________________________________________________ RFID News and Analysis (9-9-04) ThingMagic Cuts Platforms with RFID (9-9-04)
As retailers such as Wal-Mart Stores begin using Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) systems to track inventory they are finding one major draw back, compatibility. RFID allows a computer network to track an entire warehouse of merchandise. However, different developers have chosen different platforms and standards, forcing users to stick with one system. Massachusetts start-up, ThingMagic, founded by some of the original developers of RFID, is developing a reader that cuts across all platforms. ThingMagic's Mercury-4 platform allows readers to be programmed to read various types of tags simultaneously, as well as process and manage the data. (Source: Dow Jones Newswire) Sybase Plans to Reveal New Details on RFID (8-20-04)
According to a New York Times report, Sybase plans to outline its radio frequency identification plans (RFID) and reveal details on updates to its products. At the company's upcoming customer conference, the software integration company plans to discuss a wireless computing initiative using RFID and plans to strategize on how to recruit customers experimenting with radio tags. Sybase would not give specific details. However, the company reported it is focusing its development on managing data collected from remote devices. The company expects to release RFID related products in late 2004. (Source: New York Times) Analysis: A welcome back-end development, even if short on details Wirelessly Scanned Bar Codes Make Info Transfer Easy (6-10-04)
Bar codes in Japan aren't just for tracking inventory; new "Quick Response (QR)" barcodes hold a wealth of information for mobile phone users. Wireless phones can scan the barcodes and transfer information such as entertainment listings, maps, web sites and contact information to the device. Operators hope the new technology will encourage users to spend more time and money on their wireless service. QR codes can be found on business cards, books, maps, advertisments, and newspapers. (Source: Reuters) Analysis: This could conceivably replace or compete with many types of emerging RFID applications enabled by low cost RFID chips... Wireless to Improve Healthcare (6-10-04)
Wireless will improve healthcare, according to a study by UK-based consultant firm Wireless Healthcare. The study said consumers will become more informed by using wireless phones to get information via RFID tags on food and over-the-counter items. The healthcare industy can also benefit from efficiency gains by using wireless technology, which will pave the way for next generation providers, the study said. (Source: Mobile Pipeline News) Analysis: Hopefully these consumers won't get ulcers from worrying about their privacy... | Radio frequency identification (RFID) technology promises to speed the supply chain, but some fear it will tell retailers too much. A measure by Senator Debra Bowen (D-Redondo Beach) to set privacy standards for the use of RFID (define) in stores and libraries passed the California Senate on a 22-8 vote Thursday. The bill was the result of two sets of hearings held by California's Senate Subcommittee on New Technology, which Bowen chairs. "There's no reason to let RFID sneak up on us when we have the ability to put some privacy protections in place before the genie's completely out of the bottle," said Bowen. SB 1834 permits stores and libraries to collect the same information they already collect now using bar codes, while at the same time banning the use of the technology to track people as they shop or after they leave the store. RFID technology automates the collection of the same kinds of data carried in barcodes. Instead of the printed barcode, a tiny transponder, called a tag, carries the data. An RFID reader activates the chip when it comes into proximity, collecting the data, which is immediately sent to a central database. However, while barcodes typically offer generic information, such as "Peas $0.99," a project by EPCglobal, a retail and manufacturing consortium, hopes to create a unique identifies for each and every can of peas and every other product in the retail supply chain. Privacy advocates fear RFID will become as omnipresent as video surveillance and give marketers an even more sophisticated way to track people's whereabouts, interests and habits. For example, could a store's RFID readers collect information on what products a shopper previously purchased? "RFID technology gives the store -- and anyone else with an RFID reader -- the ability to collect that type of information, assuming a person's clothing and items in their wallet or purse have RFID chips embedded in them, tie it to their name, and build personal profiles on just about anyone," Bowen said. The senator's bill limits the information that can be collected to the actual item a customer is buying, renting, or borrowing; it also precludes tracking anything the person may have picked up but put back while shopping, or what they're wearing, among other such information. SB 1834 now moves to the Assembly, where it will be heard in June. Analysis: We will need to assume a regulation like this will become common place Airespace and Bluesoft Partner to Bring Ubiquitous Wireless Location Services to the Enterprise (5-11-04) via WirelessDevNet.com Airespace, Inc. and Bluesoft, Inc. announced today a strategic agreement that will enable enterprises to better track mobile devices for increased productivity and security. Under terms of the agreement, Airespace will integrate Bluesoft's AeroScout(R) active WLAN Radio Frequency ID (RFID) tag with the Airespace Wireless Enterprise Platform as part of the Airespace Wireless Location Services (AWLS) package. The addition of an active 802.11 RFID transceiver to the new Airespace platform enables a complete end-to-end location tracking system that provides new inventory management, auditing, and security capabilities to business environments.
The Network is the Scanner
The complete Airespace Wireless Location Services package announced today (see accompanying release, "Airespace Introduces Industry's First WLAN System with Advanced Wireless Location Services for Better Asset Tracking and Tighter WLAN Security..."), includes Airespace's advanced location tracking software, a standalone location appliance, robust Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), and a new active RFID transceiver from Bluesoft. Unlike traditional passive RFID devices, the new solution does not require dedicated readers, but rather allows the WLAN network to act as a long-range reader, locating wireless devices and active RFID tags anywhere within the network.
The Airespace RFID tag, based on Bluesoft's AeroScout technology, is a Wi-Fi compatible device designed for seamless integration into WLAN environments. Key features of this product that enable anytime, anywhere tracking of mobile devices include:
-- Active beaconing technology: the Airespace RFID transceiver uses active beacons that can be tracked by WLAN access points located several hundred feet away
-- Compact case that can easily be mounted on any surface
-- Powerful, replaceable battery that provides up to 3 years of continuous service
-- Channel sensing technology to avoid interference with other WLAN traffic
"Traditional RFID tags are playing a transformational role in the supply chain," said Matthew Glenn, director of product management at Airespace. "Our partnership with wireless positioning leader Bluesoft provides a critical extension to our location services as increasingly ubiquitous WLAN networks provide comprehensive asset tracking and location services to the enterprise marketplace."
Platform Interoperability for Broad Application Availability
The Bluesoft and Airespace solutions will interoperate in a flexible manner to provide location functionality across a wide range of environments and for many applications. The API included in the AWLS package is interoperable with Bluesoft's AeroScout Location API, enabling customers to benefit immediately from applications already integrated with Bluesoft's AeroScout WLAN Location System. In addition, the Airespace active RFID tag will also be interoperable with Bluesoft's AeroScout system for applications that need high-precision outdoor location functionality.
"As a company that sets the standard in enterprise Wireless LANs, Airespace is a superb partner to extend the use of our unique Wi-Fi based active RFID tags," said Andris Berzins, VP Marketing and Business Development for Bluesoft. "Our customers now have the option to use our tags in any enterprise application, such as a corporation tracking overhead projectors or a manufacturing facility keeping tabs on expensive equipment. Customers benefit from integration with the applications that we and our partners provide to create immediate value from location information."
