I help companies capitalize on wireless applications. 

Is there a need for wireless?  Check out this article by Dan Briody of Red Herring Magazine.  For a brief, non-technical, discussion of wireless, you might want to read Easy as A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H and I in the January 1, 2003 edition of CIO Magazine.

Please contact me at (775) 287-7399 or alan@alanjordan.com for information on any of the following or on using Microsoft's .NET Technology to develop wireless applications.

Wireless falls into these categories:

PAN	Wireless Personal Area Network (Bluetooth) Radio-based cable replacement technology. It is the the emerging wireless standard for device-to-device communications.  For example, having a refrigerator communicate with a cell phone.  The advantages of Bluetooth include the fact that it is low cost, low power consumption, compact enough to fit into devices where the amount of space available to install a chipset is very small and the fact that many companies support Bluetooth.
UWB	Ultra Wide Band - A digitally-enhanced radar technology that enables users to transmit encrypted voice and radar signals simultaneously, using short rapid-fire Morse code-like bursts. It promises high-speed short-range wireless connectivity well beyond the scope and applicability of Bluetooth. It uses very low transmit power, often in the picosecond [one trillionth (10-12) of a second.] but can still maintain a high data rate. It operates in the time domain rather than the frequency domain, with its signals consisting of high-speed electromagnetic pulses rather than sine waves.  Hundreds of pulses are sent each second. Each pulse lasts under a nanosecond. UWB waves traverse many frequencies unimpeded and unnoticed. UWB technology has been successfully used by the U.S. military for decades.  Regulatory approval for selected use has already been granted in the USA (3.1 GHz to 10.6 GHz) and approval in Europe and Asia is expected soon. Many objections are being raised by incumbents who feel threatened by it.  The Wireless LAN community is very vocal because it offers a transmission speed of 11 Mbps which is extremely slow compared to the 500 Mbps speed offered by UWB. Note:  Rather than broadcasting on separate government-auctioned frequencies, UWB blasts signals across the entire radio spectrum. Without a finely tuned receiver,  UWB appears as noise. Because they are not assigned to a specific frequency, UWB signals are difficult to intercept.  Furthermore, they can be digitally encrypted for security purposes.  UWB allows for high-speed transmission, and the signals are not hampered by buildings.
LAN (Grass root technology that you can implement in your own home or offices if you buy the equipment. Uses spectrum that is free for public use.)	Wireless Local Area Networks - This is the type of network that you see people use when they hook into a wireless network in a college, stock exchange trading floor, airport lounge, or restaurant.  The service can be provided for free to anyone who has the correct hardware to use it, or a charge can be accessed. There are several standards.  Wi-Fi or Wireless Fidelity  -According to the Wireless Alliance, Wi-Fi networks use radio technologies called IEEE 802.11b or 802.11a to provide secure, reliable, fast wireless connectivity. A Wi-Fi network can be used to connect computers to each other, to the Internet, and to wired networks (which use IEEE 802.3 or Ethernet). Wi-Fi networks operate in the unlicensed 2.4 and 5 GHz radio bands, with an 11 Mbps (802.11b) or 54 Mbps (802.11a) data rate or with products that contain both bands (dual band), so they can provide real-world performance similar to the basic 10-Base T Wired Ethernet used in many offices. 802.11b  - Currently installed in 15 million to 18 million homes and offices worldwide. The networks provide wireless Internet access within a radius of about 300 feet of an access point. According to WiFiNetworking News, "802.11b has become the only standard deployed for public short-range networks, such as those found at airports, hotels, conference centers, and coffee shops and restaurants." 802.11a - Designed to reduce interference.  It is considered more secure than 802.11b, transmits at 5 GHz and sends data up to 54 Mbps using OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing). It is not compatible with Wi-Fi or upcoming 802.11g products.The downside is that the range is about 60 feet, not 300 feet.  At the moment, 802.11a and 802.11b are not generally compatible.  802.11a.  However, some companies are starting to make chips that handle both standards.  Example:  Synad MercurySG Dual Band IEEE 802.11/a/b/g chip. According to Jim Geiger's article The BIG Question: 802.11a or 802.11b? for 802.11Planet, currently, 80211a is attractive when: Significant RF interference is present within the 2.4 GHz band. The growing use 802.11a operating in the 5 GHz band will avoid interference caused by of 2.4 GHz wireless phones and Bluetooth devices.   There's need for to support high end applications involving video, voice, and the transmissions of large files and images.  You need to support many end users in a common area, and they compete for the same access point, with each user sharing the total throughput.  802.11a will handle a higher concentration of end users and offer greater total throughput. 802.11g  - is much faster, although it operates in the same radio frequency as Wi-Fi - You might consider it a hybrid:  802.11a operating in 802.11b spectrum band. Equipment using 802.11g can download files or access the Web at 54 megabits per second, compared with Wi-Fi's rate of 11 megabits per second. It is also more secure than Wi-Fi and is compatible with existing Wi-Fi networks, meaning customers could use an 802.11g card to access a Wi-Fi access point. Useful Tutorials by 802.11Planet  Interesting Article Comparing Technologies 1/20/03 by By Jim Zyren, Eddie Enders, and Ted Edmondson for Semi Conductor Business News.
WAN   §	Wireless Wide Area Networks (WWAN) (Extension or replacement of wired LAN) §Devices use digital cellular phone networks to transmit data §Provides high-speed data access from diverse geographic locations §Various competing global standards and technology   Wide Area Network Not to be confused with WWAN, these are a conglomeration of LANs.  For example, Oracle has many offices spread across different metropolitan cities.  They need to connect the LANs to make them into a WAN.

• If your laptop computer is properly equipped, you can find a site and surf the web from it. Here are two sources for locating sites.  80211hotspots.com and Earthlink's locator, which includes information on free spots as well as hotspots where you can purchase Earthlink's service.  You can also sit at a Starbucks and check emails or surf the web.  As of January 30, 2003, T-Mobile offered unlimited use for $29.99  month. 

• You can surf the web or check you email with a Pocket PC.

• Imagine driving down a street and a pocket computer beeping to suggest that you are five minutes away from a prospect who has not been contacted for three months.

• Or, a stock broker may take a small handheld computer onto a stock exchange floor and make trades electronically. 

By now, you are probably thinking of many ways that wireless applications can help your business to reduce costs or stimulate sales. Please call me at (650) 430-1267 to discuss your needs