Gerry Blackwell

The Wi-Fi security infrastructure market is getting crowded, and while that may complicate the acquisition process for careful buyers, it is undoubtedly a good thing. Until Wi-Fi is as secure as wired and is seen to be as secure — or at least almost as secure — there are market sectors it will never be […]

The notion that ultra-wideband (UWB), the sometimes controversial unlicensed wireless technology approved for commercial use by the FCC in 2002, could be a competitor for Wi-Fi gained credence last October when Pulse-LINK demonstrated a prototype UWB-based wireless LAN. The Pulse-LINK technology is interesting, to be sure, and will get even more interesting, but the company’s […]

Wi-Fi hotspot operators continue to experiment with business models and opportunities, looking for ways to actually make money at this game. Spotnik Mobile, a Canadian service provider with over 100 hotspots up and running, mostly in Toronto, recently launched a first of its kind that looks promising: a private-label hotzone for a big Toronto law […]

The sports palace corporate suite is usually a place where companies invite customers, prospects and partners to come and relax, schmooze and take in a little entertainment. Future Tech Enterprise Inc. (FTEI) has a different take, though. The New York-based systems integrator has turned its own box at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, home of the […]

Print servers are the latest thing for small offices and home offices. Wireless print servers that use 802.11b (Wi-Fi) technology are cutting edge. Do you need one? It depends. If you have more than one computer that needs to share a single printer, or several computers that need to share a few printers, print servers […]

It’s a great story and a defining public relations opportunity for Wi-Fi infrastructure vendor Tropos Networks. NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Agency, chose Tropos’s Wi-Fi cell technology to test this year at its annual space simulation exercises in the Arizona desert near Flagstaff. Even better, NASA liked what it saw. Don’t expect to see […]

Here’s some good news for aspiring wireless ISPs: outside America’s cities, the Digital Divide continues to yawn. Many rural and suburban markets are still begging for broadband. The bad news for entrepreneurs: in more and more places, established independent telephone companies are stepping in to snap up these opportunities. And they’re using the same low-cost […]

Is there a major market left in North America that doesn’t boast an ambitious regional Wi-Fi hotspot player? The amazing thing is that most want you to believe that they’re in it for the duration and bank on becoming national or even international players, or die trying. Ah, guys, you can’t all do that. Unheralded […]

Marketing technology developer MusiKube has developed a master plan for transforming the ailing music retail industry, and Wi-Fi plays a vital role. The two-year-old company recently announced its first big deal — a pilot of its Wi-Fi-enabled Personal Music Guide (PMG) at UK-based music chain Virgin Megastores‘ San Francisco outlet. During the pilot, set for […]

The other morning at about 10:30 Brent Imhoff received a call on his cell phone letting him know that one sector of his small WISP network was down, again. Imhoff is managing partner of St. Louis-based Brown Dog Networks LLC, a seven-month-old WISP with two wireless POPs, both running 5.8/5.3 GHz equipment from Trango Broadband […]

Despite the best marketing efforts of Microsoft and its partners in the wake of last fall’s launch of Windows XP Tablet edition, most corporate IT departments still view the Tablet PC as a niche technology at best, a solution in search of a problem at worst. But a growing number of small businesses are discovering […]

Even with all the improvements of the last year, wireless LAN security is probably the single biggest hold-back for Wi-Fi in the enterprise. Not that it’s holding it back much, of course — wild horses couldn’t do that — but it remains a constant cause for concern among corporate network managers. A number of vendors […]