Analysis: Cool! Microsoft Partners Reach New Heights in Radio Frequency Identification Technology Through Use of Microsoft Platform (5-6-04 via Directions Magazine) | | Redmond, WA — Microsoft Corp. announced the formation of a new Microsoft Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Council focused on RFID technology. The group will look at RFID requirements and how to take advantage of today's technology to make it easier for retailers and manufacturers to track and ship merchandise. The company also highlighted a growing ecosystem of partners that are building innovative RFID solutions on the Microsoft® platform to enhance control of key business processes, improve inventory visibility and provide better customer service for manufacturers, distributors and retailers. RFID combines the benefits of the silicon chip and radio frequencies to provide increased levels of product and asset visibility across the supply chain… More | Analysis: I'm surprised it took them that long... Sensing Opportunity in Mad Cow Worries By ALINA TUGEND (NY Times) - 3-1-04
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Dawn Villella for The New York Times Ear tags with Digital Angel chips allow Protein Sources Swine Farm in Cokato, Minn., to track its livestock using bar codes, scanners and computers. David Fitzsimmons had just tagged this two-week-old piglet. |
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| | |  rom cows to cats, the work of finding and identifying animals is becoming more high tech. And that could prove promising for the Digital Angel Corporation, a St. Paul company that has been tracking livestock for six decades.
After two bumpy years, Digital Angel has installed a new management team and smells opportunity in the global war on mad cow disease and in technology for locating everything from lost pets to downed pilots. "All it takes is for one more case of mad cow, and watch things take off," said David Talbot, managing director of the brokerage firm Melhado, Flynn & Associates and an investor in Digital Angel. In December, after the Agriculture Department announced the first case of mad cow disease in the United States, Digital Angel's stock more than doubled, peaking at $5. It closed yesterday at $2.99. The company already has a hit product in its Home Again microchips, which can be implanted in pets and read with a scanner for identification. About 70,000 animal shelters and veterinarians around the world have the scanners, and more than 2 million of the nation's 100 million pets have received the chips. The chips are about the size of a grain of rice and are injected with a syringe. "They have been a growth business for us every year for the past three or four years," said Kevin N. McGrath, who became Digital Angel's chief executive last month. The company predicts that sales of the chips will increase substantially this year from $8 million last year, when they accounted for one-fifth of revenue. A rival company, Avid Identification Systems of Norco, Calif., says it has implanted its FriendChip tracking devices in about five million pets in the United States. But Digital Angel says it has a patent on a product that will go a step further and allow veterinarians to use its scanners to take pets' temperatures, as an alternative to the current rectal procedure that often causes animals to panic. The product, called Bio-Thermo, is being tested in Britain and will be marketed in the United States in about six months, Mr. McGrath said. Digital Angel also has high hopes for devices that track helicopters and downed pilots. It recently bought Outerlink, a company that provides satellite-based systems for locating and communicating with helicopters and other vehicles like trucks. And it reports strong demand for beacons made by its Signature Industries subsidiary that help find pilots who have bailed out of planes. Mr. McGrath says the Royal Air Force in Britain has purchased 5,000 of the beacons, using some of them in Iraq, and it plans to replace them with new models next year. The Indian Air Force has just signed a $7.5 million contract to buy an unspecified number of them, he says, and his company has begun demonstrating them to the United States Army. Eventually, the technology could be used with services aimed at consumers, to find, for example, lost hikers, skiers or sailors, Mr. McGrath says. Digital Angel has longstanding ties with government agencies to track both wildlife and livestock. It has contracts with the Energy Department worth about $9 million a year to determine the impact of hydroelectric dams on salmon by tagging the fish and tracking their movements. It also has a small contract to supply the Agriculture Department with radio-frequency identification tags and microchips for tracking sheep, which are vulnerable to a degenerative disorder known as scrapie, and captive deer and elk, which can suffer from chronic wasting disease. Both afflictions are similar to mad cow disease. But perhaps Digital Angel's biggest business opening is the sudden urgency of the worldwide effort to contain mad cow disease, a fatal condition that in rare cases has been transferred to humans. In the 1990's it swept through Britain, creating havoc for beef farmers as sales fell at home and abroad. In the United States, the Agriculture Department is considering a measure to require electronic ear tags on all of the nation's 95 million cows by July 2006, up from just 10 percent today, to enable it to trace their origin and contacts with other cows. A national tracking system like this would replace the current state-by-state patchwork of rules, according to Scott Stuart, president of the National Livestock Producers Association. Depending on how it is set up, the program could be worth millions to Digital Angel. "If we get 50 percent of the market, we're not talking hundreds of millions'' in sales of livestock-tagging gear, Mr. McGrath said, but even so, sales could "double or even quadruple'' from last year's $7 million. Digital Angel is in a good position to cash in on the trend toward cattle tracking, but there are lots of competitors, Mr. Stuart warns. AllFlex USA Inc. in Dallas dominates the market internationally, though primarily in nonelectronic visual tags. Eventually, implanting cattle with chips might prove popular, but that is probably a long way off, given many ranchers' preference for old-fashioned hot-iron branding, Mr. Stuart said. Some cattlemen even consider ear tags an invasion of privacy and a potential liability threat, he said. "You hear people say, 'It's not for me,' but we say if we don't have a good system in place, their whole population could be wiped out." Both Digital Angel and AllFlex say they are getting a lot of attention from potential investors, the livestock industry and state governments. "It's a very dynamic time," said Glenn Fischer, AllFlex's senior vice president in North America. The companies say they see great potential in Brazil, which has no national identification system - but does have 150 million head of cattle. Digital Angel says it is pursuing deals in Latin America and is also looking at Europe, especially Scotland, which plans a tracking program for its sheep. The company's new management team has taken charge over the last six months, led by Mr. McGrath, a former vice president at the Hughes Electronics Corporation. Digital Angel, which is 73 percent owned by Applied Digital Solutions and has 250 employees, has been making plastic tags for livestock for almost 60 years, originally under the name Fearing Manufacturing. "It used to be a paper tag glued to the back of an animal," said Kevin Nieuwsma, president of the company's radio-frequency identification division. "Then, there was a plastic-coated tag in the ear," still the most popular method, though electronic tags began to replace them in the 1980's. Digital Angel has fallen on hard times in recent years, posting a loss of $92 million on sales of $33.6 million in 2002 and a loss of $4.9 million on revenue of $28.1 million in the first nine months of last year. Mr. McGrath attributed the poor performance to increased development costs and several write-offs, some related to acquisitions. "The real operating losses are closer to $9 million," he said. "That's why I can speak with a reasonable degree of confidence about the future.'' He predicted an end to the red ink sometime this year. Other people inside and outside the company said it had spread itself too thin. "The company made a bunch of big bets," Mr. McGrath said. "It's not that they shouldn't have made them, but they shouldn't have made as many." One big disappointment was an investment in a wristwatch that relied on the Global Positioning System to keep track of children or aging parents with Alzheimer's. The technology did not live up to its promise, Mr. Talbot said. "The past is messy,'' he said, but "the future looks quite exciting." Analysis: Digital Angel has the inside track on this technology, but others are not far behind. The markets for this kind of technology is virtually untapped. _______________________________________ Target announces RFID Mandates for Retailers (Source: ABI Research) - 3/1/04 Continuing the worldwide RFID supply chain adoption push, Target, the fourth largest US retailer, announced supplier RFID mandate plans last week. In broad terms, Target’s announcement furthers RFID’s push for legitimacy in supply chain visibility initiatives. In more direct terms, it signals that consumer packaged goods (CPG) suppliers should reconsider short-term minimalist RFID compliance efforts and look at a more holistic enterprise, with a cross-customer focus and long-term RFID solution planning, notes technology research firm ABI. When Wal-Mart bespoke its RFID mandate in spring 2003, its suppliers progressively educated themselves on RFID and its potential in the warehouse and supply chain. When the Department of Defense (DoD) and leading European retailers decreed 2005 mandates, suppliers, still not convinced these commitments would intersect, pushed separate trials within warehouse and distribution center settings. Now, however, Wal-Mart is not alone in U.S. retail RFID compliance issuance. With an RFID hardware, software and integration services market expected to exceed $7 billion by 2008 according to ABI, Target’s RFID announcement genuinely commits suppliers to multi-customer commitment that is not tied to Wal-Mart’s three Texas-based distribution centers. New RFID-enabled supplier distribution center locations mean either increasing one-off RFID out of the box solutions, or pushing larger, integrated RFID solutions that span multiple locations across the country. In short, CPG suppliers must now ask: how many $250,000-$500,000 RFID-in-a-box compliance products do we buy before we shift directions and plan larger, more IT-focused supply chain and enterprise RFID solutions? With recent RFID initiative announcements from Cisco, Microsoft, Oracle, SAP, and TIBCO, traditional enterprise application, software, and networking companies are sensing larger interconnected RFID opportunities. Approaches and insights to these business issues are addressed in ABI Research’s RFID Subscription Service. The information service follows the technologies for RFID applications, including asset management, supply chain management, and point-of-sale, and also covers RFID standards, applications, and vertical markets. Selected RFID vendors, integrators, developers, and IC manufacturers are profiled, along with their various technologies and product offerings. For more information on this study, please visit http://www.abiresearch.com/reports/RFID _________________________ Daimler Accepts Some Blame for Toll Venture By MARK LANDLER (NY Times)
 INDELFINGEN, Germany, Feb. 19 - A day after the board of DaimlerChrysler announced that it would extend Jürgen E. Schrempp's contract as chief executive, Mr. Schrempp ran into a storm of questions on Thursday over the company's role in a botched highway toll collection system in Germany.
