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Is Wi-Fi in your future?
Paul Henry,
ATT Research:
Wednesday October 2, 2002 1:00 pm, Rutgers University, WINLAB:
Here we go again. High-tech hypesters have spotted yet another
technological revolution on the horizon and they're sparing no effort
making sure we know about it. Wherever we turn, it seems, we're told
that the era of broadband wireless networking has at last arrived, and
it's called Wi-Fi. Blessed with a snappy new name and an enthusiastic
popular press, the stodgy old IEEE 802.11b has emerged as the
technology that will finally untether us all.
We've heard all this before (think "3G"), so perhaps a touch of
skepticism is in order. But maybe the hypesters have it right this
time. The fact is, that despite serious technical shortcomings, like
poor security and vulnerability to interference, Wi-Fi has captured the
imaginations of a broad spectrum of creative thinkers, from amateurs
who use Pringles cans as antennas, to the decidedly non-amateurish
Starbucks, who believe you'll take that second cappuccino if you can
sip it as you surf. Let us wish these innovators every success,
confident that as Wi-Fi popularity grows, so will the urgency of
eliminating its deficiencies. And we, after all, are the engineers and
scientists who will earn our living doing just that.
In this talk I will describe some applications envisioned for Wi-Fi,
outline technical obstacles standing in the way of success, and suggest
how these challenges can be met.
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