The Ruckus Room

Our CEO and Her Shoes...

If you ever have the chance to meet our CEO, Selina Lo, don't look her in the eyes, look her in the feet. 

She's the proud owner of hundreds of pairs of shoes that are quietly kept in their own living space. That's right.  People think it's just something we conjured up to make her sound eccentric.  It's not. 

So when I recently got access to her house, I thought I'd document it for all to see.  The video doesn't really do this justice but will give you some idea of the depth and breadth of this fetish.

She goes on shoe binges whenever she's in Milan, Hong Kong, or well, let's be honest, anywhere. I've had first-hand experience of one of these binges before - watching her drop thousands of dollars like a drunken sailor on two or three pairs of shoes in about 10 minutes.

She typically has two or three shoe salesmen running around Lane Crawford, Nordstrom's or Jimmy Choo's, getting her this and that  Her favorite shoes are the skull and crossbone boots pictured in the video.  What a surprise.

All her shoes are kept in a custom room with layers of  floor-to-ceiling shoes shelves on rollers. Behind the shelves are MORE shoes, handbags, scarves, etc.  It's a walk-in shoe closet essentially. Can you say ISSUES? (she had just bought a new pair of tennis shoes that day to play tennis in).

Aerohiving in Public

Ever heard one vendor praising a competitor in public?  Well, here it comes.

Not only did Aerohive recently give us a great a new CFO but they recently announced a very familiar (and well-loved) wireless security feature they called “Private PSK.”

It's almost identical (but not) to our own Dynamic PSK (so we were very flattered). But they've added some very cool knobs.

Like our Dynamic PSK technology, Private PSK fills a gap between WPA-PSK (pre shared key) technology and WPA enterprise mode (802.1X).

You’re probably familiar with WPA-PSK already, practically every consumer-grade wireless AP lets you setup WPA-PSK encryption where you define a key on the AP. Any wireless device that tries to connect to that network will need to type in the same key to connect. This technology has been widely implemented because it is easy to deploy and understand.

While WPA-PSK works fine in a small environment, when you have multiple people sharing the same key, in a company for example, you start to have problems keeping the key a secret. What's more, if the key is ever compromised, the only way to re-secure your network is to change the key on the AP (easy enough). But then you’ll have to update the key on every client device manually (major suckage).

WPA Enterprise (another way to really say 802.1X) solves this problem by requiring that clients authenticate against a RADIUS server first before they are allowed onto the network. Every user has a different username and password on the RADIUS server somewhere. So if a user needs to be revoked, the administrator can delete their entry. All of the other users would remain unaffected by the change.

In the real world, this can be exceedingly complex to deploy and manage. Many companies don’t have RADIUS servers, so one will have to be setup and maintained. Furthermore, the setup on the client side is very complex. Instead of typing in a single key like you would with a WPA-PSK secured network, multiple configuration adjustments need to be made (eg. the client computer must also have a certificate installed that is used to check against the certificate listed in the server).

In a typical 802.1X configuration this can easily add up to ten separate steps. This frustrates users and puts an increased burden on systems administrators who will need to assist each user in configuring their device. And devices that don't support WPA Enterprise remain unsecured with this approach.

Our Dynamic PSK (as well as Aerohive’s Private PSK) takes the "best of both worlds" approach to solve this security dilemma. See fairly fair comparison chart.

Administrators can choose to enable Dynamic PSK and have the system automatically generate a unique key for each user. Our approach actually downloads and installs the PSK automatically on the client along with the requisite SSID - and we bind the Dynamic PSK to the MAC address of a given device.

Aerohive's lets you manually generate keys or groups of keys that can be emailed and there's no need to login - but users still must install the key (also note that Aerohive's Private PSK requires the HiveManager appliance and the Guest Manager application to fully function which is kinda weird given their religious bent toward a "controller-less architecture"...but whatever we have our own problems).

Each user can then use their own unique key to connect to the wireless network, just like a traditional WPA-PSK network.This is especially convenient for devices without a WebUI. If a key is compromised, administrators can choose to selectively revoke that single key and generate a new one to replace it.

