The Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) grilled SF's director of technology on the muni-Fi bidding process: The oversight committee is concerned that the county board of supervisors--SF is both a city and a county--will be presented with a foregone conclusion that requires and up or down answer. Chris Vein, the tech director, said it wouldn't play out that way. This IDG article notes that a Comcast cable franchise decision was packaged in that way....
Minneapolis bidder offers cut-rate plans, more details: Two finalists remain in building a citywide fiber and wireless network: US Wireless and EarthLink. The former proposes a $16/month rate for low-income residents; regular rates would still undercut current cable and DSL broadband pricing. (Until the incumbents offer 1-year, 60% rates as they have in other communities.) The article notes Minneapolis will shift $1.5 to $2.5 million in telecom costs (voice and cellular) to the new network, while US Wireless estimates $25 million in expense to build the hybrid network. EarthLink did not provide a number. US Wireless also plans to deploy what sounds like 4.9 GHz public safety wireless alongside regular Wi-Fi. EarthLink will use a VPN and a VLAN, although the article makes it sound like it's just a VPN. US Wireless will use WiMax for backhaul; EarthLink will use Motorola Canopy, which ain't far from WiMax. (The article paraphrases an analyst, who says EarthLink "every third Wi-Fi hot spot would relay information back to the data center through a series of Wi-Fi interconnections." It's a paraphrase to be sure: it's not Wi-Fi at all, but unlicensed point-to-multipoint.) The article ends with a local group's position that the city shouldn't bid out and contract out this network. The city's point person says words that should please every moderate, while probably inflaming pro- and anti-municipal advocates: "The city lacks the money, competence and ability to build and manage that kind of a network right now."...
15-year-old prompts free Wi-Fi in Carlisle: The downtown business association in the Barough of Carlisle liked Thomas Blitz's notion of free Wi-Fi downtown. It's in three restaurants--free of charge from PA.net--and more may come. PA.net also put Wi-Fi in the nearby public library....
Navizon Combines Cell, Wi-Fi Signals for Positioning
Navizon offers some competition to Skyhook: This new service from Mexens Technology uses a form of peer-to-peer mapping. The seeding must come from people with either cell radios or Wi-Fi built in who also have a GPS (Global Positioning Satellite) receiver. These seeders can upload their information regularly, while all users of the service--currently free--can receive downloads of new locations when they synchronize. The company also ties into Google Maps via its Web site to show registered users locations that have been mapped. Registration is also free. This is an interesting variation on wardriving which requires enlightened self-interest to succeed: Volunteer enough foothours of mapping and, if others do the same, a city could quickly be well-covered. Navizon also adds applications, like finding buddies or (soon) tagging information to locations. The missing piece in reading this Wi-Fi Planet article is whether once a city has a basic level of coverage that someone with just a cell radio or Wi-Fi could add additional points without carrying a GPS. Skyhook extensively pre-maps a location, but the company told me months ago that their software will report back new information to be integrated from software running in the field on users' computers, too....
At one point, BPL was seen as the third broadband leg: Cable, DSL, and BPL would provide robust competition in the marketplace. Instead, it's turning out to be cable, DSL, and much slower wireless today with WiMax potentially tomorrow. But BPL just got some traction with a Texas deal. Current Communications Group and TXU Electric Delivery will offer BPL to two million Texas customers by the end of 2006 in busy markets like Dallas-Ft. Worth. They've chosen the correct flavor, and that's been one of the battles. Broadband can't transit transformers directly, and the "final 50 feet," let's say, has been tricky. There have been many proposals to stick Wi-Fi transmitters on the transformers to bridge that gap; other methods, which seem superior, extract the data from the line coming into the transformer and connect it to the feed to a customer's house. The latter is what Current/TXU seems to use because customers need only plug in a device into an power outlet to use the service. TXU will pay $150 million to Current for a variety of utility-related services that the network will allow, including monitoring for line breaks and potentially remotely turning off service, which requires a truck roll now. I've heard from other utilities that remote meter reading is huge as well. Electrical meters are replaced on a regular duty cycle that can span decades, and there's always new construction. This allows a rollout of BPL-based meters to a relatively large minority of homes quickly. Because these two firms are using the direct outlet method of BPL, devices like soda machines could report their status....
Dealmac is reporting a semi-ridiculous low price on this best-selling Linksys model: The WRT54G--almost certainly the new version that can't be modified with homebrew firmware--is $54.99 with free shipping at Amazon, but with a coupon code and a rebate coupon, it's just $37.24. Read Dealmac's instructions to get the bargain....
Who's Hot Today? Phoenix (Ariz.), the State of Maine, Aurora (Ill.), Farmers Branch (Tex.)
