and higher prices. Read more
Is It Over at RIM?
When I last wrote about RIM and the BlackBerry mess, only a few months ago, I gave the company more than the benefit of the doubt. Core, major problems have been evident for some time (declining sales are always a strong indicator that something is really wrong at any business), but it was easy to see that possibilities did in fact exist and that a turnaround was possible. Read more
Broadcom: Making the Case for 802.11ac
Last week, I spoke with a senior manager at Broadcom, a company with very deep roots indeed in wireless LANs, and one of the leading suppliers of Wi-Fi chips. The purpose of the call was to explore 802.11ac, the "gigabit-wireless" standard now under development that will operate in the 5 GHz. bands. You will recall that the other standard here, 802.11ad, operates at 60 GHz. Read more
NTSB: Drive Now, Talk Later
In a move that has taken a stunningly long time, the National Transportation Safety Board [http://www.ntsb.gov] today recommended a total ban on talking on the phone while operating a motor vehicle. This would apply not just to hands-free devices, but to any talking or texting - and, presumably Web surfing, watching videos, or anything else (with one small exception for driving-specific activities, like navigation) that today's handsets and cellular networks can do. Read more
Webinar Next Week: Getting Cellular Offload Right
A couple of months ago I wrote about Ixia's recent White Paper on cellular offload best practices, a subject near and dear to my heart. I have been arguing essentially forever that the future of cellular, the wide-area wireless/mobile capability we all take for granted, is now inextricably tied to Wi-Fi, even though Wi-Fi has long been perceived by many as the enemy of cellular operators everywhere. Read more
The Real Value of the TV White Spaces
My session on Commercializing the White Spaces yesterday at the Wireless Innovation Forum's SDR'11-WinnComm conference was very well received. We had a great panel and packed a lot of information into just 40 minutes. The bottom line here is that there really are applications for White Spaces radios. Read more
Are the Carriers Spying On You?
I probably shouldn't be, but I was stunned to read this article from Atlantic Wire, mostly discussing some embedded (to the point of being invisible) software in some smartphones that provides analytical data to the carriers. Read more
Optimizing Wi-Fi Performance: Ruckus Wireless’ ChannelFly
You might think that, what, with all of the capacity-enhancing innovations in wireless over the past few years, like 802.11n and MIMO, that have improved raw throughput from a megabit or two to 300, 450, and even 600 Mbps, there really wouldn't be much need for cleverness when it comes to boosting performance or capacity further. You'd be, of course, wrong to assume this, and for a number of reasons. Read more
Commercializing the White Spaces – This Thursday in Washington
I've written quite a bit about the White Spaces, but most of that has been about the technology and the regulatory environment. Read more
Network World’s 2011 Cool Yule Tools – The List Has Hit the Wires (and the Wireless)
I was about to sign off for the Thanksgiving holiday here, but Keith Shaw mentioned to me that the results of many (very many!) hours of hands-on product testing for this year's record crop (more than 150!) of Network World holiday gifts is now available. I am once again pleased to have had the opportunity to participate as a reviewer, and I also set a record, carefully testing more than 25 products. A few of these made the hits reel, so to speak, and most were just great. Read more
Maybe 802.11ad Will Dominate After All
My last posting on the subject of 60 GHz. WLANs and 802.11ad was a bit cautionary in nature. Following a briefing with the folks at the Wireless Gigabit Alliance (WiGig), I was surprised that I heard a lot about wireless docking, video streaming, and applications essentially WPAN in nature, but relatively little about the 802.11ad WLAN opportunity. I think all constituencies concerned with 60 GHz. Read more
- About Nearpoints
Mathias is a principal at Farpoint Group, a wireless advisory firm in Ashland, Mass.
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