Atlanta Will Burn Again

Wireless 2004, which runs March 22-24 at the Georgia World Congress Center, comes with the expectation that the wireless industry — and in particular the vendor community — finally has figured out that there is no killer data application. After years of watching the concept of wireless data morph from Web browsing to unrealistic data retrieval schemes (anyone remember the “ordering pizza in an unfamiliar city” scenario?), vendors at this year's CTIA show will have more realistic applications to show off on the exhibit floor.

If there is an overall theme to this year's show, it may be that the industry has emerged from the shadows of the telecom recession bruised and battered, but breathing nonetheless. Attendees also can expect to see a whole lot more pizzazz on the exhibit floor and in the roster of speakers than is typical at a wireless show.

“I would categorize this as a ‘things are definitely coming back’ type show. The worst is over,” said Robert Mesirow, CTIA's vice president of conventions. “We're over 90% sold out on the exhibit floor [in January] and we intend to be totally sold out and wait-listing companies by March.”

If the worst is indeed over, this year's show will be reflective of the next mental stage of recovery. Building off the association's success at last year's IT and Entertainment Expo, CTIA is putting on a number of sideshows that may make the whole event start to resemble something more akin to a cable industry event.

First, there is the annual fashion show. Started two years ago, in the depths of the industry's depression, the event will feature wafer-thin models strutting around with wafer-thin handsets. And despite the peculiarity of seeing a runway in the middle of what is typically a more staid convention, attendees have almost universally tabbed it as one of the more popular events, according to Mesirow.

Perhaps the most engaging sideshow will be the Mobile Entertainment eXpo. Held on Sunday, March 21 before the main convention gets started, the event will bring a few hundred entertainment executives to CTIA, emphasizing the growing importance of melding that content industry with wireless. The sub-event also will include a first-ever Mobile Music Awards (see story on page 29). Separately, the association also is hosting a gaming competition in which users can battle against each other in a series of the most popular wireless games.

“We've launched this new show-within-a-show that's sort of building off of the momentum we had with the wireless IT show,” Mesirow said.

On the dais, attendees will see the usual collection of bigwigs, but CTIA has thrown a couple of curve balls for this year's show. While Cisco Systems' CEO John Chambers and Sun Systems' CEO Scott McNealy are to be expected at an event that will draw 25,000-plus, it's the third speaker, Def Jam Records founder Russell Simmons, who is likely to grab the most attention.

For CTIA itself, the show also will mark a significant transition period. While last year's fall event, the IT and Entertainment Expo — and to a lesser extent the national show in the Spring — was something of a farewell tour for former Chairman Tom Wheeler, the annual gathering in Atlanta marks the coming-out party for a newly minted CTIA executive staff. Steve Largent, named Wheeler's replacement in November, has made a complete change out of the executive quarters, which also recently moved a few blocks to newer digs.

Since the beginning of the year, CTIA has brought on former wireless lobbyist Carolyn Brandon as vice president for policy and Bob Bolster, who was on the staff of the House Committee on Financial Services, as director for congressional affairs. Brian Kidney has been tapped to fill the newly created position of chief operating officer for the CTIA. Kidney, who previously served as the vice president of external affairs for AirTouch, will facilitate the day-to-day operation of various departments within the trade association.

“People shouldn't notice a difference in the way the show is run because of [the executive changes],” Mesirow said. “We tear down everything every year and start over from scratch. We try to do a different show every year, so that model isn't going to change.”

The show also will have its annual gala event on Tuesday evening. Dennis Miller, who promises to heat up Atlanta faster than General Sherman's matchbook, will be the entertainment.
— Vince Vittore

Hybrids Mark Cellular/Wi-Fi Borders

For a time, it was a cardinal sin in the wireless industry to suggest that mobile carriers and Wi-Fi hot spot operators were competitive, and that their technologies were alternative to one another's, rather than complementary. That attitude, which defined the years that constituted Wi-Fi's early maturation as a public access wireless data technology, was characterized by carrier CEOs spouting all kinds of niceties and platitudes about Wi-Fi being “just another data option.”

