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Technology Stocks : XYBR - Xybernaut -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Stan V. who wrote (3960)	4/16/2000 11:41:00 PM
From: Scott C. Lemon	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6847

Hello Stan, > Thanks for this discussion. Can you expand a little more > on the "peer-to-peer" technology and its application to > XYBR. I have to admit that this thought hit me when I was thinking through many of the issues raised by our "friend" Wolff. I was thinking through a range of potential applications and trying to examine my own "gut feeling" about portable computing applications. As I have been using 802.11 2Mbps and 11Mbps wireless LANs for quite some time, I have often used the "ad-hoc" capabilities which provide "peer to peer" networking. I have sat at the airport, on public transportation, and even in hotel lobbies, interacting with friends between latops. We have exchanged files, played games, and even streamed MP3 audio from another friends laptop. But the applications that intrigue my the most are those of "ad-hoc meetings" of people and places. In "one possible future" that I can think of, I might be wandering through a city with my portable/wearable computer. Because of the wireless capabilities, my wearable might periodically "ping" or "announce it's presence". Likewise, other devices in the area, either wearables or other systems, would also "ping" to identify their presence. By using standards such as SLP, this "ping" might be a quick message that includes other information about me and my intentions ... i.e. "Hey! I'm visiting in town, I need to find some shoes, and I'd like some chinese food." So now others around me would receive this "ping" and realize that there was a visitor around, that he/she was looking for a shoe store, and they were hungry for chinese ... but so would any shops that might be in the area! So as I strolled along the street, I might be "solicited" by the wireless device in a store that wanted to indicate that they have shoes, and some are on sale. At the same time, some other "person in the area" that I don't even know, might "ping" out a message that indicated a good chinese restaurant down the block. So what I'm getting at is that these new wireless technologies will provide me with ways to interact with other people and devices that are within a certain range of me ... and to exchange information with them. I might choose to "be silent" and just listen for "advertisements", or I might be more open and send out requests for goods or services. Once I have located some other person or device that I want to communicate with, I would then be able to enter into an encrypted "discussion" with them. This would be via simple technologies like SSL or even the encryption that is currently in a product like NetMeeting from Microsoft. So the application to Xybernaut is that they currently support 802.11b cards via their PCMCIA support. So then the development of some simple application software would allow this card to "search for" Internet "gateway" access points ... and if none are in range, then to search for other 802.11 devices. > Is this the wireless networking of the i-book or > the short range messaging used with Palm's or bluetooth? > Or is it all of the above. I am a huge advocate of the 802.11b standard ... this is the technology being used in the iBook, and also produced and endorsed by Lucent, Nokia, Nortel, Samsung, Aeronet/Cisco, etc., etc. ;-) The Palm solution, from what I can find, hasn't been "hacked" to do peer to peer ... it's an "owned" technology ... a big error in my perspective! As for Bluetooth, although I believe it will be used in very short range applications, I don't see it used for these "mid-range" applications. Just some wacky ideas that I'm working on ... but I believe this area has a huge potential and will continue to expand ... Scott C. Lemon