Silex Technology unveiled a new device that will require fingerprint identification to gain access to a WiFi network. According to a Silex spokesman, the Silex Bio-NetGuard will likely be sold for $499. It contains a Fujitsu MBF200 fingerprint sensor, which when touched, will prompt the device to scour its database of 27,000 unique fingerprint key… Continue Reading
Philly Takes Another Step In Wi-Fi Net
Philadelphia’s municipal Wi-Fi network is soon to be a reality; a city subcommittee recently signed off on the new project, with Earthlink being awarded the network contract. Wi-Fi connections are hoped to reach throughout the city, but it’s a no-go until the project passes full city-council approval. Via [wirelessweek.com]… Continue Reading
802.11n Standard Fails To Gain IEEE Approval
With the draft of 802.11n back on the drawing board, vendors who jumped the gun and produced so called ‘pre-n’ gear are now faced with the difficult challenge of what to do if thier products are not sompatible with the final standard. It will now be interesting to see if the devices live up to… Continue Reading
Moscow Wi-Fi Network To Reach 4 Million Homes
Nortel and Russian Internet service provider Golden Telecom have joined forces to establish a Wi-Fi mesh network in Moscow. The network, according to the companies, will utilize 5,000 Nortel-supplied access points to service some 3.9 million homes in the city. The partners assured that the network will be secure and can support VoIP and location-based… Continue Reading
Google Won’t Do Silicon Valley Wi-Fi
Google will not join the competition for the establishment of a Wi-Fi Silicon Valley in San Francisco. Google spokeswoman Megan Quinn said the company has no intention to respond to a request for proprosals for the $200 million project, which is due on June 30. The Wireless Silicon Valley Task Force is looking for one… Continue Reading
Consumers Warned Off Pre-Standard 802.11n Purchases
Pre-standard Wi-Fi 802.11n products are entering the marketplace, but consumers are warned to beware before buying. While investment risks for home networking products run fairly low — about $150 or less — users should know that uncertified equipment may not be interoperable with upcoming certified components. Early tests report ‘draft N” performance as less than… Continue Reading
Storage Goes Wi-Fi With Iomega NAS
Iomega has dived into the wireless NAS market. The StorCenter Wireless boasts an impressive 1 terabyte of storage capacity. The unit, along with it’s wireless capability has a pair of USB ports for extra drives or for a printer using the units own internal print server. At $900 it’s quite a decent way to get… Continue Reading
Philly Wi-Fi Project Passes Final Hurdle
A Philadelphia city council committee gave its nod to a WiFi project that will see Earthlink’s equipment installed on 4,000 city-owned utility poles. The full city council is set to vote on May 11 and the decision is expected to favor the project. Once it gets the final approval, Earthlink plans to start construction a… Continue Reading
AirMagnet Rolls Out Voice-Over-Wi-Fi Analysis Tool
AirMagnet is offering a new network analysis tool to help network managers identify voice problems over wireless networks. The AirMagnet VoFi Analyzer can detect these problems in real time, keep track of voice traffic from one device to another, and determine if both wireless APs and wire-side devices are configured just right. The company said… Continue Reading
Qualcomm Signs First Patent Deal For WiMAX Product
In what will probobly become a big speedbump for WiMax, Qualcomm quietly announced a licensing deal for technology necessary for WiMax that it owns the patent on. This appears to mean that any vendor making a WiMax product will have to pay a licensing fee to Qualcomm, who have a history of defending a licensing… Continue Reading
Linux Gets Native WiFi Support
Devicescape Software seems to have seen the light and realized that helping the open source world is in it’s best interests. The company has donated technology to allow for native support of WiFi in linux. No word on which chipsets or what exactly the technology is, but given the difficulty in getting support from manufacturers,… Continue Reading
Google Wi-Fi Deal Gains Powerful Critics
The Google/Earthlink plan to unwire San Francisco is meeting with some serious opposition. While groups like the ACLU and the EFF applaud the economic and social benifits of the plan, but also have grave concerns about the privacy of the system. The latest person to step up with concerns is city supervisor Jake McGoldrick. No… Continue Reading
Wireless-N Could Stand For ‘Not Interoperable’
Interoperability is key to the newly-available Wireless-N products using 802.11n draft specifications. Since the standard they’re based on isn’t yet official, users shouldn’t be swayed by promises such as four times the range and 12 times the throughput of current 802.11g standard products. While products based on the final 802.11n standard may meet those speed… Continue Reading
Cisco, Motorola Abandon Wi-Fi/Cellular Venture
This year’s plan for a “seamless” cellular/WiFi roaming technology partnership between Cisco Systems Inc. and Motorola turned out to be not so seamless, so a new generation of fixed/mobile convergence devices won’t be coming your way until at least 2007. The devices are predicted to allow handsets to roam seamlessly between WiFi and cellular networks… Continue Reading
WiFi Is Us
Japanese chip giant Renesas Technology Corp. is cooperating with Israeli company, Metalink, to develop a high-speed video transmission solution for domestic consumers’ wireless networks. Renesas, in control of a 33% share of the global embedded cip market for semiconductors in elecronic entertainment, cellular phones, automotive navigation devices, and more, plans to integrate Metalink’s 802.11n compliant… Continue Reading