Mr. Schrempp, who appeared at DaimlerChrysler's financial news conference in this suburb of Stuttgart, admitted that the company had stumbled on the project, which the German government angrily canceled this week, after technical flaws repeatedly delayed its operation. "Mistakes were made by all sides, that is quite evident," Mr. Schrempp said. "We don't want to escape responsibility." The futuristic system, which is designed to track and collect tolls from trucks with a network of satellites and wireless transmitters, was supposed to set the standard for Europe and the world. Instead, it has become a humiliating symbol to many here of the decline of German engineering. The German government has threatened to hold DaimlerChrysler and its partner, Deutsche Telekom, liable for damages in excess of 6.5 billion euros ($8.2 billion). The companies are already paying 250,000 euros a day in fines, a penalty that will increase to 500,000 euros a day next month. Mr. Schrempp said he was confident the sides would resolve their differences. He disputed suggestions that the debacle had sown broader doubts about DaimlerChrysler's reputation. "Despite all the justified criticism, there is a chance, even with this long delay, to make the system work," he said. "This is a highly complex system, and if it materializes, it will be an E.U. standard." For Mr. Schrempp, the problem-plagued Toll Collect project only makes his sales job more difficult. DaimlerChrysler said it had taken a charge of 250 million euros ($317 million) in 2003 to cover its share of the losses at the venture, plus provisions to pay fines for failing to complete it on time. But the bigger cost may be to the company's image. When DaimlerChrysler and Deutsche Telekom signed a contract with the government in 2002, they made grand promises about how quickly they could design and build an exceedingly complicated system. When one deadline after another passed, the partners settled into a surly standoff with the government. Analysts say they were in over their heads. "To use satellite-tracking technology, allied with mobile phones, should work in theory, but nobody has ever done it in practice on such a grand scale," an analyst at Standard & Poor's, Robert Bain, said. The German transport ministry has given the companies two months to come to a new agreement, which would include stiff damages. Otherwise it said it would solicit new tender offers for the project. Mr. Aney said DaimlerChrysler would probably pay a fee to settle the dispute. Analysis: While I have not seen any technical assessment of the problems with this hybrid of RFID and GPS technology, my hypothesis on the issues are: - Did not scale the project appropriately with a phased rollout (e.g. alpha, beta, then individual market trial and finally full rollout)
- The RFID technology selected in terms of tags and readers were either inadequate or the assumptions at which they were expected to operate were too optimistic. For example, any combination of the read range of any given type of tag in the truck combined with the data speed of transmission between the reader and the tag translates into a maximum speed of which the truck could travel going through the reader. Whatever this speed is, it is possible that the assumption was incorrect (e.g. the trucks moved too fast)
- The volumes associated with the system overwhelmed the supporting infrastructure. In particular, the integration of these technologies (customer using and back-office) was potentially flawed/inadequate.
- As more detail emerges we will update these hypotheses; this has significant implications for future applications that are based on a hybrid of RFID and GPS technology
Steve Wozniak Works On Tracking System (1-12-04) Source: http://online.wsj.com By DON CLARK Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple Computer Inc., has lined up Motorola Inc. to help build an unusual wireless network to help people keep track of things. Mr. Wozniak's closely held company -- dubbed Wheels of Zeus Inc., or WOZ -- is developing a system that uses low-cost radio tags that could be attached to objects, people or animals. By combining satellite location-finding technology with radio base stations, the tags could help consumers or companies protect goods against theft and ensure the safety of children and pets, Mr. Wozniak said. Motorola's broadband-communications unit, which makes products such as modems and television set-top boxes, will be a "prime partner," Mr. Wozniak said, licensing WOZ's technology and developing components of the system. He said he expects the collaboration to bring initial products to market this year. Officials at Motorola, of Schaumburg, Ill., said it is too early to tell whether that schedule can be kept, but expressed enthusiasm for the effort as part of the company's "connected home" strategy. "It's an innovative design," said Vince Izzo, a director of business development in the Motorola unit. "People have things they care about, both people and businesses." WOZ, an acronym that is a play on Mr. Wozniak's nickname, has been vague about aspects of its technology and business strategy. But the Los Gatos, Calif., company plans to license elements of its technology to other partners, and operate other parts as a service, he said. It is clearly Mr. Wozniak's most ambitious entrepreneurial effort since he and Steve Jobs started Apple in 1976. The new venture, founded in 2001, was partly inspired by Mr. Wozniak's difficulty in locating his dogs after they got past an electronic pet fence. He also was interested in ways to combine the global positioning system, the network of location-finding technology known as GPS, and aspects of other wireless communications networks. Many other companies plan to deploy another kind of electronic tagging system known as radio-frequency identification, or RFID, for uses such as tracking goods in warehouses and stores. But those tags have an estimated range of only about 30 feet, Mr. Wozniak said, and in practice have much shorter range. By contrast, Mr. Wozniak said WOZ's base stations will have coverage zones as large as 10 square miles. The company's technology is designed to send data at relatively slow rates, which helps to conserve battery life. If the tags are inexpensive enough, Mr. Wozniak said, companies could attach them to all kinds of assets, such as vehicles or computers. So could consumers, and parents who want to track their children's whereabouts. Each tag receives GPS signals to help track its location, Mr. Izzo said, and also sends signals to the base station. A consumer might buy a tag and a portable base-station device, with a display, that would alert them if a pet or child exceeded a designated area, he said. WOZ has discussed with groups of parents or homeowners setting up networks of base stations on a voluntary, collaborative basis, to extend their coverage area. But Mr. Wozniak said he now also expects partner companies will help set up such devices, similar to the way wireless "hot spots" have sprung up in many businesses using a technology called Wi-Fi. Analysis: Steve to-date has been "a little bit late", or, "a little bit too soon"...his timing might be right on this one... 'Mad' Scramble for Electronic Livestock Tracking