All other keys remain valid, so other users do not need to take any action in this case. Another advantage of this approach is on devices (such as mobile phones) where WPA Enterprise security is either very complex to setup or missing entirely. With AeroHive's implementation, a Private PSK can be used on multiple devices at the same time and each of these devices is shown as a different session when looking at their HiveManager management system.

With these new approaches users just need only enter their unique key into the device and they are ready to go.

But with Aerohive's Private PSK, administrators can choose to go a step further. They can assign user-based policies based on their key. In this way, different users, even if they are connecting to the same SSID, can have different VLAN, QoS or firewall settings depending on what key they use to login. That’s cool.  

So whether it’s theirs or ours, ultimately the simplicity that these technologies bring to wireless LAN security is truly game changing. Administrators will be able to maintain user-level control of encryption keys without the cost and complexity of deploying a full 802.1x RADIUS authentication system.

LDAP This!

When schools install Wi-Fi they often come across a nasty surprise: securely authenticating users isn't so easy (sorry in advance for the following book but it's worth the read... especially if you're a school).

It's pretty simple: schools want a wireless LAN that's easy to set up, works with any device and is supported natively by the client's operating system.They also want to implement an open SSID using a captive portal function for authentication but also want a secure SSID for faculty as well as students.

The problem is that many schools (K-12 and higher ed) use an LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) directory server, such as Apple Open Directory, OpenLDAP, or MS-Active Directory to authenticate users. 

Today's "best practice" is to encrypt all over-the-air traffic and to authenticate each device and user. 802.11i (WPA2) with AES is the choice dejour for authenticating users against the existing directory server since that's where the information sits.

But WPA2 doesn't offer full support for LDAP. WPA2 includes 802.1x and EAP-PEAP (extensible authentication protocol) support for authenticating users with a backend server (such as RADIUS).  However, WPA2 with PEAP requires a RADIUS server and few schools have one (especially K-12) - or WANT one. 

Truth be told, RADIUS servers CAN talk to an LDAP domain server using PEAP but only if that LDAP server uses Microsoft's Active Directory (you see, PEAP only hashes passwords ina format that only MS AD understands). Well that just plain sucks.

Once impregnated with some (other vendor's) Wi-Fi system, schools figure out (cuz these vendors don't tell them) that they now must find and use some RADIUS server.

Luckily for schools, this problem has been solved with new technology called Dynamic PSK.  Dynamic PSK gives schools an ultra-easy way to encrypt traffic while requiring user authentication via Captive Portal talking to an LDAP server. Here's how it works:

First, the user connects to the network (wired or wireless) and points their browser to an activation or authentication Web page. The user is prompted to enter his/her credentials, which are checked against the LDAP directory server.

If successful, the user is sent to a new Web page that lists the wireless LANs they may connect to, the security type (e.g. WPA or WPA2) and a unique PSK (Pre-Shared Key) that is bound to the users specific device once they connect to the WLAN.

If the device is a Windows machine, they can choose to download a script that will automatically configure their wireless card for them (it installs the unique PSK and the requisite SSID). Or they can simply cut and paste the information.

This unique key is stored in a central database (the Ruckus ZoneDirector internal database). Each key will only work for the device it was issued to and can include an expiration date after which the key will no longer work. Keys are easily managed or revoked on an individual basis. This is quite different from a normal PSK network in which each device shares the same encryption key.

Schools dig this.

"V" is for Bitchin

With very few letters left in the 802.11 alphabet  (they've actually started doubling up letters now with things like 802.11aa, ac, ad, and mb), one letter actually stands out, "V."

And 802.11v really has the potential of making things much better.

With WI-Fi the problem has pretty much always been client related. Most of the complaints IT staff get from users is dropped connections, crappy performance or just the inability to connect.  And having to support hundreds or thousands of clients, it's next to impossible to troubleshoot all these problems and provide users with consistent services. 

Our stuff helps quite a bit from the network side by providing more reliable and longer range signals that are customized for each client and can be automatically controlled to give stations more stable connectivity and performance at range.  But wouldn't it be even better if the network could tell the client what to do!

That's effectively what 802.11v does.

Dumbed down (consider the writer here who barely has a college degree), 802.11v is a wireless Network management standard that allows the configuration of client devices while connected to 802.11 networks. 

