All dressed up...

Each year, the wireless industry reveals another piece in its ever-more elaborate disguise for wireless operators to wear in their attempt to infiltrate the wireline side.

For lack of a less disparaging descriptor, I am going to label this the Mr. Potato Head strategy. This is truly not meant as an insult (I happen to like Mr. Potato Head), but rather as a simple and effective metaphor to explain how wireless carriers are attempting to morph themselves into something more future-proof.

The Mr. Potato Head strategy, like its namesake, has several components, and each can be positioned and repositioned until its wearer is satisfied that it has found a proper fit. The mission of wireless operators, as I understand it, is to make themselves look as much like wireline entities as possible-in both form and function-to allow them to secure the business of a lucrative and sought-after market segment.

Each year, it seems, a new piece is brought forth and held up for the wireless industry's examination. Said industry shakes its head yes or no-or more likely than not, bobbles its head around a bit in some kind of noncommittal fashion-to indicate approval, disapproval or a wait-and-see stance. It is then the responsibility of industry members to try the piece on for size and see what comes of it.

Take last month's Wireless '98 show. A lot of buzz could be heard in and around the show floor about 3G, the industry label for the concept of third generation wireless network evolution. Some observers believe the concept is valid and worthy of our attention right now. Others say the vendors and operators talking 3G or touting infrastructure, standards and services based on the idea are getting way ahead of themselves.

But one thing is certain: The core idea of 3G evolution is to make wireless networks more like wireline in their ability to transport data services.

Wideband, high-speed data delivery is at the heart of what 3G is or will be all about, a focus due in no small part to the progress that the wireless industry has witnessed from afar. Copper-enhancing and fiber optic transport technologies have made high-speed data transmission a close reality, with the popularity and ubiquity of the Internet acting as a powerful driver. Wireless operators know they need to be similarly equipped to take advantage of this phenomenon, and therefore, several vendors and even some operators have begun trying on the 3G piece to see how it fits.

This is a fascinating development if you consider it in historical context: Wireless data has been an industry dog, dragging behind nearly everything else in the development of both technology and applications. The wireless industry is determined to no longer be a data laggard. But 3G is still more concept than reality, and it remains to be seen whether it will become permanently affixed in the wireless industry consciousness.

That brings us back to my potato analogy and another example of this cloaking strategy.

The evolution to high-speed wireless data transmission is this year's piece. Take a look back at 1997, when the same industry convention spawned a sudden interest in wireless local loop, or fixed wireless access: another piece of the disguise, similarly intended to equip wireless operators to look more like their wireline compatriots. Suddenly, wireless operators realized that they could use their spectrum and a fixed wireless access technique to connect homes and businesses to the public network, thereby positioning themselves as bypass carriers.

Looking back at developments since, however, the wireless local loop appears to be a piece the industry tried on too early. So far, no major U.S. wireless operators have announced commercial fixed wireless access offerings, and the plan being tested by AT&T is on hold.

There is a characteristic of Mr. Potato Head that makes this whole comparison a little more intriguing: All of his pieces can be removed and hidden inside him, which makes it difficult to determine which one will be brought out next for a fitting. It's also tough to predict which ones may be worn for a while, then removed and tucked away forever.