By Susan Kuchinskas The U.S. livestock industry doesn't operate on Internet time. But if ever an enterprise cried out for real-time information, it's this one. Since the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) identified the country's first case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy -- the dreaded mad cow disease -- in a cow in Washington state, sales of U.S. beef have been banned in over 30 countries. Now, USDA officials say they want the beef industry to fast-track its adoption plans for a national identification system of tracking cattle from birth to slaughter and beyond. The industry could end up adopting a system similar to the Canadian Cattle Identification Program adopted by its northern neighbor, which uses Radio Frequency Identification (define) technology. Given the USDA's new urgency, it's no surprise that RFID vendors are crying out that they have the solution for tagging and tracking the livestock. Advanced ID (Quote, Chart), a Calgary, Canada-based RFID company registered in the U.S., is one of the leading companies providing RFID tags for Canada's livestock-tracking system. It's about to start a large scale test of its higher-frequency read/write tags on cattle in Argentina, which suffered a recent outbreak of hoof-and-mouth disease. "The initial tracking number is hard-wired at manufacture," said Barry Bennett, the company's president. "As you go along, you can add information and either lock it or write over it." The tags store up to 1,000 bytes of data. Other companies offer RFID technology combined with biosensors and global positioning technology in meat safety systems. Digital Angel, a majority-owned subsidiary of Applied Digital Solutions (Quote, Chart), said its implantable RFID chip measures an animal's body temperature, which can help identify one that's sick. The St. Paul, Minn.-based company's products have been deployed in Canada's National Cattle Identification Program since 2000, and the company claims that its system can isolate a suspected animal and pinpoint its source of origin and all subsequent movements within 48 hours. Global Technology Resources (GTR), a Starkville, Miss. company, claims it can whittle that time frame down to 15 minutes for one person using its Web-based tracking system. The company says it has customized a biosensor that provides early detection of foreign-born pathogens. Combined with RFID technology, it can detect and report irregularities quickly -- before the contaminated flesh is commingled with that of healthy cows. "We can take a cow from the farm to the sale yard, to slaughter and grinding, out to the end user," said Global Technology Resources President Paul Cheek. A demonstration of the system revealed details of individual shipments including the name of the truck driver, license plate of the truck and when delivery was taken. Cheek was sketchy on details of the process because the company's patent applications are in review. Nor could he divulge the name of a major U.S. food processor that has tested the system. The company recently formed a strategic alliance with Ernst & Young's global investigation and dispute practice, in which the consultants will resell and install GTR's systems. Cheek said use of his company's system might add less than a penny to the cost of a pound of beef, depending on volume. Meanwhile, the additional information can be used to increase efficiency, while the producer may be able to charge a premium for meat that is guaranteed to be untainted. If contamination does occur, the amount recalled may be just hundreds of pounds of beef rather than millions. Although the U.S. meat industry has been working with the USDA on a national livestock ID policy since April 2002, concerns among industry producers over the cost to implement the system and potential liability have slowed its progress. As of October 2003, the National Identification Development Team, a U.S. industry consortium with around 70 members, had set a standard of 48 hours for tracing an animal back to its origin, and identified key data elements: a uniform premises ID system, a national numbering system for individual animals and another national numbering system for lots or groups of animals. Prior to the mad cow case, the task force proposed using either physical tags or RFID tags, with a target date of 2006 for electronic tracking of all livestock movement. "This is not something that just happened since last week," said Robert Fourdraine, COO of the Wisconsin Livestock Identification Consortium and co-chair of the national task force. "That plan is a solid foundation for this country to get the answers we're looking for. But funding has to be made available." The task force estimates it will cost $500 to $600 million to create the infrastructure. That includes creating the national database of producer locations, figuring out where to locate RFID readers and installing them, providing handheld readers and the purchase of some tags. The sum does not include the ranchers' labor of tagging the animals. Beyond the question of funding for its technology upgrade, the cattle industry has to figure out how the millions of local producers will be incorporated into a national ID system. In GTR's system, for example, not only every slaughterhouse, but every cattle bin needs a unique identifier. And in the messy world of livestock production, that's not so easy, according to John Maas, a rancher and veterinarian at the University of California at Davis. "Cows aren't raised in a box," he said. "These animals are moving." He said that depending on how tightly the USDA wanted to define the premises on which the animal is raised, it might be extremely difficult to locate fixed scanners. Maas said he worries about the integrity of the database and about liability for the original owner of an animal. For example, if he sells a cow and it escapes through its new owner's fence and gets hit by a car, could the driver sue him for damages, just as gunshot victims are suing gun manufacturers? "This is a question that must be answered to the satisfaction of the cattle industry before we agree to any program, in my opinion," he said. "The technology is fantastic," Maas added. "You look at the problem and say, 'This is so easy to fix.' But the problem is the cost and the infrastructure to do what technology would allow us to do." Analysis: One of the companies in this article is a client, as such I cannot comment. |
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Location-Enabled Wi-Fi News and Analysis (3-3-07)
Location-enabled Wi-Fi Market Heating Up
By Eric Griffith, Wi-Fi Planet 3/3/07
The Wi-Fi Real-Time Location Services (RTLS) market is on fire with new announcements this week, many coming out of the location-heavy needs of the healthcare industry as shown at the HIMSS (Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society) Annual Conference & Exhibition in New Orleans through March 1.
First up is AeroScout, with new Wi-Fi tracking tags. The T3 tags have a new, flatter shape they call "credit card" rugged, and consume less power than previous versions, with up to four years of battery life. The tags use both RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indication) and TDOA (Time Difference of Arrival) to be located by the software running on the wireless LAN. If anyone tries to tamper with the T3, it will send an alert across the network. There's two buttons on it for calling and alerting people. The company also announced a major hospital deployment (with partners Cisco and Emergin) at the University Hospital of Ghent in Belgium. Aeroscout, which is based mainly in Israel, received $21 million in its C round of venture capital, for a total of $55.5 since it was founded as BlueSoft in 1999.
Ekahau, which announced its own new tags last week (complete with tiny text screen) announced at the show a partnership with Nortel Networks. The Ekahau Positioning System software and tags will be coupled with the Nortell WLAN 2300 series for customers. Ekahau also offers a software "tag" to put on devices like laptops to make them equally trackable. (Nortel has also upgraded the voice capabilities and intrusion protection of its equipment.)
PanGo Networks upgraded its RTLS software, the PanOS Platform, to version 4.5. They may be one of the first to embrace more than just Wi-Fi for tracking, however. PanOS will support infrastructure using 802.15.4 radios (the kind used for ZigBee controls), plus ultrawideband (which could provide accuracy down to the inch) and even infrared. 802.11a/b/g will continue to be supported (11n is on the roadmap for the future).
PanGo upgraded its tags to a third generation a few weeks ago, bringing all the players offering 802.11b/g tags up to speed. PanGo's tag should ship this week, and they claim a seven-year battery life. PanGo doesn't plan to make any tags for 802.15.4, UWB or infrared.
PanGo's newest healthcare customer: West Jefferson Medical Center in Marrero, Louisiana, a 451-bed facility using the PanGo system running on a Cisco-based infrastructure. Perhaps the most interesting customer, however, is Wayport. The company, famed as a hotspot provider, is making headway into vertical markets and plans to offer the PanGo system as part of its product suite.