The proposed standard, expected to be completed in mid-2010, takes advantage of the existing infrastructure and Wi-Fi standards to help companies understand what kind of devices are being connected to the network and where. Specifically it promises to support stuff like:

• Controlling client roaming to help ease congestion during peak usage times (this allows smooth client transitions between APs, which can minimize congestion during busy times and boost performance of applications such as wireless voice over IP)
• Giving network admins the ability to gather network performance data from clients to see how the WLAN is running
• Timing synchronization (useful for when you're streaming multimedia to things like Wi-Fi speakers)
• Improving the battery life of mobile devices and improving the power drain from access points by having clients dynamically reduce and increase their own transmission levels as needed
• Real Time Location Services (RTLS) technology that provides a high-level of wireless client tracking
• Minimizing interference between Wi-Fi stations and APs by arbitrating transmissions

Dynamically dealing with wireless interference is perhaps one of the biggest benefits. Essentially the V-guys are advocating the use of "interference request" and "interference response" frames. Stations wiill use wireless management protocols like these to allow the exchange of operational data so each client knows about the conditions and topology of the network.  It also provides a "means" for stations to be aware of co-located interference - letting clients automatically manage RF parameters based on network conditions.  In others words, THAT'S BITCHIN.

You must give Cisco credit here. Long ago they created CCX (Cisco Compatible Extensions Program) - a scheme designed to allow their infrastructure products to communicate and control client behavior (not to mention make money by licensing this stuff). Early on, they recognized the necessity of this sort of client control and understood, that because of their bigness, they could get this done outside of the standards process and much more quickly.

So watch this space, 802.11v represents a major step forward (if and when it comes).  In the meantime, use the hell out of antenna-based beamforming to solve the rest of your Wi-Fi problems. :)

A Watershed Moment for Wi-Fi?

Talk about causing a Ruckus!  It's been hard NOT to hear about SKYPE support on Apple's iPhone and (soon) RIM's Blackberry (May they say). 

The new SKYPE iPhone application ONLY allows calls over Wi-Fi and not AT&T's 3G or EDGE packet data network.This is most likely because of the undesirable load this traffic would place on the cellular network. 

Some of our ultra-geeks at Ruckus believe that the extra encapsulation might even make it more expensive to carry a SKYPE call over the 3G network (as data) than a normal native voice call.  iPhone users are required to have an unlimited data plan when they sign up. SKYPE calls are counted against that unlimited data usage and not against voice minutes.

Ironically (or not), at CTIA we recently spoke with a number of mammoth mobile carriers. One of them mentioned that "what scares us to death are these types of applications that can just bring our data network to its knees."  T-Mobile in Germany is even banning Skype for iPhone users altogether.

I just started using the SlingPlayer Mobile on my Blackberry Curve to watch TV. Over the EDGE network it's crap because it requires too much bandwidth. But over Wi-Fi it sings. Once I showed it to my spoiled kids, I couldn't get my phone back. They now use it incessantly, and I am unable to receive phone calls from some of my girlfriends like Scarlett Johansen. 

Last December, a survey by AdMob, the world's biggest mobile ad network, found that more than 40 percent of recent U.S. traffic between iPhones and the network's 6,000 ad partners passed over Wi-Fi connections, not over AT&T's cellular network.  And it's only going to get worse.

Meanwhile in not-so-nearby China where the government has recently granted 3G licenses and opened up competition among mobile and fixed line carriers, Wi-Fi is viewed as an essential tool to help:

1. offload data from 3G infrastructures and
2. to quickly and economically enable the delivery of high-speed data access while 3G base stations are being deployed.

Funny enough, after a long hate-hate affair with Wi-Fi, the technology is now being embraced by broadband carriers, MSO and mobile operates as a good way to help backhaul infrastructures cope with heavy demand from data users now and in the future.

AT&T is ramping up its network upgrades a third year in a row to accommodate the heavy data use for its 2009 iPhone launch. And according to other gossip mongers, Apple seems to be laying the groundwork to introduce high-capacity, low-power 802.11n Wi-Fi to the iPod touch, and presumably to its 3G-enabled companion, the iPhone.

