My wife has a book on her bedside stand called So Long Insecurity, by Beth Moore. I [figuratively] have a press release on my bedside stand called “So Long Insecurity,” by the Wi-Fi Alliance. You may have already read or heard that the compass of the Wi-Fi Alliance is pointed due north on a path to prevent support of insecure security solutions on Wi-Fi certified (read: any Wi-Fi device in the competitive marketplace) devices.
Today, Starbucks announced that, effective July 1, they will offer free (1 click) Wi-Fi internet access at all their locations. Wow, what took you so long? You were one of the first to offer in-store Wi-Fi. Chick-Fil-A gave it away from the get go. So did nearly every other little independent coffee shop everywhere. McDonalds made the move a long time ago. What did Starbucks finally see that many, many others saw so long ago? Starbucks employs a lot of very smart money numbers type people. Seriously, who else would think to charge $6 for a large cup of coffee…and get away with it?
This WWDC Wi-Fi fiasco has gotten far more traction in the press than I would have ever expected. So, with a modicum of jest and a modicum of sincerity, here’s more fuel for the fire.
That may be Steve Jobs’ question after today’s WWDC mishap. I’m not an Apple fanboy, so I have to chuckle about Steve Jobs’ (actually, it was someone else’s responsibility, but he should’ve known) slightly embarrassing blunder this morning. Relying on 2.4 GHz conference Wi-Fi to do a much anticipated and incredibly important keynote speech…oy!
I’m usually a pretty level-headed guy, but today I’ve got the itch. I need to rant. Every now and again my calm and collected (ok, I’m stoic) nature undergoes a metamorphosis and becomes obnoxious and irascible. So, here’s my scattergun rant about the things that bother me.
I read an article the other day that spoke of an increasing need for differentiation in the WLAN space, especially as commoditization occurs and feature parity between vendors is stabilizing. Because they’re the big kid on the block, Cisco has gotten a lot of press about their new CleanAir technology. Some folks doubt the usefulness of integrated spectrum analysis, but in my opinion, CleanAir is a good example of the kind of differentiation factor that is important in today’s WLAN marketplace.
Pete Nugent is the lucky winner of the 32GB Wi-Fi Apple iPad. All Pete did was participate in the CWNP forums 237 times between March 29 and May 10.
(reposted with permission from Aerohive)
You bet we did! When my friend Mark Elliott of Mercy Ships (MercyShips.org) asked if we could “help a brother out”, we jumped at the chance.
We tried to capture the essence of those classic Mastercard commercials in our latest front page banner. I’m not sure if we accomplished that goal, since we didn’t go to the lengths of a filming session with actors and scripts, but hopefully you get the picture: free retakes for the summer of 2010.
In the vendor scramble towards low-priced commoditized 802.11n hardware, one vendor is drawing a line in the sand and bucking the trend. Perhaps the only vendor that could stand resolute with this decision, Cisco is foregoing the sprint to status quo (low priced 2×2) by introducing the antithesis of commodity, something that fits by itself in a category called “premium.”
CWNP Blog Roll
- The Need for Speed May 16, 2012 Devin Akin
- BYOD: No Longer a Four-Letter Word to Enterprise IT Leaders? May 16, 2012 Joseph Bradley
- Setting Up Partners For Failure? May 16, 2012 Matthew Norwood
- Setting Up Partners For Failure? May 16, 2012 Matthew Norwood
- It Could Happen to You! May 14, 2012 Annette Blum
- Ode to Vucajnk May 14, 2012 Devin Akin
- Aerohive Training Part II: The Video. May 11, 2012 Andrew vonNagy
- The telecoms industry and a dual-dilemma problem May 11, 2012 Dean Bubley
- Webinar next Wednesday: Delivering Reliable Wireless Services in Healthcare – Better Communications for Better Care May 11, 2012 ekahau
- Phone number as OTT identifier - a problem in the making? May 11, 2012 Dean Bubley
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