Test your memory: the wireless decade in review

Industry analysis by expert Joanie Wexler, plus links to the day's wireless news headlines

How much wireless trivia have you retained?

Much has happened in the 11 years since this newsletter launched. Today's final issue offers a smattering of questions to check how much wireless trivia you've retained. Send your answers to me at joanie@jwexler.com; I'll "grade" your test and send you the results.

1. What company did Cisco acquire in 2005 that added a centrally managed, lightweight AP to its "fat AP" WLAN portfolio?

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How much wireless trivia have you retained?

Much has happened in the 11 years since this newsletter launched. Today's final issue offers a smattering of questions to check how much wireless trivia you've retained. Send your answers to me at joanie@jwexler.com; I'll "grade" your test and send you the results.

1. What company did Cisco acquire in 2005 that added a centrally managed, lightweight AP to its "fat AP" WLAN portfolio?

a. Aironet

b. Wireless Knowledge

c. Airespace

d. Cognio

2. What wireless line-of-sight, broadband last-mile service saved some of us from the agony of dial-up Internet services in the early years of the new millennium?

a. Mobile WiMAX

b. Sprint Broadband Direct

c. Local Multipoint Distribution Service

d. DataTac

3. What were companies called that attempted to host mobile apps for enterprises during the first half of the century?

a. Wireless Application Service Providers (WASP)

b. Wireless Internet Service Providers (WISP)

c. Wireless Cloud Providers

d. Overly optimistic

4. Who bought Good Technology from Motorola in 2009?

a. Research In Motion (RIM)

b. Sybase

c. Visto

d. Flarion

5. How much did the U.S. government make auctioning off 700MHz spectrum in 2008?

a. $19 billion

b. $1 billion

c. Not a red cent

d. $53 million

6. Which company was first to bring a "wireless switch" to market for centralized wireless LAN management and control back in 2002?

a. Symbol Technologies

b. Vivato

c. Black Storm

d. Trapeze Networks

7. Airtime fairness in a Wi-Fi network is:

a. Equal sharing of the unlicensed 2.4GHz and 5GHz airwaves

b. A mechanism that prevents the slowest client from gaiting overall network performance

c. The collision avoidance media access method used in 802.11 networks

d. The Wi-Fi design practice of alternating frequencies from access point to access point

8. What's "BYOD?"

a. A form of mobile device management

b. Corporate liability for compromised customized data

c. The trend for enterprise employees to use personal devices to access corporate resources

d. A mobile cost-cutting measure to buy yesterday's office devices

9. Which of the following is the only possible accurate description of an 802.11n multiple input, multiple output (MIMO) access point?

a. 3x3:2

b. 2x3:3

c. 2x2:3

d. 3x3:4

10. What single event probably was the biggest driver behind the current rash of 3G/4G mobile WAN upgrades?

a. The 2008 spectrum auction

b. LTE-WiMAX competition

c. Verizon standardizing on LTE

d. Apple's introduction of the iPhone

I look forward to receiving your answers at joanie@jwexler.com. And here are a few online spots where you can find me going forward:

* http://communities.motorola.com/community/wireless-insights/reflections

* http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/network-briefs (sign up for wireless!)

* www.thevoicereport.com

* http://twitter.com/#!/doandie

And finally, thanks for reading and writing over the years.

Read more about wireless & mobile in Network World's Wireless & Mobile section.

Joanie Wexler is an independent networking technology writer/editor in Silicon Valley.