MOBILE DATA ROAMING STALLED BY MICROSOFT WAFFLING

Wireless operators want to complement their 3G strategies using Wi-Fi. Vendors want to develop solutions that will allow seamless roaming between the two kinds of networks. Microsoft stands in the way.

Efforts to facilitate roaming between Wi-Fi wireless LANs and 3G networks are stuck in neutral because of Microsoft''s indecision on supporting mobile IP in its Windows operating system.

Lucent Technologies, convinced that a huge data roaming market exists for wide area wireless service providers, is developing ways to integrate Wi-Fi networks based on the 802.11b standard with CDMA 1X and UMTS networks so that carriers can authenticate and bill customers. But before laptops and PDAs can switch between Wi-Fi networks and 3G networks, Microsoft needs to support mobile IP within its Windows operating system. The software giant is stonewalling on doing that, and Lucent officials are getting impatient.

“We have a surprising disconnect between [Microsoft] and the mobility community,” said Paul Mankiewich, chief technology officer for Lucent''s mobility solutions group. Sources said Ericsson is having similar troubles with Microsoft, but an Ericsson spokeswoman declined to comment.

A Microsoft spokesman said only that the company is evaluating mobile IP and “may support it in the future.” That statement alone is more information than Lucent itself has received from Microsoft, Mankiewich said.

A lack of Microsoft support for mobile IP doesn''t prevent vendors from developing work-around solutions, but they will be more costly, complex and riskier to implement. Work-around solutions also are not as reliable as an embedded Microsoft solution. Indeed, access to 802.11b networks was sketchy before Microsoft embraced the standard in its new Windows XP operating system.

“We''re doing it this year whether Microsoft supports this or not,” Mankiewich said. “But it would be much easier for them to do it.”

This is not the first time Microsoft has been a gating factor in wireless development. Bluetooth technology has limped along over the last year, in part because Microsoft shunned the technology with Windows XP, saying it wasn''t mature enough. Last week, however, the company said it will release a software kit that will help other companies create Bluetooth-compatible devices for Windows XP.

“Any protocol that requires client-based software will require a buy-in from Microsoft in order to see mass adoption,” said David Sifry, co-founder and chief technology officer for Wi-Fi start-up Sputnik.

Microsoft has bought big into the general concepts of 802.11b, incorporating it into Windows XP and working with Cisco Systems on 802.1X, a protocol that works on both wired and wireless LANs. And Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates has heralded the technology time and again, building his company''s home electronics vision around a Wi-Fi networked house.

Wi-Fi networks are gaining prominence because they offer data speeds of up to 11 Mb/s, are easy to install and allow anyone to set up an antenna because it operates in unlicensed spectrum. Wi-Fi appeals to businesses that are looking for cheaper ways to outfit their buildings with high-speed Internet access, and most newer laptops are already equipped for Wi-Fi. But the technology is not yet ubiquitous, despite early efforts by companies like Boingo Wireless to tie coverage areas — or hot spots — together for a nationwide offering.

Wide area wireless operators now want into the market because providing hot-spot coverage with Wi-Fi would bolster their nationwide mobility offerings. Previously, carriers tried to ignore the threat of 802.11b, but recently they became paranoid about Wi-Fi''s potential to cut into 3G revenues and decided to embrace the format instead.

“Carriers realized 802.11 is a double-edged sword,” said Navin Sabharwal, director of residential and networking technologies for Allied Business Intelligence. “In the wrong hands, it could cannibalize revenues. In the right hands, operators can allow specialized packages to enhance networks. Wireless LANs can complement [3G networks] to take over some of the data-intensive needs.”

BT Group announced plans earlier this month to build Britain''s first public access wireless LAN based on 802.11b. U.S. carriers also have expressed interest in the format (see table).

GROWING CARRIER INTEREST IN 802.11b

VoiceStream: Bought the assets of bankrupt MobileStar in November 2001.

Sprint PCS: Helped fund Wi-Fi wireless ISP Boingo with its initial financing round in December 2001 and is expected to offer 802.11b in airports in 2002; joined the Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance last year.

Verizon: Worked with Ericsson in November to demonstrate that 802.11b, CDMA 1x and Bluetooth can be integrated.

AT&T Wireless: Said to be studying 802.11b heavily but has not indicated whether it would offer Wi-Fi service.

Cingular Wireless: Declined comment.

“802.11 drives the adoption of wireless data,” Sprint PCS CEO Charles Levine told Telephony last month. “Think about a customer using 802.11 in a Red Carpet Club in an airport but then dropping to 3G while they''re sitting on a tarmac.”

And mobile carriers have some inherent advantages over new 802.11b players, including better access to lucrative business customers through established relationships and stronger marketing muscle. Lucent believes that''s where the money is.

Carrier movement into 802.11b may be just what Microsoft doesn''t want, Mankiewich speculated. “If you support 3G mobile technologies, you''re not as much in control because you have a service provider in the way,” he said. “802.11b is more conducive to Microsoft''s strategy.”

Microsoft also may not realize that a form of 3G is available today through the introduction of CDMA 1X technology, Mankiewich said.

Still, Warren Wilson, practice director with Summit Strategies, theorized that Microsoft may not view mobile IP as a mature standard. Technologists still need to iron out some wrinkles within the standard, such as the ability to keep applications running as customers move amongst mobile IP networks.

“Microsoft has been embracing open standards more quickly and more readily than a lot of people give them credit for,” he said.