Net.Worker briefs

Survey debunks telework myth, U.S. is behind in its fiber, Proxim announces new 802.11 products

• A new survey debunks a commonly held belief: The University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business found U.S. workers with Internet access at home and at work spend more time at home surfing the Web for work than they do surfing the Web at work for personal reasons. The school’s 2002 National Technology Readiness Survey found workers spend 5.9 hours per week at home online for work, and only 3.7 hours at work online for personal business. Conducted last December, the phone survey was based on results from 501 respondents.

• In fiber to the home deployments, the U.S. lags behind Korea, Sweden, Japan and Italy, according to a new report from Instat/MDR. North America accounts for roughly 50,000 subscribers, while Asia-Pacific and Europe account for 390,000 subscribers, according to “Fiber at the Speed of Light: Coming to a Neighborhood Near You.” Success in other countries is credited to strong encouragement by their telecommunications ministries. Today, in the U.S., FTTH accounts for less than 1% of total broadband subscriber market. But Instat forecasts a compound annual growth rate of 49.6% from 2003 to 2007, and predicts that in 10 years, FTTH will be where DSL and cable are today.

• Proxim recently announced an Orinoco AP-600 line of 802.11a, b and g wireless products, geared to small to midsized businesses, schools, and small hotspots. Security goes beyond Wired Equivalent Privacy encryption, offering 802.11x support with autokey management, as well as per-user, per-session encryption keying, and EAP support. The access points are upgradable to Wireless Protected Access through a firmware upgrade. Available now, the AP-600b and AP-600a cost $395 and $549, respectively. The AP-600g will ship this spring and cost $495.