The change would be a huge jump in performance for users of both devices, which now use a Wi-Fi chip that supports 802.11b/g, with a throughput of less than 25Mbps on the 2.4GHz band. But the change would almost certainly mean having to buy a new touch or iPhone with the 11n chip, and some observers say Apple also needs to upgrade the CPU to enable both handhelds to fully exploit 11n performance.
There's also seems to be other Wi-Fi-related iPhoney things in the works:

1. Using iPhones or iTouches as a remote controls for set top boxes (STB).
   They already have the capability to use the iPHone/iPod touch as a remote control for iTunes over Wi-Fi, so it makes sense to extend this to STB control
   .
2. Streaming from iPhone/iPod touch to an STB.
   This makes sense since folks have so much shareable content on the device but want to watch it on a real screen or hear it on real speakers.

The big takeaway here is that these types of applications are a huge win for Wi-Fi - validating its massive appeal as the preferred high-speed wireless connectivity option of choice. It also forces Wi-Fi to grow up.  Wi-Fi must now fundamentally change from a best effort technology of convenience into a more deterministic utility. A shared medium that uses the unlicensed spectrum, Wi-Fi has traditionally sucked for doing anything meaningful.  But that's changing and changing fast as Wi-Fi quickly become the defacto choice for client network access.

Star Struck: The Lonely Life of an SE

We're a pretty lonely bunch here at Ruckus Wireless. Each of us lives vicariously through each other in the hope that anything interesting will happen. So when it does, we get all "jiggy wit' it."

Our lives consist mostly of building stuff, installing stuff and troubleshooting stuff then having meetings to talk about how to build stuff, install stuff and troubleshoot stuff. Beyond that, none of us have real lives to speak of.

This is particularly true for our Systems Engineers (SEs) who effectively live on planes - flying from one place to the next installing gear and helping would-be customers on the finer points of RF signal propagation, dynamic beamforming, wireless LAN architecture and (now) celebrity gossip.

Recently, when one of our SEs, Eric Stresen-Reuter (Stress-N-Rooter), an ex-cop in Apopka, FLA married to his cuter-than-a-button cop wife (I kid you not), came in contact with two celebrities within 7 days of each other (and in the exact same location), we were all mesmerized. You see, we don't get out too much.

In the President's Club of Continental Airlines at Newark airport, Eric met Halle Berry and Martin Short. Situated near gate 120 in Terminal C of Newark Liberty International, Continental's President's Club at Newark was recently named "Priority Pass Lounge of the Year." Go figure.  The award-winning lounge covers almost 25,000 square feet and sports a premium wine bar, 57 private carrels, five shower suites, four conference rooms, and ceiling-to-floor windows offering panoramic views

Well, because Eric is an SE, he can't really form complete sentences without using acronyms or converse with normal people, let alone celebrities. He shared with me both conversations  (SE's don't really fabricate things as they pride themselves in being exact). Here's how the conversations went (simply unbelievable). Halle Berry first:

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Eric: Wow. You're Halle Berry!
Halle: Wow. You're right.
Eric. Wow.  What are you doing here?
Halle: Wow, traveling.
Eric: Do you know where the bathroom is?
Halle:  I know where MINE is.
Eric: I really liked you in that movie WANTED.
Halle: I wasn't in that movie, that was Angelina Jolie.
Eric: Oh right.  You guys look a lot alike.
Halle: Not really. I'm black. Are you OK?
Eric: I'm fine. You have cute kids.
Halle: I find you creepy.
Eric: That's OK. Listen, no one will believe that I met you...so would you take a picture with me?
Halle: I don't think I believe it.  Would that make you go away?
Eric: Yes.
Halle: OK but don't touch me.
Eric: Thanks Halle.
Halle: Call me Ms. Berry.
Eric: OK.  Hey one last thing.  Will you autograph my access point?

