| Podcast: Wireless in '09: Faster, greener, smarter With wireless LANs well-established in the home and enterprise, the upcoming year will see the networks get smarter (better management, handoffs, etc.), greener (power savings) and faster (performance boosts). Kelly Davis-Felner from the Wi-Fi Alliance shares these predictions and other thoughts for the world of wireless in 2009. (12:17) Mobile operators extend options for cellular discounts The mobile network operators have been quietly enhancing their cellular voice plans to make using their wireless networks for intra-company calls more economically appealing. For a couple of years, the big U.S. operators have offered calling plans that integrate, to a degree, your cellular phone with your PBX feature set and on-net campus calling price plan. Now, those options are becoming more numerous and varied. Tricks for cellular savings When mobile users are traveling, cellular roaming costs can add up. The ideal solution would be for mobile operators all over the world to reduce their roaming rates, which, admittedly, is happening to a degree in Europe. In lieu of significant widespread reductions, though, the industry has begun chipping away at the problem with a variety of approaches. Slideshow: 8 management apps that justify expensing an iPhone Management vendors have gotten wise to the fact that most in IT can't sit in front of monitoring consoles to detect problems and potential failures. Now several have designed their applications to run from the graphical user interfaces of iPhones and other smartphones. Here is just a handful of iPhone-friendly management tools. Cisco Wireless IPS gets overhaul The new system integrates features into the Cisco Unified Wireless framework that were previously only found in specialized WIPS vendors like AirDefense. Cisco wireless gear gets rugged Cisco’s Aironet wireless access point are heading into naval warfare. Lockheed Martin which has a contract to install communications gear on the U.S. Navy’s Zumwalt destroyers, has written a $700,000 check to Parvus to ruggedize the Cisco gear for battle. WiMAX speeds ahead: Sprint, Clearwire unveil dual-mode router Sprint and Clearwire's WiMax plans seem to be moving ahead. Sprint announced Wednesday that on December 21 it will begin selling a dual-mode WiMax/CDMA router ($149.99 after a $50 rebate) with a two-year contract. ... Wi-Fi coming to Japan's bullet trains next year Passengers on Japan's super-fast bullet trains will be able to surf the Web while travelling at 270 kilometers per hour thanks to a new service that will start in March. 802.11n boosts WLAN use in enterprises The popularity of 802.11n is attracting more businesses to wireless LAN equipment and helping suppliers cope with the tough economic climate, industry analysts say. The role of beam-forming in 11n In a couple of newsletters this month, I've discussed the effects of multiple input/multiple output (MIMO) and antenna technology in 802.11n primarily from the perspective of a "traditional" vendor, if there is such a thing in the nascent 802.11n market. Much of that insight came from Cisco and, indeed, is applicable to many early 11n products on the market today. That's because most do not use beam-forming technology, also called "smart antenna" technology. Rather, they support static antennas - albeit in a dynamically changing environment. January giveaways from Cisco Subnet and Microsoft Subnet
Up for grabs: Two Cisco training courses from Skyline-ATS worth up to $6,990, a Microsoft training course from New Horizons worth up to $2,500, 15 copies each of the hot book titles Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Management and Administration, IPv6 Security and Chained Exploits: Advanced Hacking Attacks. Get all the entry details here. | 
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