Phoenix activates airport: The retro-futuristically named Sky Harbor International Airport has free Wi-Fi everywhere but at check-in. The airport is a hop, skip, and a jump from Tempe, which is unwiring entirely. The state of Maine sets goal for rural broadband: The governor wants to extend broadband to a large portion of rural areas that have none now--places with five people or fewer per square mile by his definition. He also wants ubiquitous cell coverage, which will cost about $55 million. The article oddly omits mention of Midcoast Internet Solutions, which has been using relatively inexpensive off-the-shelf equipment since 1999 to beam broadband all over. They serve a big chunk of Midcoast, which starts about an hour from Portland. (I lived in Midcoast Maine for two years in the early 90s: we still paid extra for Touchtone service back then to give you some idea of the state of telecom.) It does mention Ubiquitair, which serves the Casco Bay (Portland area). Aurora, Ill., approves muni network: The city was first to electrify and now has $5.6 million budgeted for a municipal wireless network. They'll also spend $7.8 for fiber optic connections among city buildings, which likely replaces a lot of fixed-line recurring costs. The city will use gaming proceeds to service the network debt, but expect it to pay for itself in reduced telecom charges over time. Farmers Branch, Texas, hires Tempe-unwirer: The 12 square miles of this town near the Dallas-Ft. Worth airport will be lit up with a municipal network by NeoReach. This project explicitly promises voice, data, and video....
Seattle Post-Intelligencer business reporter John Cook blogs about Vivato's demise with a Washington State focus: The city of Kent, a booming town near Seattle, just deployed a Vivato switch. Spokane, where Vivato had its engineering HQ, has been running a network downtown. Southeast Washington had a 1,500-square-mile network served by Vivato equipment. (Not mentioned: Portland, Oregon's VeriLAN, which launched with Vivato gear and still has a Vivato switch pictured on their home page.) Of particular interest to existing deployments is what happens when equipment breaks, as Vivato has discontinued support. Interesting, the City of Spokane's large deployment--at one time dubbed the largest municipal wireless network in the US., Cook notes--has only 80 users per day. The company received over $65 million in capital during its lifetime. Update: John Cook filed a longer story with more details in Tuesday's Post-Intelligencer. He spoke to a range of Vivato users. The folks at Columbia Rural Electric, which cover 1,500 square miles with Vivato equipment, cleverly hired a Vivato engineer....
Penn.'s Ironclad Municipal Broadband Law May Be Fuzzy
Interesting article out of the Northeastern Penn. newspaper about Wilkes-Barre's municipal Wi-Fi plan: There was a rush to get the network underway by Dec. 31 in this city in order to beat a deadline in the now-infamous law that almost scotched Philadelphia's broadband plan. But this article examines the details of what's known as Act 183. The law appears to state that any municipal broadband network that isn't in operation by the end of this year can only be built if the incumbent carrier is notified of a city or town's plan to build such a network. The carrier has two months to respond and, if they respond that they will build their own network, have 14 months to build it, the article says. (This part is tricky as the law could allow extensions of this time indefinitely.) The article points out that the definition of municipal broadband isn't very tight, and that it's unclear whether hiring a private contractor, having a non-profit that actually signs a contract (as in Philly), or not using public tax dollars would all exempt a city from these terms. Verizon's attempt to clamp down on municipal broadband has certainly failed on three counts. First, the publicity surrounding the submarine law created a national outcry and a loud debate with many sides involved. It spurred development of municipal broadband in cities that never considered it before. Second, Verizon was forced to sign a waiver for Philadelphia to get the law passed. Third, the actual law appears to be vague enough that Verizon would have to sue municipalities that choose to believe that it doesn't cover many kinds of networks being built. That lawsuit would almost certainly backfire as well....
The local power utility is delaying the rollout of Dunedin, Florida, Wi-Fi network: The company that the city contracted to install a Wi-Fi network has been unable to secure an agreement so far with Progress Energy, which controls the poles. The city thought it owned the poles, but had given them to the energy firm three years ago. This isn't unusual: the pole rights are governed by a variety of regulations, and sometimes utilities accept maintenance responsibilities in exchange for easier access for their own purposes. The energy company isn't per se opposed to having Citi WiFi, the contractor, put Wi-Fi transmitters on its poles. But they don't have a streamlined process for it and they have to conform to the rules set by FCC and state rules. These rules usually require certain kinds of non-discriminatory access mediated by space on the poles and other factors. Update: City WiFi's Frank McCarthy wrote to correct a few details. First, as the article I link to notes, City WiFi currently has approval for 8 of 10 poles they requested. Second, there is Wi-Fi service running now with transmitters on city-owned buildings and other facilities; that started up in June. Third, Progress Energy initially stated that City WiFi would never get access to any power distribution poles; that's changed. PE is apparently now saying that City WiFi still can't have access to light poles, but McCarthy expects that position to change with negotiation, too. City official are committed to making this happen, and their political pressure is apparently helping. City WiFi's experience should be both a cautionary tale of dealing with utilities that have their own agenda and regulations, and a point of optimism that politicians can provide a push to cut through delays and recalcitrance....
