Internet Wireless World: Smaller but still cool
But the show made one thing clear: There are many ways to access the Internet without wires.
I'm only guessing, but I think the people who run this show weren't very pleased when attendance began to shrink, over the past few years, at the plain old Internet World show in NYC. So this year they thought they'd focus on wireless access to the Web. Good idea--but not so great when you schedule it at the same time as the 3GSM World Congress in France. One of the shows would suffer. But not the one with a long track record.
IWW takes up about one-fourth of the total space of the Javits Center--or the same amount of space taken up by the recent Linux World Expo. That means three-quarters of the Javits Center was either empty or had workmen preparing for upcoming events in the hall. It's really disconcerting to have carpenters cutting boards in one end of the lobby while you have to search for the small portion of the place devoted to your show.
That said, there were many famous names there vying for your attention--and your dollars--for their wireless wares. There were many wireless ISPs (OmniSky, GoAmerica had big booths); cellular telephone operators (Verizon, Sprint, etc); dozens of wireless application companies touting exclusive ways to reach workers and customers; and even some handheld computing devices--Microsoft was there but Palm and Handspring were notably absent.
The show wasn't a total bust. Some of the things I saw were well worth my time, such as Widcomm's BlueGate Network Access Point. It's really a Bluetooth wireless network hub. The diminutive device plugs into a 10/100 base-T Ethernet port (plus your modem/ISDN/DSL/Cable connection to the Web) and will allow you to network up to seven Bluetooth devices you may or will soon have--at distances up to 100 meters and speeds as fast as 723Kbps. Included is support for Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) for server and client IP address management; Network Address Translation (NAT) to conceal your network's internal addresses from prying Internet eyes; and flash memory for easy remote software upgrades.
If some of that sounds a lot like what you might get from an 802.11b wireless Ethernet setup, you're absolutely right. Except that 802.11 is faster. And at the moment it's much cheaper. Widcomm is expecting to ship BlueGate in the second quarter of 2001 with a retail price of $500. I expect that price to become much more competitive as we see more Bluetooth devices enter the market. There are way too many companies who've invested in Bluetooth technology for it to fail before it gets a chance to prove itself.
Always on
Sierra Wireless was showing off its type-2 PCMCIA card for Ricochet's high-speed wireless network. The Aircard 400 is very similar to Novatel's Merlin card that I tested a few weeks ago. The big differences are that very little of the Aircard sticks out of the PCMCIA slot and that the Aircard acts like a NIC (network interface card) rather than a modem.
That means when you boot up your computer (laptop or handheld) and the Aircard, you're always on the Ricochet network. With the Merlin card, you have to "dial in." In theory, the Aircard should be a bit faster than a Merlin because it doesn't have to use a serial connection. But I noticed I wasn't able to see an Aircard 400 in action.
Sierra Wireless hopes to ship the 400 by the end of next month. Expect prices to be in line with that for the Merlin. Check with a wireless ISP for details.
Speaking of PCMCIA cards, I found a special one from the people at Cynet. It's a Type-3 wireless access card that runs on this country's analog cellular system (AMPS). Cynet's Complete Wireless Modem covers the United States, Canada, Mexico and parts of Central and South America. That means the card will work in most places where digital signals can't reach.
The Complete Wireless Modem card takes up two slots in your laptop, but it also allows you to plug in a headset and use the card as a cellular phone! Cynet representatives told me their modem will allow wireless data transfers up to 21.6Kbps and 33.6Kbps when connected to a landline. Cynet's AMPS card won't come cheap. It will retail for $575 (plus analog cellular service charges).
You say you don't have two slots for your handheld? No problem. Cynet's CYPAQ PocketPack is a 2-slot sleeve for Compaq's iPAQ PocketPC. It allows you to use one Type-3 or two Type-1 or 2 cards. It also has a built-in, rechargeable Lithium-ion battery for extended life between charging sessions. The Cypaq will retail for $249.
Things will really get interesting when Cynet releases the Type-2 TriCard cellular/modem card this fall. That will enable users to use the analog network plus digital CDMA and European GSM networks. Sounds like a truly global wireless solution.
Smart phones
As for phones, the most interesting new cellular handset was in the Sprint PCS booth. The LG model 3000I smart phone works on Sprint's 1.9GHz CDMA network and combines 210 minutes of talk and 135 hours of standby time with a Web browser, PDA functions, desktop synch, voice-activated dialing and a built-in speakerphone.
It looks a lot like Ericsson's smart phone, but you hold it vertically instead of horizontally. I expect to try one out soon.
Finally, a small company based in New York and Israel was demonstrating its wireless streaming video technology. Emblaze was proudly showing off what a MPEG4 video stream looks like on a Samsung smart phone. Madonna's "Beautiful Stranger" looked pretty good at 15 frames per second on a 2-by-2 inch color screen - all things considered.
Emblaze sees its product as a perfect tool for companies to keep traveling personnel informed while away from the office. The Emblaze chips and the smart phones that surround them are already for sale in Asia and hopefully will reach us here in the U.S. by year's end.