Techno-News Blog Ray Schroeder, editor, OTEL - University of Illinois at Springfield |
|
|
Technology News for Higher Education Times and Dates Coordinated Universal Time
Subscribe to Techno-News Blog by Email
|
Friday, April 11, 2003
Good-Bye 3G - Hello Wi-Fi Frappuccino - Dan Briody, Wired
As T-Mobile USA's John Stanton tells the story, his company's future was changed by a chance meeting with Michael Dell, chair and CEO of Dell Computer. During the 2001 Allen & Co. CEO schmoozefest in Sun Valley, Idaho, Stanton sat down for drinks on a sun-drenched patio and learned that Dell planned to build Wi-Fi into most of his company's laptops. It was a bombshell.... Stanton thought Wi-Fi was just another open spectrum technology with no place to go - a fad like HomeRF and Bluetooth, a techno-hobbyist's Tinkertoy, a network for wireless weenies. The real solution to broadband wireless was 3G; it was just going to take a bit longer than expected. But here was Dell with his plan to make devices that access the Internet wirelessly, and he's all about Wi-Fi. "Michael said they were going to build Wi-Fi into a significant portion of their laptops," recalls Stanton. "I was shocked. Up to that point, I thought [Wi-Fi] was nothing but more overstated expectations. But here was a guy that was deeply committed. It was at that point that I realized Wi-Fi was real. That was the seminal event."
Comments:
Post a Comment
|
