Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Mar. 7 - It looks like a cellphone.

From: Marcelrf <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 08 Mar 2004 22:17:27 -0500

Posted on Mon, Mar. 08, 2004

The Record, Hackensack, N.J., Technology Test Column

By Martha McKay, The Record, Hackensack, N.J. Knight Ridder/Tribune
Business News

Mar. 7 - It looks like a cellphone.

It dials like a cellphone.

But it's definitely not a cellphone.

George Gonzalez grinned and leaned back in his chair, the slick gray and
silver Cisco Model 7920
balanced in his hand.

"It's just a cordless phone," said Bergen Academies' technology maestro.

Sure it is.

Ever heard of a cordless phone that costs nearly $1,000, works by
tapping into a wireless data
network, and sends your voice as tiny bits of zeros and ones through the
air?

Gonzalez' Cisco phone is so state-of-the-art that no one can settle on
exactly what to call it.

Some call it VoWLAN, for voice over wireless local area network. Others
call it Wireless VoIP (voice
over Internet protocol). Still others call it a Wi-Fi phone.

"A lot of people don't even know these wireless IP phones are
available," said Mack Leathurby,
solutions marketing director for Basking Ridge-based Avaya, a leading
manufacturer of VoIP phone
systems.

In essence, though, Gonzalez is right -- it's just a cordless phone,
albeit one based on advanced
digital technology that has some intriguing potential.

Gonzalez' phone marries two fast-growing technologies: Wi-Fi and VoIP.

The phone works when it's within range of a Wi-Fi "hot spot."

Wi-Fi, which stands for wireless fidelity, uses an unlicensed radio
spectrum to broadcast a signal
allowing anyone within a 300-foot radius to surf the Web, check e-mail,
or download files at high
speeds. The service has popped up everywhere from Starbucks and
McDonald's to schools, hotels,
and airports. Most people tap into a Wi-Fi network using a laptop
computer or a personal digital
organizer.

But Gonzalez uses a phone.

When he's inside any of the buildings on Bergen Academies' campuses in
Hackensack or Paramus,
his Cisco 7920 uses VoIP technology to send conversations.

His voice is converted into tiny bits of data that stream out from the
phone's antenna onto Wi-Fi
radio waves, which then feed into a small stationary antenna connected
to the school's data
network. From there, those data bits reverse their steps and travel to
another teacher's
extension or funnel out onto the traditional phone network.

In essence, the phone allows Gonzalez to take his extension with him.

If he goes down the hall to a classroom, or to another campus, school
officials trying to reach him
simply dial his four-digit extension.

So, can't you do basically the same thing with a cellphone?

Yes, but calling a cellphone means spending money -- a call from the
principal to Gonzalez' Wi-Fi
phone never leaves the school's network.

Another advantage that Wi-Fi phones have over cellular is reception --
you can't always use a
cellphone inside large office or manufacturing buildings.

The New Brunswick school district, one of the earliest adopters of the
technology, has found Wi-Fi
phones indispensable for its computer technicians, who work in a
basement office where cellular
phones can't penetrate.

But the district, which purchased 200 Wi-Fi phones, is also an example
of the disadvantages
linked to the technology.

It switched to Nextel's walkie-talkie-enabled cellphones for its
maintenance people who must
travel from school to school within the city.

When those workers left a building and its Wi-Fi hot spot, they were
"off the grid" and no one
could reach them, said Brian Auker, the district's technology director.

Wi-Fi phones are being developed -- and some are on the market now --
that do things that
traditional desktop phones do. They can put someone on hold, for
example, or make conference
calls. And they'll be able to do things that advanced VoIP desktop
phones can do: Look up an
entire office directory of extensions, receive a fax, check e-mail.

Consider how North Shore University Hospital is using the technology.

The hospital bought 500 Wi-Fi phones made by SpectraLink, said Dan
Spinosa, director of
enterprise technology for North Shore Long Island Jewish Health System's
18 hospitals.

After some initial trouble getting the phones set up, they are in the
hands of doctors and nurses.

Now, says Spinosa, a nurse with a Wi-Fi phone can stand by a patient's
bedside, call a doctor's
extension, and reach the physician directly.

In a traditional setting, a nurse at a patient's bedside would page the
doctor, who would then
find a phone to call the nurse, who would leave the patient to pick up
the call at a nurse's station.

After about eight months' use, the new communication tool has won over
the hospital staff.

"I wouldn't want to take a phone away from any of the people using
them," said Spinosa.

The technology is well-suited to hospitals and large retailers, analysts
say, particularly in a setting
where salespeople would save time by having their phone extension
clipped to their belt instead
of at a desk.

But these Wi-Fi phones are not for everyone.

"We're not talking about going into the average business and displacing
a desktop phone that's
been there for many years," said Chris Kozup, senior analyst with Meta
Group. "The business case
isn't there, and the maturity of the technology isn't there."

To date, there aren't a huge number of Wi-Fi phones in use. Some
estimate only about 100,000
Wi-Fi-enabled phones were sold last year. Companies that sell the
phones, such as SpectraLink,
Cisco, and Avaya, won't discuss sales figures.

And the phones aren't cheap. Avaya, which sells SpectraLink phones under
the Avaya brand,
markets two models. One sells for $530, and $649 will get you a
ruggedized version, the company
said.

A company also needs to have a wireless local area network that can
support VoIP phones.

"We're going to see gradual growth here," said Kozup.

Large phone makers, including Nokia and Motorola, are working on
dual-mode phones -- that is,
cellphones that will sense a Wi-Fi hot spot and switch to Wi-Fi mode.
Some, like a $1,000 model
Nokia introduced last month, won't be able to place calls over the Wi-Fi
network using VoIP, but
will be able to perform such functions as sending e-mail and downloading
files.

But beware the hype, cautions Philip Solis, senior analyst at ABI
Research, a technology
consultancy.

"These phones will be targeted at large corporations at first," said
Solis. Consumer use is likely far
in the future, he said.

HOW IT WORKS: Wi-Fi equipment connects to a data network. The network
can be self-contained
or have connections to the public Internet or the public telephone
system. The Wi-Fi gear delivers
a high-speed wireless connection to any number of access points.

A small antenna, or access point, picks up the signal from the Wi-Fi
gear and broadcasts it in a
300-foot radius, also called a "hot spot." Any Wi-Fi-capable laptop,
personal digital organizer, or
wireless phone within that area can "sniff" the signal out of the air.3.

A Wi-Fi phone with voice over Internet protocol capabilities can send
and receive high-quality
voice conversations that travel from the phone to the antenna and then
onto a data network.

Calls can then be delivered to another extension operating within the
same Wi-Fi "hot spot" or
another "hot spot" connected to the same network. They travel over the
public Internet and can
eventually be piped out onto the public telephone system.
-----

To see more of The Record, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to
http://www.NorthJersey.com

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/business/national/8136850.htm
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