"Wireless Networks Connect With More Businesses, Uses"
Date: 9/21/98
Author: Michele Hostetler
Some drivers don't have to stop when crossing the U.S. border near San
Diego, thanks to wireless technology.
Many of the 600 cars per hour that pass through the San Clemente
Checkpoint have a bar code affixed to them that approves them for border
crossing. A scanner reads the code and sends a radio signal to a database
400 feet away.
The database instantly makes a match, so the vehicle can continue without
stopping. If the database doesn't get a match, a red light flashes and the car
is stopped for inspection.
This is an example of a wireless network. Customs officials wanted to go
wireless because they didn't want to string cable across one of the nation's
most-traveled freeways, says Luis Amavizca, checkpoint watch
commander.
And officials needed some system to speed the increasing load of traffic at
the busy border. The system saves Customs a ton of manpower, time and
money, Amavizca says.
Wireless networks long have had promise. But high prices and slow
speeds hindered adoption.
That's changing. Standards have been hammered out, making it easier for
companies to make products that work with others. And faster
transmission speeds are in the offing.
''I think that '98 and '99 will be years when a lot happens, but the market
won't take off quickly,'' said Fran Firth, an analyst at the Scottsdale,
Ariz.-based Cahners In-Stat Group. ''2000 and beyond is where we'll see
the real serious growth.''
Wireless network sales worldwide will reach nearly $400 million this year
and jump to $1.23 billion by '01, she says. That's up from $286 million last
year.
A trade group this month revealed the results of its first study to gauge how
companies are using, and benefiting from, the technology. The Redwood
City, Calif., group is the Wireless LAN (local-area network) Alliance.
Members include 3Com Corp., Proxim Inc. and Lucent Technologies Inc.
The study looked at 34 companies, representing about 10,000 users of
wireless networks.
Results found education and health care as the leading industry groups that
use wireless networks. Of the 34 companies found to be most using
wireless networks, education and health care each account for 23%.
Wireless LANs also are used in inventory control. For example, Wal-Mart
Stores Inc. will scan inventory into its database by using wireless products.
Retail, which only accounted for 15% of the users, had the biggest return
on investment, says Mack Sullivan, alliance director. Retail companies
spent $4.2 million on wireless networks and received $5.6 million in
benefits, such as increased productivity and saved money. It took retailers
9.7 months to recoup the money spent on the wireless LAN, he says.
Office automation had the quickest payback - 6.3 months to pay for a
system that costs $1.3 million and gives $2.5 million in benefits, the study
says.
The results were better than the alliance expected. ''We were anticipating
more like a year to two years before payback,'' Sullivan said.
One reason for the better-than-expected results is that costs are dropping,
Firth says. Prices for ''chip cards'' - credit-card-sized circuit boards
inserted in computers to connect to wireless nets - have fallen to about
$200, from $800 three years ago, she says.
And the price could fall to $100 in the next year, Firth says.
That's getting close to wireline prices. ''Chip cards,'' or network interface
cards, for Ethernet networks, the most common wireline network type, sell
for about $80.
Price is critical. ''The cost justification may get much easier in the future,''
Sullivan says.
Speed is another issue. Wireless networks move data at one to two
megabits a second, compared to basic Ethernet's rate of 10 megabits.
''The marketplace requires speed,'' Firth said. ''If you tell someone you can
have wireless technology but not at the Ethernet speeds you're used to,
then where's the value?''
But wireless makers are shifting into a higher gear. Wireless could move at
10 to 11 megabits in the next 18 months, Firth says.
''It's to the point where people will actually consider wireless,'' Firth said.
''It makes sense in lots of different environments.''
Small and home offices will be more attracted to wireless LANs, she says.
One benefit is that when such offices relocate, the wireless gear can easily
be moved. That's not so with wired infrastructure, she says.
Greater use of mobile computing also could spur wireless. Laptop
computers, hand-helds and cellular phones have electronic-mail
capabilities. New products being developed for mobile devices will make it
easier to use them in networks. With a wireless net, for example, users
could update an e-mail address on one of their laptops and have that
update sent to all of their other mobile devices.
Converging voice and data networks also could boost wireless, Sullivan
says. In the wired world, voice and data could run over a single wired
network in the next several years.
The same thing could happen between wireless telephone systems and
wireless LANs, Sullivan says. One wireless network could transport voice
and data, resulting in cost savings, he says.
investors.com
Mang |