With Vivato ceasing operations yesterday, it's high time to look at three wireless data firms hailed as having revolutionary technology around the same time: My colleague John Markoff at The New York Times wrote three stories on the future of wireless technology in 2002 and 2003 that shaped the way the business community viewed the future of wireless data at home and for business use. Each story focused on one company and its context in the larger world of Wi-Fi and broadband wireless. The first piece was in June 2002, on Etherlinx, a firm that claimed to have created a combination WLAN (wireless local area network) and broadband point-to-point router using SDR (software-defined radio), off-the-shelf equipment, and a modified version of the Wi-Fi protocol. The second article appeared in Nov. 2002 about Vivato, which introduced multiple-antenna technology that would allow entire floors of buildings or large and distant outdoor spaces to be lit up with much greater ease than anything that existed at the time. Separately steered "beams" of Wi-Fi could be managed with separate characteristics--switched, in fact. The third feature in Aug. 2003 focused on Airgo, which had developed chips based on MIMO (multiple-in, multiple-out) technology. They claimed that through the use of spatial multiplexing and better use of antennas they could extend Wi-Fi's range and speed. Let's look at whether the technology these firms represented have turned into marketplace ideas. (I come not to bury Markoff, but to vindicate him...) Etherlinx: WiMax and preceding broadband wireless standards use non-Wi-Fi technology for final-mile, point-to-multi-point connections at high speeds. This technology preceded Etherlinx, and was still very expensive at the time their coverage appeared in 2002. Many companies now make equipment that could ultimately serve residential customers through inexpensive home gateway (customer premises equipment or CPEs). Some of the CPEs may ultimately have two radios: one for WiMax or mesh Wi-Fi reception; the other to create a local WLAN. Two radios allow coordination of channels. Etherlinx's Web site hasn't been updated since about 2003. The last I heard from anyone at the company, they were trying to get details changed in long-ago published stories about the company related to staff. Vivato: Smart antennas reach further. Multiple antennas produce spatial separation for increasing throughput in the same amount of spectrum. Switched WLANs produce better management control with less fuss. All of these ideas--some of which preceded Vivato--are thriving. Beamforming and spatial multiplexing using multiple antennas is the basis of 802.11n and is found in dozens of consumer gateways. Switched WLAN architecture--using access points that are coordinated centrally--has replaced using centralized equipment that relied on beams, but the switched nature has persisted. Vivato ceased operations yesterday. Airgo: Airgo just released its third-generation MIMO chips which have a raw maximum rate of 240 Mbps, which translates to over 100 Mbps of real throughput, exceeding widely available wired Ethernet for the first time. (The trick is dynamically expanding to use 40 megahertz of spectrum, or the equivalent of two Wi-Fi channels, along with two spatially separated data streams: this is roughly four times Wi-Fi's capacity of 20 MHz and one data stream.) Airgo has been vindicated in the marketplace, although it's still a startup company fighting for its business among giant chipmakers and scrappy, but older chipmakers. It's holding its own through constant innovation. The incorporation of MIMO as a significant element of 802.11n through proposals that may cut Airgo out of the negotiation process may give an edge next year to other manufacturers. Scorecard: The technology Markoff wrote about over this two-year period represented fundamental changes in the broadband and networking market, and all the ideas contained within the products--whether they originated them or were preceded by similar ideas or products--have come to market as significant forces that will dominate the industries in which they're deployed....
