Securing Innovation

Ask most struggling telecom network equipment and software developers if there are any bright spots, any flickers of hope in their otherwise dismal forecasts, and chances are they'll mention wireless. Ask some venture capitalists where, if anywhere, they plan to keep investing in telecom, and chances are they'll mention wireless. Ask the so-called serial entrepreneurs where their next move is likely to be, and chances are they'll mention wireless.

Ask any of the sides in the raging regulatory debate if there's a sector that could serve as a competitive model for this industry, and chances are they'll mention wireless. Ask the incumbent LECs for a reason their access line counts are on a downward slide, and chances are they'll mention wireless.

Even as the overall telecom economy continues to struggle and seek out a regulatory or financial salve that may re-spark the sector, innovation and progress remain solid in wireless. True, mobile subscriber growth is not quite as strong as it once was, and wireless carriers have had to reduce their capex budgets like everyone else. Even in that context, though, new technologies are being developed, networks are being upgraded, advanced applications are being introduced and — most important — people are using them.

Wi-Fi is one of the best examples of ongoing wireless innovation — but for wireless service providers and enterprise operators, it comes with an important warning label about security that should be heeded. More carriers are voicing some level of commitment to the Wi-Fi wireless LAN sector — Sprint PCS, an early investor in Boingo Wireless that has been relatively quiet since, recently said it is carefully evaluating the Wi-Fi arena. T-Mobile, AT&T Wireless and Nextel are all dabbling with Wi-Fi to varying degrees to augment their mobile efforts into the LAN. But dabbling is the operative word, in part because carriers are still insecure about the insecurity of the technology.

As Dan O'Shea explores in his cover story that begins on page 30, the standardization of Wi-Fi security measures and their widespread application to all Wi-Fi efforts — regardless of size — is critical to Wi-Fi evolving from a grass-roots effort to a large-scale enterprise. And it isn't happening yet. Proprietary solutions, sporadically applied, will not give wireless carriers or enterprises the security they need to confidently venture into the Wi-Fi market.

Armed with Wi-Fi and other modes of wireless modernization, the wireless sector has an opportunity to remain an innovative, progressive and revenue-generating hot spot in an otherwise dim telecom environment. Ongoing development of advanced security methods and other important back-office operations is critical to maintaining that position.