Those days are over. While those same carrier CEOs still insist that mobile and Wi-Fi are complementary — with their companies engaged in Wi-Fi resale agreements, they had better stick to the script — carriers' adoption of 3G technologies has created an environment in which a more brazen and challenging attitude occasionally surfaces.

For instance, listen to Sanjeev Verma, co-founder and CEO of Airvana, after Verizon Wireless recently announced its national expansion of CDMA 1X EV-DO technology: “With EV-DO, you have something that is going to be superior to Wi-Fi because it will eventually be available everywhere as companies like Verizon improve the coverage.”

Similar statements could be overheard after AT&T Wireless' national expansion of EDGE technology last November. The fact is that 3G technologies such as EV-DO and EDGE do get users closer to the average data speeds they will experience at a coffee house/Wi-Fi hot spot — but with Wi-Fi already well established in hot spots, homes and increasingly in corporate enterprises, no amount of 3G mobile coverage may be capable of weaning users off of Wi-Fi.

Instead, some friendly borders probably will continue to exist, and it is along those borders that a handful of small companies are beginning to make their mark. Some of these firms, including PCTel, BelAir Networks and Kineto Wireless, will be exhibiting at CTIA Wireless 2004.

PCTel, based in Chicago, addresses the likelihood that Wi-Fi users will want to roam between hot spots and also between Wi-Fi and cellular network coverage. The company's Segue client roaming software, already in use by T-Mobile and other service providers, allows a seamless client experience from site to site.

BelAir Networks, based in Ottawa, Canada, was one of the original members of the increasingly active Wi-Fi mesh technology vendor community. Mesh architectures use self-configurable, reliable Wi-Fi cells in scenarios that are not unlike the blueprints for today's cellular networks. These architectures are low-cost and easy to expand, allowing wireless backhaul between individual cells, and from an enterprise mesh to the public network. Wireless ISPs are primary adopters, but the mobile operators could play, too.

BelAir's mesh products offer three independent channels, each with highly directional antennas — an improvement on some single-radio, omni-directional multi-point architectures that offer little frequency reuse.

Though not a mesh vendor, Kineto Wireless has a similar take on wireless LAN architectures — that they should provide adaptable and reliable coverage. Kineto also focuses on the residential deployments. Its Mobile-Over-Wireless LAN solution supports both voice and data use through Wi-Fi products, including handsets that allow voice-over-WLAN service.

It's an architecture that rivals any attempt traditional mobile technology makes at indoor residential and in-building enterprise coverage, but any type of carrier, from mobile operator to wireline telco, can deploy it.

It's uncertain whether future CTIA events will feature increasing numbers of Wi-Fi-focused exhibitors and discussions. Perhaps they will if the two technologies survive in different deployment venues. Until then, the hybrids will reign.
— Dan O'Shea

Mobile Entertainment:On With the Show

Outside of wireless gaming, mobile entertainment has gotten short-changed at CTIA shows past as exhibitors have instead focused on productivity-enhancing enterprise applications and more practical consumer apps. Bo-ring! But that all changes this year with the launch of the first-ever CTIA Mobile Entertainment eXpo. Dubbed MEX for short, the expo is dedicated exclusively to mobile gaming, music, video, hardware and even fashion, and it promises to be the spot where all the cool kids hang out.

So why is this year's CTIA so different? Credit the influx of next-gen handsets now hitting the consumer market. Thanks to improved user interfaces, enhanced screen resolution and better audio, mobile entertainment applications are finally capable of offering users true entertainment value. Consumers are downloading these apps in growing numbers, and film, television and recording companies are responding in turn by making more content available for wireless distribution. One British mobile industry analysis firm, the ARC Group, projects wireless entertainment users will number 2.5 billion by 2008, generating in excess of $27 billion.

