Boingo Wireless Gets Behind Multi-Mode Wireless

Boingo Wireless expects to be able to offer access to wireless WAN networks in 2003, Sky Dayton, CEO of the company, said in an interview with CRN during the DemoMobile conference here. The company already has the technological capabilities, he said, but executives need to work out service agreements with wireless carriers.

Dayton's comments echo those of a number of vendors and analysts at the show who expect increased convergence between 802.11 Wi-Fi hotspots and next-generation CDMA and GPS networks.

Allen Morgan, general partner at Mayfield, a venture capital firm, said within the next three to five years all devices will be multi-mode.

"It's harder to predict who the players are going to be, what kind of business models will prevail and who will own the customers," he said.

Dayton said retail stores and restaurants will be adding Wi-Fi by the end of next year.

"We'll see salespeople rolling up to Burger King or McDonalds, downloading their e-mail and grabbing a [Whopper or Big Mac," he said.

Andy Rubin, president and CEO of convergent device manufacturer Danger, said wireless also will be embedded in things such as soda machines and dog tags over the next five years.

"That's when we really will see mass adoption," he said.

The possibility of seamless communications between Wi-Fi hotspots and wireless WANs has been a much-discussed topic in the past 12 months. Show attendees acknowledged that there is still work to be done before Wi-Fi and wireless WANs can become truly ubiquitous.

Since networks are owned and operated by so many different companies, logon capabilities and billing issues are still under development, they said.

"So many different [technologies have to come together to make it work in a public space," Morgan said.