Lenovo Buys Google’s Handset Business – What Took So Long?
Google has now officially announced that they are selling the Motorola brand and the Motorola Mobility business to Lenovo, who, of course, are a major manufacturer already in handsets but perhaps best known for acquiring IBM's PC...
Mobility Management: The Rollup Gains Momentum
Wireless LAN leader Aerohive today announced their Mobility Suite product line, designed to address the upsurge in mobile devices appearing on enterprise wireless LANs. There's a lot here - identity management, client management,...
Does Cellular Replace Wi-Fi?
So I had a very interesting conversation recently with a senior executive of a mobility products company who just happened to mention that he thought cellular would eventually replace Wi-Fi. While I obviously don't agree with that...
Wearables – I’m Not So Sure…
I have heard from many people over the past two or three years how they no longer wear a wristwatch. The reason? Why bother - their smartphone does it all, and their smartphone goes with them everywhere. It's a little hard to argue...
A Prayer for 2014
This is the time of year when analysts like to present their key predictions for the coming year. Last year, my big theme was sufficiency - the fact that we had achieved sufficient throughput- and capacity-related capabilities in...
Wireless: Is Radical Innovation Still Possible?
I spoke this week with a senior executive of wireless technology startup MagnaCom a company that made some pretty impressive claims with their announcement of Wave Modulation, or WAM. Among those claims are that WAM offers an...
Looking for Access? Try the iPass Hotspot Finder
I've been playing with Hotspot Finder from iPass, which, as you might already be guessing, helps users find iPass' APs, which the company bills as the world's largest commercial Wi-Fi network. I wish I'd known about this during my...
Farpoint Group Stock Ownership Policy Change
Hey - do you have a company pension plan? I thought not. With longer life expectancies and rapidly-rising healthcare costs, you get to save for your own retirement. And many of us actually end up managing these investments as well,...
What Is Wi-Fi’s Role in the Internet of Things?
The market for Wi-Fi may be on the verge of truly astounding growth - as in, the billions of radios required for the Internet of Things (IoT). Think Wi-Fi is just for client access and the occasional point-to-point or...
Amazon’s Delivery Copters – They’re Kidding, Right?
Since I recently reviewed a cool, better-than-toy quadricopter for the 2013 Network World Holiday Gift Guide, I was intrigued to see the demo of Amazon's proposed octocopter delivery system, wherein packages of up to five pounds...
Upcoming Webinar: 802.11ac Technologies and Deployment Strategies
OK, by now I think everyone is aware of my opinion that the time for 802.11ac is now, whether you're ready for a production deployment (many are), want to try out the technology to see what it can really do, or simply want to prevent...
Time to Retire the Serial Port
I was recently setting up a new piece of networking equipment, and, lo and behold, I needed to do that initial setup via a CLI on a serial port. Yes, I know that testosterone is recharged by such activities; real men configure...
Network World's 2013 Holiday Gift Guide - Something for Everyone
We've completed work on the 2013 edition of the annual Network World Holiday Gift Guide with one of the most diverse sets of great gifts ever. I'm pleased once again to have been part of Keith Shaw's team in testing and evaluating an...
Upcoming Webinar: 802.11ac Security and Assurance
The deployment of 802.11ac, I'm sure we can all agree, is more a question of when than if. It's very clear that the uptake of this new technology (yes, the official standard's still not done; what else is new?) is proceeding faster...
A Farewell to Interop – and Hello to New Network World Events
I have been involved as a speaker at every US Interop event (some of those were known as Networld+Interop) since 2001, and a member of the Advisory Board since 2003 - anyway, thirteen years in all. Interop in many ways is the...
Samsung and Tizen: Will It Happen?
I recent engaged in a point/counterpoint debate with my friend and colleague Michael Finneran on the subject of whether Samsung will eventually drop or at least augment Android with Tizen. You can read the full debate (the link...
802.11ad: Progress at Last
Almost two years ago, I wrote in these pages of my fondness for 60-GHz. radio, and my belief that .11ad would eventually play a major role in wireless LANs and not just outdoor point-to-point links, HDMI cable replacement, and...
The Obamacare Web Debacle: A Cautionary Note for the Cloud
I've been following all of the outrageous news, or hyperbole, depending upon your personal politics, regarding the Website that is a key element of the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, a/k/a Obamacare. And, as I've noted...
802.11ac in the Residence – It’s More About the Range Than the Rate
The announcement of the Netgear R7000 802.11ac router that I recently mentioned led to an interesting conversation with Netgear staff about what's really going on with 802.11ac in the residence. The marketing is all about 1.3 Gbps...
Hacking Dick Cheney: A Cautionary Tale
I've mentioned this before, but what's going to happen when people start dying because the implanted wireless devices that are keeping them alive are hacked? The time has come, just as is the case in any other dimension of wireless...