No doubt due in large part to trends reported in another recent ARC Group study, this one stating that ringtone revenues jumped 40% in the past year to $3.5 billion, mobile music services are assuming a huge share of the CTIA entertainment spotlight this time around. The major event promises to be the premiere Mobile Music Conference, a daylong forum bringing together wireless industry execs and music industry representatives to discuss ringtones, rights management, mobile marketing and promotion, and more.

There's also the Mobile Music Pavilion and the Mobile Music Awards, a kind of wireless Grammy ceremony with categories including Best Quality Ringtone, Most Innovative Music Content or Service and even Best Mobile Bling-Bling (that's “accessories” to you and me). And if that's somehow still not enough, you can probably stumble across some drunken wireless industry members warbling the night away at one of Atlanta's finer karaoke bars.

But discussion in and outside the MEX must advance beyond fun and games. There are still some major logistical issues to deal with, specifically relating to premium content pricing, revenue sharing and managing a value chain that must include not only entertainment conglomerates but also film producers, songwriters and other creative entities. There's also the issue of how to handle adult-themed content and mobile gambling, both of which loom as huge moneymakers — and are guaranteed to suffer the wrath of moral watchdogs.

Like they say on another small screen, stay tuned.
— Jason Ankeny

March 22-24 Georgia World Congress Center, Atlanta www.ctiashow.com

ACCOMMODATIONS

CTIA has arranged for hotel discounts at 17 downtown hotels within blocks of the conference center with room rates ranging from $94 to $219 a night. Check the CTIA Web site, (www.ctiashow.com) for availability. While these are likely to sell out fast, the World Congress Center is located in the heart of downtown close to dozens more hotels. Also try Buckhead and other outlying neighborhoods for hotels close by. City Search has numerous hotel listings along with ratings and reviews (Atlanta.citysearch.com).

TRANSPORTATION

No rental car? Well, Atlanta may not be the most pedestrian-friendly city in the world, but there are certainly other ways to get around sans automobile. Atlanta's light rail, MARTA, services a good deal of the conference-friendly areas of town, so the Georgia World Conference Center may be only a quick train ride from your hotel. Check out the MARTA map (www.itsmarta.com). Atlanta also has several taxi companies, which you can call for dispatch if you don't find them prowling the streets. Try Checker Cab (404) 351-1111 or Yellow Cab (404) 521-0200.

DINING AND NIGHTLIFE

Atlanta ain't Kansas. It's one of the most populous and diverse cities in the U.S. and certainly the major metropolis of the old South. There's a restaurant for every palate and a nightspot for every taste. Downtown there's underground Atlanta, packed with restaurants and shops. The Buckhead neighborhood is the center of Atlanta's nightlife, whether it's for an upscale cigar bar or a Jamaican-themed dance club serving liquor by the fishbowl. Or for something eclectic and gritty, try Atlanta's Little Five Points neighborhood, home to dozens of coffee shops, trendy boutiques and clubs. Stop by the Star Community Bar and view one of the most impressive shrines to Elvis outside of Tennessee while checking out live southern Rockabilly. For dining and entertainment recommendations try the Atlanta Journal Constitution's online guide (www.accessatlanta.com) or City Search (Atlanta.citysearch.com. For restaurant picks, you can't beat Zagat's (www.zagat.com).

LEISURE

Have a day off? Atlanta has lots to offer. The High Museum of Art features a special exhibition of Egyptian Art, African Gold and the designs of architect Richard Meier (www.high.org). On March 25-27, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra will perform works by Beethoven, Schoenberg and Schumann at the Woodruff Arts Center (www.atlantasymphony.org). For fans of Americana there's the Coca Cola Museum (www.woccatlanta.com). If you're a sports fan, the Braves have five games at Turner Field the week of CTIA, starting with two contests against St. Louis March 21-22 and games against Detroit, Cleveland and the New York Mets at the end of the week. The Hawks play Utah on Sat., March 19, but don't return to town until Thurs. March 25 to play New Orleans. The NHL franchise, the Thrashers, will play against Washington on March 24 and New Jersey March 26.