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Eric: Wow. You're Martin Short.
Martin: Yes and I can make you laugh until you can't control your bowels.
Eric. You won't believe this but I met Halle Berry in this exact same spot a week ago.
Martin: You're right.  I don't believe it.  You know Halle and I were an item once.
Eric: Really?
Martin: No.
Eric: Oh..
Martin: So what do you do?.
Eric: I'm an SE for Ruckus Wireless.
Martin: You're what for who?
Eric: Nevermind.
Marin: OK.  Let's take this picture so I can do anything else.
Eric: Great. Can you put your arm around me so it looks like we're good friends.
Martin: Sure but that's kinda creepy.
Eric:  That's ok.
Martin: You know, you're kinda cute.
Eric:  Really?
Martin: No.
Eric: Hey one last thing.  Will you autograph my access point?
Martin: No.

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OK.  So we some socially inept SE's. But boy are they dedicated and can they make your Wi-Fi network sing!  You'll like 'em then.

Cisco Validates Smarter Wi-Fi, Sort Of.

Informants have hinted that Cisco is planning to unveil a new line of 802.11n dual band access points next week.

What's more Cisco says these APs will use the "built-in" 802.11n beamforming functionality for the first time. 

Beamforming is an option in the 802.11n standard and has been integrated into the 802.11n chipsets provided by Atheros and Broadcom.

No surprise to most, Cisco seems to be following the path of least resistance by relying on chip suppliers for each and every morsel of RF technology advancement.

That said, Cisco's validation of beamforming is a big acknowledgment to the industry that more needs to be done to make Wi-Fi more reliable at the physical layer. Ruckus was conceived around this concept - making WI-Fi more reliable.

The problem is, the "beamforming" called out by the 802.11n standard does very little to solve this problem.  In other words, not all beamforming was created equal.

Beamforming can essentially be performed in two ways:

1. Mathematical beamforming
   This is achieved through digital signal processing in lower levels of the chipset (baseband and multiple radios). This gets all the academic attention and what most people mean when they mention beamforming.
    
2. Physical beamforming
   This is achieved through the use of adaptive directional antennas and best path selection algorithms that dictate that actual form and direction of radio signals through the RF domain using thousands of antennas and actual client feedback (click on figure below) to optimize things.

Mathematical beamforming at the chip level tells the system which antennas to use for a given client and has theoretical maximum limits (eg. 3dB of gain for two radio chains). But nearly every 802.11n access point on the planet uses omni-directional (rubber duck) antennas that constantly blast out and receive signals in all direction providing next to no way to combat environmental problems.

This type of beamforming can't optimize the actual form and direction of Wi-Fi signals and has no real-time adaptive capabilities. Therefore it can't determine the actual performance of a given path, change it if there's a problem or reject or avoid interference as it is experienced.

Testing has shown that the slightest change in the way 802.11n antennas are pointed or the AP is positioned results in wildly different performance levels.  We've seen fluctionation from 5 Mbps to 80 Mbps in performance by simply moving the AP 90 degrees or the client to a different locations.

Physical beamforming goes waaaaaay further. Physical beamforming adds a whole "subsystem"  on top of the standard chipset that allows complete control over Wi-Fi signals. The basic idea is to improve performance by creating several independent signal paths between the transmitter and the receiver.

What's important here is that physical beamforming is adaptive - constantly adjusting Wi-Fi performance based on real things happening in real time.  Here's how it works (for the most part):

A miniaturized antenna array provides thousands of antenna combinations that smart software algorithms use to form very concise and optimized signals. These same software algorithms use actual feedback from each client to select the best performing signal path at any given time.  We use the analogy of holding a flashlight in your hand in a dark room vs. turning a flood light on overhead.

This translates into three very important benefits for users:

1. better (read more consistent) performance over longer distances
2. more reliable connectivity (interference rejection helps avoid Wi-Fi "flakiness")
3. Non disruptive (no client support required to achieve these benefits)

While mathematical beamforming requires chip-level cooperation from both sides and hence requires standardization, physical beamforming gets that cooperation for FREE from the 802.11a/b/g/n protocol. And with physical beamforming there are effectively no theoretical maximum gains limitations. With our "smart antenna" system we've seen system gains of 9dB and interference rejection of 17dBi.

So now you know.

Femtomorrow? Wi-Fi Regardless.

Have femotocells become the next WiMax (read: lots of pilots, few commercial deployments)?

Like WiMax, there's so much written about this new technology but very little real-world services (so far). I've yet to see any device with WiMax support. But then again, I don't get out too much.