Vivato has ceased operations according to a company spokesperson: I confirmed via a spokesperson Thursday night that early enterprise wireless switch maker Vivato has shut down. Unstrung was reporting earlier today that the buzz on the street was a Dec. 20 halt. A reliable source told me this evening that the shutdown had already occurred, and I was able to confirm it late Thursday with the company. Update: The company posted what it calls its "wind down plans" on Saturday on its home page. They will liquidate the inventory and will have a portfolio soon of intellectual property to sell off. Vivato made news in Nov. 2002 when John Markoff filed a major business story in The New York Times about the then-revolutionary product that Vivato was slated to introduce the next year. The company's braintrust was extolled, and the firm had prototypes to show off. In the months that followed, they offered extensive demonstrations of their technology, which involved a phased-array antenna that was intended to control and receive signals intelligently, steering Wi-Fi to users and being highly receptive to distant transmitters. The demonstration worked terrifically. A number of San Francisco-based journalists and community wireless advocates put a demonstration switch to the test and were quite honestly amazed. But in practice, the multi-thousand-dollar gateway couldn't be put into effective production. Delays dogged the company as, according to reports I received, the units coming off the production line were incapable of achieving the expensive, handmade prototypes' characteristics. Originally, the system was billed as delivering three simultaneous steered beams across entire floors of buildings from indoor placement or entire sides of buildings from outdoor locations, but that appears to have been impossible to achieve. I knew that Vivato might not be able to deliver because a major PR effort to broadcast Wi-Fi across Central Park quietly failed for technical reasons--it was never announced publicly and those involved didn't want to talk about it. At the same time, normally straight-talking people within the company couldn't give me a clear and frank answer as to delays in production. The firm reportedly created an inventory of its 802.11b switches which came on the market just after 802.11g hit ratification, making them obsolete for enterprise purposes on delivery. The inventory of that first-generation device were unsellable at retail because of performance and the 802.11g issue. A number of gateways were sold off around the country to smaller firms, colleges, and institutions at bargain prices. Several colleges I've spoken with have one or two Vivato 802.11b gateways for lighting up arenas or other outdoor spaces. An 802.11g switch took a while to produce, but it limited claims to a single steered channel when it shipped in 2004. They paired this switch with a much cheaper bridge that would fill in niches that the main device couldn't cover. Between shipping their 802.11b and 802.11g switches and thereafter, founders, key executives, and engineers left the company. The firm refocused on outdoor markets, like ports and stadiums. As Vivato's first and later products came to market, another firm was gaining interest: Airgo. Airgo's multiple-in, multiple-out (MIMO) technology--also first reported by Markoff in the Times 10 months after his Vivato piece--would turn out to be cheaper and simpler than Vivato's approach, and, more importantly, the first generation of the chips in products shipped in late 2004 and worked as advertised. While a single MIMO gateway can't cover an entire floor of a business, a single Vivato gateway can't serve enough users; Vivato's monolithic approach wasn't compatible with the scale of users, purposes like VoIP over Wi-Fi, and the throughput that's now demanded in enterprises. MIMO hasn't penetrated the enterprise yet, but as part of the 802.11n standard, it's the direction to invest in by company IT departments. Simultaneous with the growing awareness of impending MIMO shipments in 2004 was the maturation of the wireless LAN switch market. WLAN switches, unlike Vivato's beam-forming antenna, could coordinate access points located throughout an enterprise. The first devices generally required a special Layer 2 switch to which the APs had to be directly connected; that difficulty was relatively quickly eliminated in most products by 2004, which then supported Layer 2 tunneling for APs to be located anywhere on a network and controlled centrally. Cisco's acquisition of Airespace, one of the largest revenue-producing startups, marked the acceptance of that trend into the mainstream, as did Aruba landing the Microsoft contract for their main campus and worldwide offices. Vivato's approach turned out to be the wrong one from so many angles, although aspects of the first Vivato switch have permeated the market in a more mature, cheaper, and flexible form. You can read Wi-Fi Networking News's extensive historical coverage. [Several links via TechDirt, which has followed Vivato closely]...
The Wi-Fi-enabled music player technology will appear at the Consumer Electronics Show: I received an in-person demo months ago of MusicGremlin's very interesting technology which keeps a music catalog resident in portable devices that license the technology. Any users near to other MusicGremlin subscribers can exchange music files freely because the files use digital rights management (DRM) to secure playback. Thus users who choose to enable sharing can let other people view their collections. The system can use ad hoc Wi-Fi networking or wireless LANs. It could also work with 3G cellular networks; it's ecumenical. I've been waiting for the company to announce a hardware partner, as they didn't plan to manufacture their own devices. Apparently, they were tired of waiting themselves and will release their own hardware in the first quarter of 2006. The company has licensed music via MusicNet, 2,000,000 songs in full. They'll have a variety of options, including a monthly unlimited music subscription, a la carte pricing, per-song downloads, Web-based listening, and preset music channels....
Hawking introduces USB adapter with an 8 dbi antenna: This thing looks very 1950s sci-fi retro, but produces a remarkably strong, directional signal. It has five LEDs that show signal strength, too, which should help improve directionality. It'll retail for about $70. Now there are two approaches to reaching further with Wi-Fi: brute force and smart antennas. This is the prettiest example of brute force I've seen. But is it better than beamforming and spatial multiplexing in MIMO's finesse?...
Who's Hot Today? Indianapolis (Ind.), Manhattan (NYC)
Indianapolis airport unwired: AT&T (formerly SBC) has installed its FreedomLink service through this airport. Service is included in FreedomLink plans, or $7.95 per day. New York City looks at municipal Wi-Fi: There's a bill to create a commission that would study affordable broadband for residents. The bill will be voted on Dec. 21. The mayor hasn't said whether he'll sign it....