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

To: hlpinout who wrote (88752)	1/10/2001 7:02:22 AM
From: hlpinout	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 97611

1/09/01 - Wireless Networking Companies Compete for Customer Base Jan 08, 2001 (The Orange County Register - Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News via COMTEX) -- A wireless home network connecting computers, telephones and electronic devices is so new that Intel Corp., Compaq Computer and 3Com Corp. haven't figured out which of the three standards to support. So they're backing all three. They're not the only companies investing in the competing Wi-Fi (also called IEEE 802.11b), HomeRF and Bluetooth wireless networks. Many others are backing all three so they'll be able to offer customers every choice, said Kevin Negus, chairman of HomeRF Working Group. "Most of the members of (HomeRF) are members of 802.11 and Bluetooth, and vice versa. A lot of the companies involved in this business want to build them all," said Negus, also vice president of business development at Proxim Inc., a member of all three groups. Negus reasons that the three standards don't really compete. Bluetooth focuses on short distances, Wi-Fi targets large office users and large areas, while HomeRF is geared toward the home. "They're all going to argue and fight with each other, but at the end of the day, they're all going to have their own base market," he said. Houston-based Compaq Computer, which has its business-services division in Irvine, sells HomeRF and Wi-Fi desktops but to different markets. Business users veer toward Wi-Fi for faster speeds, and home users prefer the more affordable HomeRF, said Ted Clark, Compaq's vice president of wireless Internet solutions. "What we're really about is delivering the solution our customers are looking for," Clark said. Critics have scoffed at wireless networking, saying it's too slow and too expensive, especially in comparison to the 100 megabit-per-second Ethernet network that's the basic standard for most area networking today. But high-speed Ethernet requires ripping out walls, ceilings or floors to lay fiber-optic cables -- not an economical option for most. Then, last August, HomeRF got the go-ahead from the Federal Communications Commission to bump its speed from 1.6 Mbps to 10 Mbps by next summer. Wi-Fi, already at 11 Mbps, could hit 20 Mpbs next year. Wi-Fi plans to integrate Bluetooth into its standard so the two will be compatible. "People have been hungry for it for a number of years," said Chris Chapman, a product engineer at Linksys in Irvine. Linksys, which supports 802.11b, Home Phoneline Networking and the proposed HomePlug power line standard, makes networking equipment and just released a wireless 802.11b router. Faster speeds and lower prices are helping wireless networks gain acceptance among home and small-business users, Chapman said. Wired networks will probably always be preferable because you have a secure, reliable and very high-speed way to connect, said Matt Swanston, manager of wireless communications for the Consumer Electronics Association. "But most people can't do that because it's very expensive to add a (wired) network once the home is built," Swanston said. With faster connections and support from dozens of manufacturers, wireless networking beats rewiring your house, he said. While the three standards continue to bicker over which will reign supreme, Swanston advises that in the interim, check appliances and electronic gadgets for networking capability. By Tamara Chuang To see more of The Orange County Register, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to ocregister.com (c) 2001, The Orange County Register, Calif. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. -0-