What is Wi-Fi?How it May Impact OBF

Mike Norris, ModeratorChris Read, Assistant

Moderator

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Background Committee members have expressed an

interest in obtaining a more basic level of understanding regarding the new technologies being investigated by the SAG TFO and other OBF groups

This is the first in a series of presentations designed to familiarize OBF participants with new and emerging technologies

Future presentations will be based on your feedback and priorities

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What is Wi-Fi? Wi-Fi is short for Wireless Fidelity

A short-range wireless radio technology

The Wi-Fi standard was developed and commercialized at Apple Computer as early as 1999

It allows wireless access for computer to computer, as well as to the Internet

It primarily uses 802.11 technology

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What is Wi-Fi? (cont) It works both indoors and outdoors

Indoor wireless signal coverage is up to 300 feet

Outdoor wireless signal coverage is up to 5 miles for multi-point and up to 20 miles point-to-point with greater capabilities under development

Currently runs up to 11 megabits/second

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How Does Outdoor Wi-Fi Work?

Outdoor Wi-Fi requires an outdoor antenna, with an ethernet cable coming into the building, plugged directly into a PC or a wired hub Outdoor Wi-Fi to the building would be the

same interconnection to the customer as DSL or cable

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Outdoor Wi-Fi Example

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Ethernet Cable

Inline Power Injector

Hub, Switch or Router

Central Router/Bridge

Hub Switch

Inline Power Injector

Ethernet Cable

Remote Router/BridgeRF Cable

Outdoor Wi-Fi Example

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How Does Indoor Wi-Fi Work? Indoor Wi-Fi is optional, and requires

installation of a wireless Access Point (AP) inside a building coupled with a computer with Wi-Fi capabilities to provide a wireless LAN The Wireless AP allows access throughout

the building (i.e. wireless LAN) Laptop needs a Wi-Fi card, which can be

purchased at many retail outlets

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Where is Wi-Fi Available?

Anywhere there is a hotspot or hotzone such as: Your home can be Wi-Fi capable with

installation of required equipment Many office buildings, businesses,

apartment buildings, hotels, etc. Airports, airplanes, convention centers Starbucks, McDonalds, etc. Pay phones in Manhattan

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Wi-Fi Interconnection Diagrams

The Following Diagrams Were Obtained From the Wi-Fi Alliance Site which is an excellent source of Wi-Fi information:

www.wi-fi.Org

11© Wi-Fi Alliance 2003. No reproduction without the express permission of the Wi-Fi Alliance.

12© Wi-Fi Alliance 2003. No reproduction without the express permission of the Wi-Fi Alliance.

13© Wi-Fi Alliance 2003. No reproduction without the express permission of the Wi-Fi Alliance.

14© Wi-Fi Alliance 2003. No reproduction without the express permission of the Wi-Fi Alliance.

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Who Uses Wi-Fi? 40 million people!

Hotel guests (8-12% usage per occupied room) Corporate users “Windshield Warriors” who need internet

services Millions of blue collar and white collar workers

Traveling sales representatives Delivery and repair workers

Home users Coffee house / restaurant patrons

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How is the Wi-Fi User Billed? There are many ways to bill for WiFi

service Some hotspot providers offer free service Others charge hourly, daily, weekly or

monthly Billing is usually to a credit card and is

accomplished via a “welcome” screen which pops up when you enter the first web address

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Wi-Fi Roaming End Users with Wi-Fi capable laptops can

use multiple Wireless ISP networks in different locations

There are companies (aggregators) that create roaming agreements between Wireless ISPs (For example Boingo Wireless)

Typically there are no end user charges associated with roaming due to agreements between Wireless ISPs

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Need for Ordering and Billing Industry Interconnection

There are no ordering standards for Wireless ISPs who choose to partner with an aggregator All done on a case-by-case basis Proprietary to each aggregator

There are no billing standards Aggregator to bill the Wireless ISP Wireless ISP to bill the Aggregator when Wireless

ISP network is used Ordering and billing standards would be

helpful right now and crucial as Wi-Fi service expands

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On The Horizon As mentioned, currently 40 million Wi-Fi

users New access points are selling at the rate of

about 15,000 a day This makes Wi-Fi a much faster-growing

technology than cellular telephony

A new open wireless standard, 802.16 is emerging Known as WiMax

From NYTimes.com article: “Led by Intel, True Believers in Wi-Fi Say It Will Endure”

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On The Horizon (cont) New option for “last mile” provisioning to

customer locations Intended to send data over distances of as

much as 30 miles and at speeds of up to 70 megabits a second (versus 11mbs for 802.11)

Comfortably streams high-definition television video broadcasts

From NYTimes.com article: “Led by Intel, True Believers in Wi-Fi Say It Will Endure”

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On The Horizon (cont) Industry players believe that

commercial Wi-Fi services will complement and not compete with free services

From NYTimes.com article: “Led by Intel, True Believers in Wi-Fi Say It Will Endure”

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Impact on OBF OBF committees need to become aware of

and align with Wi-Fi initiatives in the industry It is critical that we provide our expertise to

ensure evolution of high quality standards for: Ordering Provisioning Information exchange Billing

OBF Participants need to become aware of strategic plans within their companies for Wi-Fi Technologies

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Impact on OBF (cont) At OBF we have the knowledge and

experience to make a significant positive contribution to this new, fast-growing industry