Femtocells are fully featured but very low power mobile phone base stations, connected using standard broadband DSL or cable service into the mobile operator's network (click on diagram). They offer excellent mobile phone coverage at home for both voice and data, but at lower cost than outdoor service.

Nearly every carrier with whom we've spoken (and we know them all) has an interest in or is planning some sort of Femto trial. From a handset perspective, Femtocells provide a clear advantage in that they function just like another cell tower so they can potentially leverage standard mobile roaming (click on diagram).

The femtocells themselves look very much like Wi-Fi broadband modems, and some vendors are planning to incorporate all three features into a single box (Wi-Fi, DSL and Mobile). But many consider Femtocells to be "irrelevant" in many countries.

Unlike Wi-Fi, these devices use licensed radio spectrum, so must be operated and controlled by a mobile phone company. Thus it will work with only one mobile phone operator, and thus encourages all users in a household to switch to the same network operator. But skepticism remains.

This skepticism is accompanied by quite a few challenges:

• Interference - The placement of a femtocell has a critical effect on the performance of the wider network - and this is one of the key issues to be addressed for successful deployment.
• Spectrum planning – Each Femtocell unit will affect the overall spectrum planning of the operator which brings up not only planning but also deployment challenges (e.g. what happens if the Femtocell unit is moved?)
• Timing - When will Femtocell really be ready for mass deployment?
• Device support - (specifically laptops) – Many vendors and operators assume a Wi-Fi interface on their Femtocell device to handle laptops. Not so.
• Scale (management) – Operators will need to scale their backend systems to handle not 1000s of towers but potentially millions... that’s a very different problem to solve.
• Cost
• Business model concerns

But the bigger question burning in the minds of many providers:

What's the relationship between Wi-Fi and other broadband technologies
like Femto, WiMax, and 3G/LTE?

It's our not-so-profound belief that (as you'd expect):

Wi-Fi is the ultimate complement for all these broadband wireless technologies.

Why?

• Wi-Fi is everywhere
• Wi-Fi is supported on nearly everything now
• Wi-Fi is arguably the most economical technology for the last 100 meters
• Wi-Fi helps reduce spectrum planning issues
• Wi-Fi augments coverage holes
• Wi-Fi minimizes huge investments in broadband wireless equipment
• Wi-Fi is ideal for offloading data from overburdened 3G, LTE, WiMax networks

Pest Control: 802.11n's Dirty Little Secret

There's a big elephant in the Wi-Fi room and it's not just Cisco. 

But no one (read vendors) seems to want to talk about it in front of customers.  We will. 

The biggest problem with 802.11n systems today is lack of consistency of performance. There's no getting around it.

Under certain conditions 802.11n devices yield tremendous performance gains over older .11g/.11a systems (and these are the numbers vendors typically quote), but under a wide variety of conditions that are typically encountered in real world deployments their performance suffers.

Inconsistent performance of .11n is one of the huge unspoken problems in the Wi-Fi industry. No one wants to talk about it since most vendors don’t have adequate means to address the problem. 

Most vendors – both from the systems and chip side – would like customers to believe this is all being solved by interoperability issues getting hammered out as we move into 2^nd and 3^rd generation .11n implementations. While that certainly has been a significant factor affecting performance consistency to date, as those issues slowly get resolved the remaining issue of dynamically managing the multipath environment to ensure predictable spatial streaming becomes the 800 pound gorilla sitting in the corner.

Have you seen today's 802.11n APs with all these di-pole, omni-directional antennas sticking up?  Each one can be "articulated" in a different direction. The problem is, how the hell is an IT person supposed to know which one to point where?  The answer is: they have NO idea (and they shouldn't!).

And even if it were possible for a normal IT guy to understand this, how the hell (we say hell a lot at Ruckus) would you manage a large deployment with hundreds of access points?

Any informed CIO or IT manager in the enterprise space that is considering an 802.11n deployment should question why the six antennas that protrude from the typical dual band .11n AP that you get from Cisco or other enterprise WLAN vendors includes very flexible ways to adjust the orientation of the antennas - yet there are no instructions on how these should actually be adjusted, under what conditions they should be adjusted, and what difference does it make in terms of the operation and performance of the AP.