PanGo's partner in 802.15.4 support is InnerWireless, a company known for the Horizon in-building distributed antennas supporting all kinds of radios. Last year at HIMSS06, it made its first mention of Spot, the 15.4 technology PanGo will support. It's now commercially available after several tests, including at the Vassar Brothers Medical Center in Poughkeepsie, New York, which used it to accurately track IV pumps and reduce the time spent looking (to the tune, InnerWireless claims, of $6.5 million in savings over the next five years.)
While all of the above are established players in RTLS, the new guy to the table is familiar to those in Wi-Fi. Trapeze Networks' new LA-200 Location Appliance will work with a Trapeze-based WLAN infrastructure to provide what it says is reliability far higher than that of Cisco's similar location appliance.
"We are the first company in our class of companies to ship a location appliance," says director of product marketing David Cohen, who stresses that Trapeze doesn't consider Cisco in its class. Companies that are -- Meru and Aruba -- don't offer a location appliance as yet.
The LA-200 will work with any and all Wi-Fi tags from the vendors mentioned above, but the company plans to go one better in tracking any Wi-Fi device, no matter what, without requiring special software. "If it has the Wi-Fi standard on it, we can track it -- it doesn't have to have a special client agent," says Cohen.
Of the various methods of pinpointing a location using a WLAN, Trapeze claims its use of RSSI server-side pattern matching is the most accurate. "It's an RF fingerprint with a server-side approach that looks for the unique signal," says Cohen. Cisco's unit uses trilateration, a method of triangulating a device by using three known locations for that device. At 10 meters, Trapeze claims a 99% success rate compared to 95% for Cisco, plus a faster seek time.
The LA-200 will work out of the box, but has an open API for developers and is made to work with the software engines of companies like Ekahau, PanGo and AeroScout. The appliance has a starting price of $14,995 and is shipping now.
Skype Unveils Wi-Fi Phones By Susan Rush 7/22/06
Internet communications company Skype is pushing farther into the wireless space, with the launch of Wi-Fi phones designed to support Skype's software. Four companies have produced handsets to support the launch: Belkin, Edge-Core, Netgear and SMC.
The four new handsets - Belkin WiFi Phone for Skype, Edge-Core WiFi Phone for Skype, Netgear WiFi Phone for Skype and SMC Wi-Fi Phone for Skype - enable Skype subscribers to make phone calls without having to be tethered to their computers.
The handsets are designed to automatically synchronize to a Skype account and contacts, and operate when in range of a Wi-Fi hot spot. They also support common Wi-Fi encryption protocols, including WEP, WPA and WPA2 with PSK support, according to Skype.
Skype has been making wireless plays all year. In April, the company forged agreements with several music publishers to make ringtones part of its product portfolio. Prior to this announcement, the company joined forces with Motorola to introduce the Motorola Talk & Tunes Wireless Internet Calling Kit, which enables Skype customers to wirelessly listen to music and manage calls over the Internet simultaneously from a PC using Bluetooth technology.
Loki Knows Where You Are
By Eric Griffith March 23, 2006 (Wi-Fi Planet)
Skyhook Wireless created the Wi-Fi Positioning System (WPS) to use overlapping signals from existing access points just like a GPS uses satellites to figure out your position. The company has mapped the 100 biggest metropolitan areas in the United States, and is working on more.
Now, that's all well and good, but outside of telling you where you already are (which, if you're sitting with a laptop, you should already know), what good is it?
 Skyhook hopes to answer that question with a browser toolbar it has developed called Loki. The software, targeted at tech-savvy consumers, won't get a formal announcement until the CTIA Wireless 2006 show in April, but the beta is already available. Install it on a laptop with a working Wi-Fi card and, according to Skyhook founder and CEO Ted Morgan, it will tailor your Internet searches and posts to your current location.
"When you look online for weather, movies, dating and other items, they have content that's location-specific," says Morgan. "You usually have to enter that, but with Loki, it figures out where you are [using the WPS] and puts in that information." Thus a search of a site like Fandango, for instance, will show you the movie times and ticket prices at theaters close to your location. A search on Yahoo! Traffic shows the flow of cars on your closest highway.
The software is preconfigured with channels for location-based sites supporting everything from maps to shopping to news to dining, even gas prices, webcams and local blogs. Advanced users can configure their own channels. When you're on a Web page with a form asking for your location, clicking the GeoTag button pastes in the locale based on the WPS info. The software structures queries to Internet engines as needed when it sees fields such as 'address' and 'zip code.'
If you're not in one of the metro areas that Skyhook has in the database, Loki can still work to an extent by factoring in your IP address. Morgan says there are beta testers of the software using it even outside of the country, in Romania and the Ukraine. (Skyhook has a previously-announced deal with IP geolocation provider and fraud detector MaxMind.) If the location is still way off, you can put in your address by hand to "tune" your location.
"It not only lets you search by location, but shares your location with others," says Morgan. "You can send an e-mail of your current location, post it on a Frappr map — there's tens of thousands of people on Frappr who change their locations by hand." Same goes for any kind of location-oriented tagging on blogs or sites like Flickr. With Loki, the browser software automatically records the change.
Skyhook has already partnered with Web sites like Socialight and uLocate's WHERE.com, services that originally were developed with mobile phone users in mind, but can now be used by laptop users at hotspots. They have open APIs, and invite other vendors to integrate their applications with Loki.
The Loki software only runs on Windows XP for now, but is available for both the Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox browsers.
The software's announcement at CTIA coincides with its being a finalist in the show's NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge.
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T-Mobile Announces New HP Phone (8-1-04)
T-Mobile USA and Hewlett Packard announced plans to release the first handheld computer that doubles as a wireless phone. In addition to making phone calls, the HP iPAQPocket PC h6315, which uses Microsoft's Windows Mobile 2003 Phone Edition software, allows users access to Wi-Fi and Bluetooth technology, operates on T-Mobile's GPRS network and will automatically transfer to faster Wi-Fi networks when the device enters a hotspot. The new handset, expected to be released in August for approximately $499, illustrates T-Mobile's ideals that all consumer devices need to be connected, mobile, digital and secure. According to a Reuters report, the new T-Mobile handset is predicted to be less attractive after Verizon Wireless and Sprint introduce similar handsets capable of reaching speeds close to cable and DSL broadband connections. Motorola, the world's second largest handset manufacturer, is also expected to introduce a new dev! ice later this year offering both Wi-Fi and wireless phone connections. (Source: Wall Street Journal, Reuters, CNet)
Truckers Go Wireless With Wi-Fi (5-11-04)
Long-haul truckers are looking beyond hot showers and good meals when they decide to stop. What's attracting them to truck stops is wireless Internet access. Truck stops with Wi-Fi, such as Flying J, are becoming an important way for drivers to keep in touch, whether it be for connecting with home or entertainment purposes. Truckstop.net sells access to 351 travel plazas and truck stops and plans to have 3,000 Wi-Fi hotspots for truckers in the next two years. Flying J offers Wi-Fi service for $1.95 per hour, or $200 per year. Truckstop.net charges $250 per year at its locations. Approximately 70 percent of truckers own computers. (Source: AP)
Bluetooth at the Tipping Point (5-11-04)
Bluetooth technology is on the rebound as it drops the hype and becomes a standard feature in handhelds, PCs, wireless phones, printers and some cars. According to some vendors, customers are starting to ask for the technology by name. Analysts believe Bluetooth is close to the tipping point. In-Stat/MDR expects a compound annual growth rate of 60 percent from 2003 to 2008. Source: Wireless NewsFactor)
Location Developer Secures Funding, Moves HQ (Wi-Fi Planet, 12-4-03)
By Vikki Lipset
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Wireless LAN software developer PanGo Networks said Wednesday at the Wi-Fi Planet Conference and Expo here that it has closed a $4.4 million round of venture capital funding and will relocate to Boston.
