Subject:  The latest in "Blue World" soup (Jonsson).
Date:     Mon, 05 Mar 2001 085523 -0600
From:     Roy Beavers 
To:       undisclosed-recipients;
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........From EMF-L.........

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Boston Globe: Wireless public spaces
Date: Sun, 04 Mar 2001 11:42:15 -0500
From: azul@flash.net
To: Roy Beavers 

Snatching data from thin air: Access goes unplugged

Wireless networks may be next standard for computer users on go

By Hiawatha Bray, Globe Staff, 3/4/2001
The veteran travelers who belong to American Airlines' Admirals Club pay
handsomely for the privilege, so they're entitled to a few extra perks
in their private departure lounge at Boston's Logan International
Airport.

One of those perks is a high-speed Internet access service so advanced
that customers don't even have to plug in their computers to get it. The
entire club is bathed in multimegabit Internet traffic, and laptops with
the proper equipment can snatch the data out of thin air.

Someday soon, you won't have to be an Admirals Club member to get this
service. Airports, hotels, and convention centers all over America are
beginning to ''wire'' their public spaces with wireless data networks
that'll give traveling computer users the same level of Internet access
they would get back at the office.

The most widely used system is called WiFi. It's not an especially
catchy name, but better than the technology's original moniker, IEEE
802.11.

Phil Belanger, chairman of the computer industry association that backs
WiFi, says the system is aimed at business travelers who need broadband
data access wherever they go.

''Our target is the business traveler, enterprise customers,'' Belanger
said. ''WiFi is the standard in the enterprise.''

But it may also become a standard in the millions of homes with more
than one computer. Indeed, Belanger thinks WiFi will become dominant in
the home, but he'll have to fight for the residential market against a
less costly rival standard called HomeRF.

WiFi is also fighting recent reports of the system's vulnerability to
data thieves. WiFi automatically scrambles data transmissions so that
network outsiders can't read them. But computer scientists at the
University of California at Berkeley say they were able to defeat the
system, enabling them to intercept private data sent over wireless
networks.

''There are several basic flaws with the standard. Any one of them could
cause problems,'' said David Wagner, professor of computer science at
Berkeley.

Belanger said the companies using WiFi were aware of its security flaws
months ago and are at work on a fix that should be completed by late
summer. In the meantime, Belanger said, users with a need for tight
security should install some additional software to protect data sent
over a wireless network. For example, many companies use ''virtual
private networking'' software to let workers access the corporate
network via the Internet. The software adds an extra layer of encryption
to prevent snooping.

Concern over security isn't the only reason wireless networks won't
catch on everywhere. After all, most businesses have already laid down
Ethernet cables for their desktop workers. Besides, wired networks are
still more robust and offer higher data transmission speeds. But the
quality of wireless networking is catching up quickly, and the
technology is ideal for the millions of workers who are constantly on
the move.

Wireless networking is an old idea that hasn't been practical until
recently. By the late 1980s, computer networks were a fixture in
corporate America, and it was already becoming obvious that they'd be
even more useful if the data could be exchanged without the need for
wires. So various companies offered a plethora of wireless network
products. Each was incompatible with the others, and expensive as well;
a wireless transceiver could cost $1,500 per computer, plus $3,500 for a
base station to connect all the machines in an office. Besides, the data
transmission rates were far slower than on a wired network - 1 million
bits of data per second, tops.

In order to build a coherent wireless standard, the Institute of
Electrical and Electronics Engineers intervened in 1990 to create an
industry standard, IEEE 802.11. Yet it took seven years to nail down the
standard, and still longer to make the technology cheap enough to become
popular.

The original standard allowed for transmission speeds of just 2
megabits, over distances of about 300 feet, an area large enough for a
good-sized home or office. Since then, 802.11 has gotten faster, with a
top speed of 11 megabits. That's slightly faster than the early
10-megabit standard for wire-based Ethernet.

The breakthrough moment for wireless networking came on a New York stage
in 1999. There stood Steve Jobs, CEO of a resurgent Apple Computer Inc.,
demonstrating a new Macintosh laptop computer with built-in wireless
networking. Apple's 802.11-compatible AirPort system cost $99 for each
computer. Suddenly, a home computer user could set up a high-speed
network in minutes.

So far, IBM Corp. is the only maker of PC-compatible laptops to offer
machines with built-in wireless networking. But a number of companies,
including 3Com Corp. and Boston-based Zoom Telephonics Inc., now sell
relatively inexpensive WiFi cards that plug into existing desktop and
laptop machines. For around $150, any standard computer can now get a
high-speed wireless connection.

A connection to what? Most places frequented by business travelers still
don't offer wireless data. But that's changing Already major hotels and
airports are beginning to install wireless systems in their buildings,
with the aid of wireless data providers like Austin, Texas-based Wayport
Inc., where Belanger serves as vice president of wireless business
development.

A rival company, MobileStar Network Corp. of Richardson, Texas, runs the
wireless service in the Admirals Club at Logan. A visitor with a
WiFi-equipped computer just turns it on and opens up his browser. The
WiFi card automatically detects the presence of a wireless network and
displays a log-on window.

The MobileStar service isn't free to Admirals Club members. MobileStar
charges $2.50 for 15 minutes and 10 cents a minute thereafter. Frequent
fliers can purchase monthly plans ranging from $19.95 for 200 minutes of
use to $59.95 for unlimited access.

The rollout of wireless service in airports hasn't been free from
controversy. Airports in Baltimore and Seattle have delayed the
deployment of such systems. For one thing, they want more research to
ensure that wireless transmission won't interfere with critical air
traffic control radios or navigation beacons. But the airports are also
interested in getting a slice of the revenues generated by wireless
networks.

WiFi will work perfectly well for home users, but Wayne Caswell is
betting it won't catch on there.

''The networked home is quite different from the networked office,''
said Caswell, communications chairman of the HomeRF Working Group.

For instance, the same frequency band used by WiFi is also used by many
home communication devices, such as cordless phones and baby monitors.
HomeRF also uses this frequency band, but it employs a technology called
''frequency-hopping'' that constantly shifts the exact frequency used by
the networking system. Frequency-hopping, say Caswell, makes HomeRF much
less susceptible to interference than WiFi and more secure against
eavesdropping.

Besides, HomeRF products are a little cheaper. Intel Corp. makes HomeRF
networking gear that plugs into a computer's USB port and costs $99 per
computer, about $50 less than the price of WiFi products.

On the other hand, HomeRF currently runs at only 1.6 megabits, far
slower than WiFi. Caswell says the next generation of HomeRF, with
10-megabit speed, will hit the market this year.

Meanwhile, WiFi also is getting faster. Over the next two years, new
WiFi products will offer 54-megabit speed, with a later bump to 100
megabits. That's fast enough for transmission of full-motion video
images and crystal-clear sound, all without having to plug in anything
except, perhaps, a power cord.

So in a couple of years, weary travelers may be able to watch their
favorite films and TV shows, beamed wirelessly to their laptops. And
they won't even have to join the Admirals Club.

Hiawatha Bray can be reached by e-mail at bray@globe.com.

This story ran on page 01 of the Boston Globe on 3/4/2001.
© Copyright 2001 Globe Newspaper Company.


Archive provided courtesy of WaveGuide, http://www.wave-guide.org
Reprinted with permission of Roy Beavers, http://www.emfguru.com