Will Traditional Broadband Stand Up against Wi-Fi and WiMAX?

With wireless broadband capabilities expanding significantly, it looks like "regular" broadband providers have their work cut out for them. But maybe there is room for everybody.

Will the wireless broadband standard of the future be Wi-Fi or WiMAX?

The members of the "Emerging Wireless Technologies" panel at the 2005 Cyberposium conference at HBS on January 29th debated that question and contemplated whether either technology—or both of them—could even rush the current mobile phone standards toward obsolescence.

Moderator Graham O’Keefe, senior partner at Atlas Venture, asked panelists about the possibility that Wi-Fi technology for voice would simply leapfrog other technologies already available.

Ron Sege, president and CEO of Tropos Networks, said one expectation for Wi-Fi is that it may do just that in third world countries, where its low network roll-out costs would be particularly welcome. He acknowledged that Wi-Fi handsets aren’t ready for "prime time," but estimated the glitches will be overcome in a year or two.

by Julie Jette

Full Story: http://hbswk.hbs.edu/pubitem.jhtml?id=4629&sid=-1&t=special_reports_convergence2005