IDG Ventures of Boston led the round, along with Alexandria, Va.-based Columbia Capital. Previous investor Innovation Works also contributed.
The four-year-old company needed the cash infusion to stay afloat. It flirted with bankruptcy in 2001 before securing $290,000 from Innovation Works in March 2002. Including this latest round, PanGo has raised more than $6 million since its founding.
PanGo will move its headquarters from Pittsburgh, Pa., to Boston early next year to be closer to potential customers and investors, according to Rick Thompson, vice president of marketing for PanGo.
Thompson said PanGo will use the venture funding to further develop its software platform for WLAN location-based systems. Specifically, the company will focus on two main areas: intelligent information management, which would "deliver location-relevant data to mobile users," and mobile asset tracking, which he called "one of the holy grail applications" of the location market.
PanGo believes location-based applications could be the next big thing in Wi-Fi. "Locationing is a segment of the market that's starting to heat up, [and] applications and services are the next growth segment," Thomson said.
Analysis: A sign of renewed investor interest in location???
Colleges Campuses Go Wireless (9-2-03)
Several years ago colleges rushed to achieve the rank of “most wired” but now those same institutions are in the race for providing the most wireless Internet services. EDUCAUSE, an association representing IT managers at various colleges and universities, conducted a survey and reports that 85 percent of the respondents had wireless access to the Internet on their respective college campuses. EDUCAUSE says by hooking college students on wireless Internet access, technology companies could be grooming a future market for their products as those students make their move into the corporate world. (Source: AP)
Analysis: Not surprising but gives added importance to the "locationizing" of Wi-Fi hot spots (see related technology article of 7-17-03)
Serynade Plays for Laundry Hotspots (9-2-03) Source: Wi-Fi Planet
Long hours, long waits, and a lot of money: that can pretty much sum up the $5 billion dollar a year coin-operated laundry (AKA laundromat) industry. According to the Coin Laundry Association, most laundromats are open on average from 6am to 10pm, they are found in almost every neighborhood in America, and they service about 89 million people a year.
That's a lot of waiting as unmentionables go through the spin cycle.
Serynade Wireless of San Francisco hopes to make the wait more tolerable. At least it would be if you've brought along your Wi-Fi equipped PDA or laptop.
The company announced today that its now making available to laundromats nationwide a full hotspot setup kit. For a cost of around $700 per location (more or less, it depend upon location and other factors), a laundromat that can get or already has a broadband connection like cable modem or DSL can start letting waiting customers online. If the laundry doesn't have broadband, Serynade will help them get it.
Serynade will (with an undisclosed partner) handle all the backend/AAA for the network. The hardware from Serynade's partner is provided to the venue owner, who can have it "installed in a matter of minutes" without tech help, according to the company statement. The hardware is then configured by Serynade remotely.
According to Shawn Hopwood, president and CEO of Serynade, his company will focus marketing efforts, such as direct marketing and working with groups like the Coin Coin Laundry Association, toward laundromat owners and operators in "cities focused on Wi-Fi, [those] with a fair amount of Wi-Fi usage" -- in other words, big cities and college towns.
Since "the market is college students and renters, we keep the prices at the bottom end," says Hopwood. Right now, Serynade plans to charge $2.95 per hour and $5.95 for a whole day of access (for those who save up all their laundry for one big day of washing.)
Serynade has no roaming agreements with other hotspot networks or network aggregators yet, but Hopwood says they are working on some deals, and that the vendor they partner with has some relationships in place that Serynade may be able to take advantage of.
The company has already launched two pilots, at Bar of Soap Laundromat in Dallas, Texas, (which reports a growing number of customers with laptops) and the Wash Club in San Francisco. The goal is to have 200 to 300 laundromats up and running as hotspots by the end of 2003. Eventually they hope to provide laundry owners with added features such as wireless monitoring of washer and dryer equipment for problems and even remote alerts to customers to let them know when a load has finished or that a dryer is now available.
Analysis: While I'm impassioned believer in niche markets, even I have problems believing this is viable, particularlty since those frequenting laundrymats are less than likely to own a laptop (exception: college campuses)
Verizon Hotspots: The End of Costly Public Wi-Fi
By Ed Sutherland (6-4-03)
Wireless providers looking to profit from public Wi-Fi hotspots may have ordered an extra double mocha latte upon hearing of Verizon's plans to enter the free wireless broadband arena. Some analysts say the phone company's recent announcement that it will offer free public 802.11 access via New York City pay phones is the death of fee-based public hotspots while potentially placing the telecom giant in head-to-head competition with other Wi-Fi services.
Although Verizon has launched in Manhattan just 150 of an eventual 1,000 public payphones converted to Wi-Fi hotspots, analysts say the move will redefine hotspot customers and venues.
Verizon's announcement "kills the consumer Wi-Fi goose," according to Charles Golvin, a Forrester Research analyst. By offering Wi-Fi as part of their broadband service, Verizon is driving the price for consumers down to zero, forcing phone and cable companies to "forgo Wi-Fi access revenues to retain their competitive edge," says Golvin.
Golvin believes the current rag-tag group of companies attempting to eek out profits while serving up Wi-Fi connections to consumers over a cup of designer coffee or a slice of pizza will be replaced by AT&T and Sprint using a wholesaler like Cometa Networks to bundle Wi-Fi access with dial-up services for mobile employees.
If Verizon's HotSpots, costing $5,000 per modified payphone, extend beyond the street corner and into a Hyatt hotel or airport lounge there could be some costly conflicts as hotspot operators vie for the same Wi-Fi customers, according to Julie Ask, a Jupiter Research analyst (Jupiter Research is owned by Jupitermedia, the parent company of this site.)
Verizon, with little or no connection to the buildings hosting their phones, would have a distinct advantage over other operators who must split hotspot revenues with venues. For example, a large portion of T-Mobile's Wi-Fi revenue reportedly goes to Starbucks.
By using its own DSL infrastructure, Verizon would save even more. T-Mobile must pay for the T1 lines going into each of its hotspots.
How will hotspot operators react to such competition? While T-Mobile refused to comment, Wayport is already working with Verizon Wireless on reselling access to hotel and airport-based Wi-Fi networks.
Ask believes Verizon's Wi-Fi experiment won't cut into other operator's profits until the carrier takes the New York City trial nationwide. Then there are quality of service questions as such a service gains momentum and usage.
Amy Cravens, a senior analyst and hotspot guru for In-Stat/MDR sees predictions of Verizon's entry into the field as the death-knell for fee-based public Wi-Fi being only a statement of the inevitable. Cravens says cafes serving up wireless broadband are not profitable and are better suited as a free amenity -- like good lighting or air-conditioning.
Cravens says there are two types of hotspot users. The true business user is found in airports. Cafes tend to serve more on-the-road sales people, says Cravens. If Verizon's Wi-Fi venture expands, it would meet the needs of the core enterprise user, says Cravens.
