What is Wi-Fi? How it May Impact OBF Mike Norris, Moderator Chris Read, Assistant Moderator

2 Background Committee members have expressed an interest in obtaining a more basic level of understanding regarding the new technologies being investigated by the SAG TFO and other OBF groups This is the first in a series of presentations designed to familiarize OBF participants with new and emerging technologies Future presentations will be based on your feedback and priorities

3 What is Wi-Fi? Wi-Fi is short for Wireless Fidelity A short-range wireless radio technology The Wi-Fi standard was developed and commercialized at Apple Computer as early as 1999 It allows wireless access for computer to computer, as well as to the Internet It primarily uses technology

4 What is Wi-Fi? (cont) It works both indoors and outdoors Indoor wireless signal coverage is up to 300 feet Outdoor wireless signal coverage is up to 5 miles for multi-point and up to 20 miles point-to-point with greater capabilities under development Currently runs up to 11 megabits/second

5 How Does Outdoor Wi-Fi Work? Outdoor Wi-Fi requires an outdoor antenna, with an ethernet cable coming into the building, plugged directly into a PC or a wired hub Outdoor Wi-Fi to the building would be the same interconnection to the customer as DSL or cable

6 Outdoor Wi-Fi Example

7 Ethernet Cable Inline Power Injector Hub, Switch or Router Central Router/Bridge Hub Switch Inline Power Injector Ethernet Cable Remote Router/Bridge RF Cable Outdoor Wi-Fi Example

8 How Does Indoor Wi-Fi Work? Indoor Wi-Fi is optional, and requires installation of a wireless Access Point (AP) inside a building coupled with a computer with Wi-Fi capabilities to provide a wireless LAN The Wireless AP allows access throughout the building (i.e. wireless LAN) Laptop needs a Wi-Fi card, which can be purchased at many retail outlets

9 Where is Wi-Fi Available? Anywhere there is a hotspot or hotzone such as: Your home can be Wi-Fi capable with installation of required equipment Many office buildings, businesses, apartment buildings, hotels, etc. Airports, airplanes, convention centers Starbucks, McDonalds, etc. Pay phones in Manhattan

10 Wi-Fi Interconnection Diagrams The Following Diagrams Were Obtained From the Wi-Fi Alliance Site which is an excellent source of Wi-Fi information:

11 © Wi-Fi Alliance No reproduction without the express permission of the Wi-Fi Alliance.

12 © Wi-Fi Alliance No reproduction without the express permission of the Wi-Fi Alliance.

13 © Wi-Fi Alliance No reproduction without the express permission of the Wi-Fi Alliance.

14 © Wi-Fi Alliance No reproduction without the express permission of the Wi-Fi Alliance.

15 Who Uses Wi-Fi? 40 million people! Hotel guests (8-12% usage per occupied room) Corporate users “Windshield Warriors” who need internet services Millions of blue collar and white collar workers Traveling sales representatives Delivery and repair workers Home users Coffee house / restaurant patrons

16 How is the Wi-Fi User Billed? There are many ways to bill for WiFi service Some hotspot providers offer free service Others charge hourly, daily, weekly or monthly Billing is usually to a credit card and is accomplished via a “welcome” screen which pops up when you enter the first web address

17 Wi-Fi Roaming End Users with Wi-Fi capable laptops can use multiple Wireless ISP networks in different locations There are companies (aggregators) that create roaming agreements between Wireless ISPs (For example Boingo Wireless) Typically there are no end user charges associated with roaming due to agreements between Wireless ISPs

18 Need for Ordering and Billing Industry Interconnection There are no ordering standards for Wireless ISPs who choose to partner with an aggregator All done on a case-by-case basis Proprietary to each aggregator There are no billing standards Aggregator to bill the Wireless ISP Wireless ISP to bill the Aggregator when Wireless ISP network is used Ordering and billing standards would be helpful right now and crucial as Wi-Fi service expands

19 On The Horizon As mentioned, currently 40 million Wi-Fi users New access points are selling at the rate of about 15,000 a day This makes Wi-Fi a much faster-growing technology than cellular telephony A new open wireless standard, is emerging Known as WiMax From NYTimes.com article: “Led by Intel, True Believers in Wi-Fi Say It Will Endure”

20 On The Horizon (cont) New option for “last mile” provisioning to customer locations Intended to send data over distances of as much as 30 miles and at speeds of up to 70 megabits a second (versus 11mbs for ) Comfortably streams high-definition television video broadcasts From NYTimes.com article: “Led by Intel, True Believers in Wi-Fi Say It Will Endure”

21 On The Horizon (cont) Industry players believe that commercial Wi-Fi services will complement and not compete with free services From NYTimes.com article: “Led by Intel, True Believers in Wi-Fi Say It Will Endure”

22 Impact on OBF OBF committees need to become aware of and align with Wi-Fi initiatives in the industry It is critical that we provide our expertise to ensure evolution of high quality standards for: Ordering Provisioning Information exchange Billing OBF Participants need to become aware of strategic plans within their companies for Wi- Fi Technologies

23 Impact on OBF (cont) At OBF we have the knowledge and experience to make a significant positive contribution to this new, fast- growing industry