Beyond that, this variation in performance is dependent on which client the AP is communicating with, how the client is oriented, whether there are any changes in physical environment occurring in real time, etc.

The net-net is that there is no possible way to statically configure the position of fixed antenna systems that will adequately ensure consistent .11n performance under real world conditions. This is why no equipment vendor wants to talk about this.

We’ve found that relatively minor changes in the orientation of the typical rubber duckie type dipole antennas that are provided on typical enterprise .11n access points can introduce MASSIVE variations in performance with respect to a given client.

Anyone can easily demonstrate this by just charting throughput as a function of antenna position or by rotating an AP to slightly different positions particularly at moderately difficult locations.

We benchmark this type of phenomenon all the time in our lab as a point of comparison with respect to how our products stack up against the market leaders, and the performance variation of competitive enterprise WLAN products as you vary the antenna and access point position is huge. But no one believes us, because we're the only people that have really solved this problem. Go figure.

But screw it.  Test one and see for yourself.  If you know what you're doing, you'll see we aren't full of poopage.

Turning TV Static into Broadband Gold?

Earlier this month,  the FCC voted unanimously to allow conditional unlicensed use of "white spaces" television spectrum. The idea is to effectively turn TV static into money for providers and new broadband data services for consumers. 

A noble idea. But hasn't it already been tried with Wi-Fi with a miserable outcome? Ever been to Philadelphia or talked to an Earthlink sales rep lately? 

"[The use of] white space is very risky and may be hard to create a business model that will be truly successful on it," said Paul Gallant, a Senior VP and policy analyst with the Stamford Group.

White spaces are the unused bits of spectrum between UHF television channels, which will no longer be needed when the United States abandons analog television broadcasting and goes all-digital in February, 2009.

Full power analog television broadcasts operate between the 54 MHz and 806 MHz in the United States (Channels 2-69). In February 2009, full power TV stations are required to switch to digital transmission and operate only between 54-698 MHz. The space between 698-806 MHz (in the 700 MHz  band) was auctioned off by the FCC in 2007, netting some $19 billion for the U.S. Treasury. A white spaces access point will use the IEEE 802.22 standard (wikipedia), which utilizes two different strategies to avoid interference.

One potential use that could come from the decision is neighborhood wireless zones. Carriers could provide, for example, rural broadband Internet access without incurring the huge costs of buying spectrum for a limited number of subscribers. You see, the spectrum signals have much longer range than Wi-Fi technology (two to three time farther 'experts' say), so broadband access could be spread using fewer base stations, resulting in better coverage at lower cost. Some  laptops makers, like Dell, have already announced plans to

These experts also say that the use of white spaces will enable low wireless broadband service in rural areas, self-forming mesh networks capable of routing traffic at speeds of 20 megabits per second. We can pretty much already do that today with Wi-Fi using our directional smart antenna arrays and smart Wi-Fi meshing.

The space could also be used for improved communications networks to connect police officers, firefighters and other emergency responders.

T-Mobile isn't the biggest fan of this idea, saying that they think service within white space will cause interference. The FCC in October released a report that found the interference issue to be inconsequential, and noted that, "when factoring in actual operation under nonstatic conditions, the situation only improves."

So what's the real point?  "Smarter" Wi-Fi (seriously) has more of a chance to fill this need (and will). 

One of the most interesting things in this whole discussion is the FCC's interest in the ability to extend signal range, detect and avoid interference. For wireless technology to be useful (no matter what it is) the ability to automatically adapt to environmental changes is essential to doing more meaningful things.

So while you read a lot of stories and headlines about white spaces this and white spaces that, people (carriers, service providers, MSOs, hotels, gas companies with gas stations, etc.) will be building smarter hotspots (SmartSpots) using Wi-Fi - and putting them everywhere. These SmartSpots use 802.11n, adaptive Wi-Fi signal technology, support multimedia, can automatically communicate with a remote "controller" and intelligently redirect users who need localized content or need to be authenticated.

This is real and already happening.  Ask PCCW, Telenor, Swisscom, AT&T, CenturyTel, Brighthouse - I could go on but would get in trouble.
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