Tower Of Power

Coffee, tea or Internet access?

It sounds strange now, but that phrase isn't as far from reality as one might think. Not if George Wimbish has his way.

As president of Mobile Area Networks Inc. of Heathrow, Wimbish is bringing wire-free Internet access to commercial buildings, such as hotels.

Using specially equipped modems rented from the hotel, travelers with laptops can access the Internet from anywhere on the property, including the hotel's restaurants, conference rooms or even the pool.

On a recent morning at the Sheraton in Maitland, Wimbish browsed the Internet and read e-mail while munching on his bacon-and-egg breakfast in the hotel's restaurant. His laptop wasn't attached to a phone or cable line, but Web pages popped up with lightning-quick speed.

Wimbish pointed to a tiny antenna on a beam above diners. The data received by his computer had traveled through fiber-optic lines to a receiver in the hotel's equipment room and was beamed to a dozen or so antennas scattered throughout the hotel.

Wimbish is one of a growing number of entrepreneurs who are betting that wireless technology will supplant cable and phone lines as the primary means of moving voice and data. As it overcomes hurdles such as cost and reliability, wireless is making possible the development of new products and services that were unimaginable a few years ago.

"Wireless has the power and flexibility to make almost anything happen from a technology standpoint," said Phil Asmundson, a telecommunications analyst with Deloitte Consulting in Dallas.

Several companies in Central Florida have developed products designed to take advantage of wireless's biggest strength -- allowing people to receive data free from phone jacks and cable lines:

AT&T Corp. built and manages a secure wireless network for the Seminole County Sheriff's Department. In 1997, all patrol cars were equipped with laptop computers that gave officers quick access to driving records, criminal histories and color photos of people with prior arrests. Officers can e-mail each other and can use the system to track the location of fellow officers.

 

Wireless makes a connection

Greg Groeller
of The Sentinel Staff

Published in The Orlando Sentinel on March 21, 1999.

Companies
finding
news ways
to use
Technology
to their
advantage

Laptop At The Pool

Advantor Corp. of Orlando uses a combination of wireless signals and phone lines to monitor images sent by security cameras in stores and businesses. Advantor is developing a host of new products, including an electronic pill dispenser that sends a wireless signal to the company when patients with life-threatening ailments don't take their medicine on time. Advantor technicians would then call the patients as a reminder.
ITEC Entertainment Corp. of Orlando pipes television ads and music videos over phone lines to a special receiver in each of Foot Locker's 230 stores around the world. The receiver then beams a digital signal to televisions throughout the store. Programming can be updated from ITEC's offices in Orlando.

American Millennium Corp. Inc. of Mount Dora tracks rail cars, tanker trucks and ships at sea using wireless technology. On-board sensors monitor variables, such as the vehicles' location, fuel level or cargo temperature. The information is then beamed via satellite to American Millennium's offices, where it is sent over phone lines to clients' computers. The entire process takes less than 60 seconds.

For wireless to take off, there are a few hurdles it must overcome. One is cost. For some applications, replacing phone lines and fiber-optic cables with transceivers and satellites can more than double the price.

"The technology is there, but the real problem is that it's hard to compete with phone and cable on cost," said Todd Flemming, president of Advantor. "But that's changing as wireless becomes more prevalent."

Reliability is another thorn in the wireless industry's side. Although digital cellular technology is a vast improvement from the days of analog cellular -- when garbled calls and scrambled data transmissions were the norm -- the industry still grapples with reliability problems. Wireless transmissions can be interrupted by severe weather, fickle equipment or poorly located transmission towers.

Finally, most wireless signals can't match fiber-optic cable for the sheer volume of data it can carry. As a result, most wireless networks usually start with a cable linked to a transmission tower, which then beams the data over the airwaves.

Despite those limitations, proponents say wireless's day is coming.

"This is the way everything will be done in the future, not just in law enforcement but everywhere," said Sgt. David Lohr of the Seminole County Sheriff's Department, who has used a wireless laptop in his patrol car for more than a year.

 

[Posted 03/20/1999 12:59 AM EST]