In order for Verizon to expand the reach of its new free Wi-Fi service beyond Wall Street and the pin-stripe areas of Manhattan, it must first solve the problem of many phones not having the electrical connections to power a Wi-Fi transmitter. At the moment, Verizon is still in the early stages. The 150 company's payphones now Wi-Fi enabled cover just seven acres, or .005 percent of Manhattan's 14,210 acres.
"The Wi-Fi industry is so early in its deployment cycle that I am not sure where it's going to wind up," says Verizon president Larry Babbio.
Analysis: It was inevitable, though Wi-Fi payphones was an unexpected "silver bullet" (in the heart of pay public Wi-Fi)
Verizon Could Spark 'Me-Too' Wi-Fi (5-20-03)
By boston.internet.com Staff
Car air conditioning systems were once a pricey option, available only in luxury nameplates. But as technology improved and manufacturing costs sank, AC became standard even in economy cars.
Verizon's move to provide free Wi-Fi (define) with home or small business broadband contracts will likely trigger a similar transformation in the telecom industry.
Although Verizon's push is only in New York (1,000 hotspots (define) by year's end), the carrier has grand plans. Executives were reluctant to announce a rollout schedule, but hope to use feedback from the Big Apple to launch in other East Coast markets.
And it won't just be Verizon. Competitors will have to follow.
"DSL (define) providers like SBC and BellSouth will leverage their infrastructure and offer free Wi-Fi to better compete against cable," Forrester analyst Charles S. Golvin wrote in a research note today.
Dave Burstein, who follows the industry for DSL Prime, takes the Wi-Fi vision a step further.
"The telcos could wire 300,000 hotspots around the country (and exchange traffic) for less than $1 billion, building a remarkable network across the country for less than 5 percent of one year's capital spending," Burstein said.
The coming chain reaction erases any hope that consumer Wi-Fi will be a standalone source of revenue. Several carriers are in trials or launching Wi-Fi service, but consumers have been reluctant to pay montly fees of $8 and higher for the privilege.
Instead of consumers, the Wi-Fi market will be limited to large corporate customers willing to pay a premium for high-speed local area network connections, Golvin said. He predicts that AT&T and Sprint will partner with Wi-Fi firms to bolster remote access. The carriers would likely charge on a per user basis.
Analysis: While this article is confusing (and I don't see the support for the last paragraph at all), it's just one more example predicting Wi-Fi costs (to users) approaching zero, and Wi-Fi firms using it to cross-sell other services or for other reasons such as reducing churn.
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Companies Plan to Mirror Verizon’s Wi-Fi Launch (5-20-03)
After Verizon’s announcement that it will offer Wi-Fi access in public telephone booths, other companies announced they too will offer public Wi-Fi service, if Verizon’s move proves successful. Baby Bell SBC Communications Inc. is looking into a similar pay phone based Wi-Fi service, according to a company spokesman. Comcast Corp. also stated it may roll out service. However, a company spokesperson stated Comcast was hesitant to rely on unlicensed public airwaves. The company may put its resources into other wireless Internet access services that use FCC protected airwaves. (Source: Boston Globe, Associated Press)
Analysis: Plagarism is the sincerest form of flattery.
Verizon to Turn Pay Phones into Wi-Fi Hot Spots, Reports Say (5-14-03)
Verizon Communications could announce, as early as this week, plans to provide wireless access to the Internet through some of its 300,000 public telephones in the U.S. In response to a question after a speech at Stevens Institute of Technology conference, Verizon Vice Chairman and President Lawrence T. Babbio said that the company plans to equip some pay phones to allow mobile computer users to connect wirelessly to the Internet, but gave no details about the service. Bell Canada is testing providing Wi-Fi hot spot service at pay phones in Toronto and Montreal. (Source: Reuters, AP, Washington Post)
Analysis: One the one hand, it does support the strategic premise of locking-up all potential Wi-FI real estate wherever possible (see Predictions section). On the otherhand, the lack of (physical) security might dissuade more than one potential user from whipping out his/her laptop on the street corner or outside the local gas station or convenience store where he or she could be conveniently mugged of a $1000 to $3000 piece of equipment, not to mention other personal assets. Maybe I'm just paranoid.
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Free Wi-Fi Keeps Customers Coming Back (5-9-03)
Wireless fidelity or “Wi-Fi” continues to pop up in coffee shops, airports, hotels and more across the country. Many of these venues find it is worthwhile to offer the wireless connection for free. Owners contend that offering free Wi-Fi access and possibly increasing the number of steady customers and sales is more important that making a bit of money from an access surcharge. Austin-based Schlotzsky’s Deli has found that free Wi-Fi access in its shops has attracted customers and kept them coming back. (Source: New York Times)
Analysis: First response is: DUHHHH! Then, with much additional thought, the reaction is: "SHUT-UP". Then my sense of sarcasm conceeds to age, and a general thought of "No-shit, Shirlock!"
Wireless Hotels Get Competitive Edge (4-23-03)
Hotels across the United States are installing wireless networks in order to get an edge on competition. In the past few months, Fairmont, Hilton, Starwood, InterContinental hotels and resorts, Marriott International and Omni hotels have all rolled out wireless networks or expanded existing ones. With business travel down, Internet technology could be a determining factor in choosing a hotel. An analyst at Forrester Research stated that as more people go wireless at home, they’ll begin to expect wireless on the road as well. (Source: Chicago Tribune)
Growing Number of Schools Turn to Wi-Fi (4-23-03)
A growing number of schools are installing wireless Internet technology and incorporating laptop computers into classrooms. Among the 110,000 public schools in the U.S. about $500 million was spent on wireless technologies in the 2001-2002 school year. That figure is expected to double in 2002-2003 and quadruple in 2003-2004. School administrators find Wi-Fi networks to be cheaper to install than wired connections. Additionally, wireless networks allow students to take with them whatever tools they need and access them wherever they happen to be in the "hotspot". (Source: Reuters)
Analysis - Both hotels and particularly schools Wi-Fi environments would greatly benefit by the integration of location-related applications into the mix.
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Some Wi-Fi Firms Move Toward Profits While Others Fail (4-22-03)
Use of Wi-Fi wireless networking is growing in the Washington-Baltimore area. Companies providing the services are still learning what works and what doesn't in attracting users for the service. Wayport, for example, provides Wi-Fi wireless access to the Internet in 30 Washington, D.C.-area hotels. It says that 9.8 percent of guests use the wireless access, above the national average of six percent. With 170,000 daily or monthly subscribers, Wayport said it would soon generate enough cash to cover expenses. East Statford Wireless Internet Service is a home-based business serving a Leesburg, Va., subdivision, and it is making a small profit. Baltimore's Oneder LLC said it is on the edge of profitability, but these for-fee firms are competing with Wi-Fi providers who offer the service for free. Lack of enough paying subscribers caused New York's Joltage Networks to close, and T-Mobile USA recently lowered its per-minute access prices in an effort to attract more customers. The Washington Post featured a series of articles on Wi-Fi in its Sunday edition. (Source: Washington Post)
Analysis: A key element continues to be control of the real-estate involved.
