Corante

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Dana Dana Blankenhorn has been a business journalist for over 25 years and has covered the online world professionally since 1985. He founded the "Interactive Age Daily" for CMP Media, and has written for the Chicago Tribune, Advertising Age, and dozens of other publications over the years.
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Moore’s Law defines the history of technology. It held that the number of circuits etched on a given piece of silicon could double every 18 months as far as its author, Intel co-founder Gordon Moore, could see. Moore’s Law has spawned constant revolutions since then, not just in computing but in communications, in science, in a host of areas. Moore’s Law applies to radios, and to optical fiber, but there are some areas where it doesn’t apply. In this blog we’ll take a daily look at new implications of Moore’s Law in real time, as it rolls forward to create our future.
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In the Pipeline: Don't miss Derek Lowe's excellent commentary on drug discovery and the pharma industry in general at In the Pipeline

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January 25, 2005

The Future of Roaming

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Posted by Dana Blankenhorn

The significance of WiFi-cellular roaming doesn't lie in cutting voice costs. (The picture, by the way, comes from Novinky, a Czech online magazine, a story about DSL.)

The significance of WiFi-cellular roaming lies in Always On applications.

Think about it. Cellular channels are relatively low in bandwidth, WiFi channels are high in bandwidth.

Now, you're wearing an application, like a heart monitor. When you're at home, or in your office, this thing can be generating, and immediately disgorging, tons and tons of data, detailed stuff that may be fun for your doctor to analyze later.

So now you go to the store, or somewhere else. You're still wearing the same shirt, but now you're in a low-bandwidth environment. Now that data could be saved, to memory chips in the shirt (the algorithms could compress this data automatically if you're out of range a long time), and a call would only be placed if an emergency condition exists.

All the necessary chips could easily be embedded in your UnderArmour. (Or some other brand -- I just think UnderArmour is cool which makes the application easier to sell.) Or the whole unit (no bigger than a wire) could be installed with no more thought than a tie (so you can clean the shirt - even UnderArmour will stink eventually).

The point is that medical, automation, and security applications for Always-On can now be both mobile, and more data intense, simply through the use of dual-mode radios.

Comments (0) + TrackBacks (0) | Category: 802.11 | Always On | Business Models | Business Strategy | Consulting | Moore's Lore | Security | Semiconductors | Telecommunications | cellular


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