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Securitix Plans Printing Service for Wi-Fi Hot Spots (4-1-03)
Securitix Corp. is rolling out its Hot-Spot-Printing service that offers wireless access to color laser printers at Wi-Fi hot spots. Securitix offers the printers and installation to hot spot venues at no charge of the venue owner. The company plans to make its money from users who pay 99 cents per printed page. For a share of the revenue, the venue owner collects the money and forwards the Securitix share to the company. Securitix can keep track of the number pages printed, and will offer technical support when needed. Securitix also will provide Centrino-based laptop computers for rent at hot spots. Pricing for the laptop rental is expected to range from about $19.99 to $29.99 per hour, however final prices have not yet been determined. The company said its Hot-Spot-Printing service is already popular in some locations in its home city of Houston. (Source: 802.11 Planet)
Analysis: While I believe the price point is too high, I DO believe that printing is a service people will be willing to pay for, even as they insist on Wi-Fi access cost being as low as possible.
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McDonald's to Offer Wi-Fi Wireless Internet Access (3-12-03)
McDonald's Corp. will offer 802.11b wireless access to the Internet in restaurants in three cities: New York, Chicago, and an unnamed city in California. The service begins on Wednesday with 10 restaurants in Manhattan. Intel-backed Cometa Networks will provide the service in New York. By the end of the year, Wi-Fi service will be available at 300 restaurants in the three cities. Intel will jointly market the service with McDonalds. It will also market Wi-Fi service at 400 bookstores with Borders Group, the number two bookseller in the U.S. (Source: AP, Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal)
Analysis: God help us all. OK, got that out of my system. This is a silly GENERAL STRATEGY development on sooooo many dimensions, though it May (said grudgedly) make sense on limited basis. See E911 page, Predictions - Wi-Fi.
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InterContinental Hotels to Test Wi-Fi Technology (3-12-03)
InterContinental Hotels & Resorts said it will test Wi-Fi wireless service in hotels in Chicago and Houston. Guests will be able to use their laptop computers to get wireless connections to the Internet in lobbies, meeting rooms, hallways and other public places during the 90-day tests. The luxury hotel chain is introducing wired broadband access to the Internet in guest rooms at its 12 hotels in North America. (Source: Wall Street Journal)
Analysis: Yippiee! (sarcastic pause). If hotels think this will become a profit center a.k.a. mini-bars they better think again. Transport, even at high-speeds, exponentially approaches zero (or worse) profits.
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iPass and Cometa to Work Together on Wi-Fi Networks (3-6-03)
iPass Inc. and Cometa Networks announced on Monday an agreement to pursue including Cometa's planned Wi-Fi hot spots in the iPass Global Roaming Service for business users. Cometa expects to begin rolling out its Wi-Fi network access in top U.S. urban markets during the fourth quarter of 2003. Under the agreement, iPass plans to use access to Cometa's public hot spots for iPass's emerging wireless broadband connectivity in hundreds of locations in the U.S., Asia and Europe. (Source: 802.11 Planet)
Toshiba, Accenture Announce Wi-Fi Venture (3-6-03)
Toshiba and Accenture, a technology services company, announced on Monday that they plan to have up to 10,000 Wi-Fi hot spots across North America by the end of 2003. The company plans to begin with 802.11b networks, but will deploy 802.11a and 802.11g networks at a later time. Toshiba will be the hardware provider for the venture. Accenture will provide business and operational support services including billing, settlements and help desk services. (Source: CNET News.com)
Analysis: Kind of late to the game; my assessment is that 2, or at MOST 3 national providers are viable. These guys are on the bubble after Cometa and Boingo.
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T-Mobile USA Cuts Price of Wi-Fi Service Offered at Starbucks (3-3-03)
T-Mobile USA announced on Thursday that it would cut the price of Wi-Fi Internet access at Starbucks coffee houses. A monthly subscription to the service is reduced from $40 to $30, and a day pass to use the system is now $6. The new prices became effective March 1. According to a consultant with research firm Analysys, user growth for the service has been disappointing, but it is expected to pick up. (Source: CNET News.com)
Analysis: Does not bode well for "retail"-type real estate and Wi-Fi business models in general. See Predictions section on E911 page
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Deep Blue Wireless Teams With Boingo to Offer Integrated Hospitality Wi-Fi Services (3-3-03) (Source: WirelessDevNet.com)
Wireless Service Allows Hotel, Convention and Event Guests Internet Access From Public Areas, Meeting Rooms and Select Guest Rooms
MENLO PARK, CA, Feb 26, 2003 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Deep Blue Wireless, a leading provider of integrated Wi-Fi services for public Hot spot locations, today announced a new partnership agreement with Boingo Wireless, of Santa Monica, CA. The partnership couples Deep Blue Wireless' proven expertise in developing the public Hot spot market with Boingo's powerhouse market reach to new Wi-Fi users.
The combined service showcases Deep Blue Wireless' growing portfolio of top tier hotel, conference center and coffee house locations to Boingo's large base of tech-savvy Wi-Fi users throughout the US. Deep Blue's integrated offering for the Hospitality and Event industry includes deployment of Friendlyway Kiosks ( www.friendlyway.com ), versatile payment options controlled by the venue, guest room access available at a fraction of the cost of more traditional approaches, and, shortly, a host of compelling new technologies and services.
"Deep Blue Wireless' experience and unique hospitality-focused product features clearly makes them a market catalyst in Wi-Fi for the hospitality industry," says Dave Hagan, president of Boingo Wireless. "The combination of Boingo's Wi-Fi services and Deep Blue's powerful Wi-Fi-enabled Kiosk lends itself well to the temporary nature of corporate events."
"We are very excited about our partnership with Boingo, whose vigorous marketing and sales efforts and distribution relationships with EarthLink and Fiberlink, provide a pre-established user base of tech-savvy Wi-Fi users and business travelers who choose their hotel based on the availability of broadband. Our hotel clients benefit from increased occupancy and rentals of their corporate event facilities," says Alan Gale, founder and CEO of Deep Blue Wireless. "Using our national network of installation personnel with our proven network solutions we can provide our service to anyone, anywhere in the US, which now also includes a ready made customer base!"
In addition to providing Wi-Fi service in public areas, Deep Blue has also developed innovative ways to integrate Wi-Fi into large guest room build outs at great savings to hotels. This includes the use of the latest technology developments in Wi-Fi equipment, antennas, and wireless converters, allowing guests high-speed Internet access without owning a Wi-Fi networking device.
About Deep Blue Wireless
Deep Blue Wireless is a wireless Internet service provider with locations throughout California. They focus on top-tier hotels, conference centers and local metro wireless hot spots. Deep Blue Wireless is also deploying affordable residential Wi-Fi networks in apartment buildings and single-family homes. For more information call 800-379-3198, email info@deepbluewireless.com or visit www.DeepBlueWireless.com .
About Boingo Wireless
Boingo Wireless, Inc. is an ultra-high-speed wireless Internet service now available in over 1,200 locations across the country, such as hotels, airports, cafes, and other public places. Both directly and through major ISP and carrier partners, Boingo provides business travelers with a wireless broadband Internet connection to improve productivity while on the road. Through its free Wi-Fi software, Boingo makes finding and connecting to Wi-Fi networks point-and-click simple and secure. EarthLink founder and chairman Sky Dayton founded Boingo in 2001 and serves as its CEO. More information about Boingo is available at http://www.boingo.com .
Analysis: Obviously a factor in the below shakeout.
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Wi-Fi Firm Joltage Discontinues Service (3-3-03)
Joltage, a start up firm that planned to build a network of Wi-Fi systems that would be available to subscribers for a fee, said its will discontinue the service due to slower-than-expected demand. The company worked with café owners and independent hotels to install the wireless Internet access technology that users could subscribe to for $24.99 for 60 hours, or for $1.99 per hour. (Source: | | | | |
