************************************* * * * DB/C Newsletter * * July 2000 * * * ************************************* News and Comments We will start beta testing of DB/C DX 11 in August. There are several new features in DB/C DX 11. The primary new feature, Smart Client, has been discussed here in the past. If you are interested in becoming a beta tester, contact me directly. This month's article is an overview of several new wireless technologies. I believe that the overall effect of several new wireless technologies will be as revolutionary (and disruptive) during the next ten years as the Internet has been in the last ten. I realize that this is a quite a statement, but I do think 'wireless' will be that important. Let me know what you think. don.wills@dbcsoftware.com ****************************************************************************** Wireless Like 'plastics' in the 60's and 'cyberspace' in the 90's, 'wireless' will likely become a defining concept in the decade ahead. As used here, the term 'wireless' encompasses a variety of technologies, some of which are evolutionary, others of which are completely new and quite revolutionary. Bluetooth is a cable replacement wireless technology that is targeted for offices. Any connection that is today made with a short (10 meter max) cable is a candidate for a Bluetooth-based wireless connection. Examples include connections made with PDAs, notebook computers, printers, telephones and telephone headsets. A network of Bluetooth-connected gadgets is called a Personal Area Network (PAN). HomeRF and IEEE 802.11 are the names associated with two wireless Local Area Network (LAN) technologies. These technologies replace the cables and hubs (typically Ethernet-based) that make up a wired LAN. Initially, these technologies will be found in laptops, personal computers and printers. IEEE 802.11b products run at 11Mb/sec. HomeRF is slower and is targeted at the consumer market, so it may also show up in home entertainment products like televisions and audio distribution systems. Proxim is a supplier of both of these technologies. The Apple AirPort product is an inexpensive IEEE 802.11b product that works in all new Apple computers. Local Multipoint Distribution Service (LMDS) is one of the wireless technologies associated with Metropolitan Area Networks (MANs). There are several similar technologies with names that vary from country to country. LMDS competes with DSL and cable modems to provide high speed Internet service to homes and businesses. LMDS works by having a small (less than 1 meter) dish antenna on the roof of your building pointing to a base station antenna that is located a few kilometers away. Each base station can handle a few thousand customers at T-1 speed (1.5Mb/sec) and greater. The competition between DSL, LMDS and related wireless technologies is driving prices down dramatically. Prices for T-1 speed connections to the Internet have been reduced by a factor of five or more in many markets. It is now possible for businesses in US metropolitan areas to get T-1 speed Internet service for less than $500 per month. Teligent and Winstar are companies that provide this type of service in the United States. Cellular phone technology is the most visible wireless technology. It is estimated that there will be more than 500 million portable wireless phone and data subscribers worldwide by the end of 2001. This number is twice as large as the number of computers that will be connected to the Internet. What's interesting is that the number of portable wireless phone users is growing at a faster rate than the number of computers connected to the Internet. Most cellular phones in use today are voice-only. This will change rapidly as the wireless infrastructure goes digital. The conversion of many Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) products like the Palm into wireless devices that use the digital cellular infrastructure is certain to occur. The Palm VII is currently the most notable wireless PDA. However, it suffers from these serious shortcomings: 1. the speed of wireless data transmission is slow 2. access is limited to a few Internet sites and one email server 3. pricing is expensive and based on usage - 12 to 20 cents per KB A company called OmniSky is marketing a product and service based on a Novatel wireless modem that connects with a Palm V PDA. OmniSky has bundled Palm software from several vendors in a complete package that sells for $150 ($300 up front, $150 rebated in 6 months) and costs $40 per month (it doesn't include the Palm V). The Novatel wireless modem uses a technology called Cellular Digital Packet Data (CPDP) that runs at 19.2Kb/sec. The monthly fee is a flat price, regardless of the amount of data transmitted. And most importantly, it appears that the entire Internet is available for email and web access. (Note: there is conflicting information about this feature.) The key technology for making Internet web sites available to wireless PDAs is called the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP). WAP introduces a new set of protocols that provide several capabilities for wireless devices. One of these capabilities is to provide access to web sites. The WAP protocols are similar to their TCP/IP counterparts. Here is a comparison: Feature TCP/IP technology WAP technology ------------------ ----------------- ------------------------------------------ delivery protocol HTTP Wireless Session Protocol (WSP) secure delivery SSL (HTTPS) Wireless Transaction Layer Security (WTLS) markup language HTML Wireless Markup Language (WML) scripting language JavaScript WMLScript For programmers, WML and WMLScript are the important technologies. WML is an XML language that is similar to HTML. WMLScript is similar to JavaScript, although it does have some significant differences. These two languages provide programmers with enough functionality to build many types of applications, from simple games to sophisticated order entry systems. A company named Apache Software (not to be confused with the Apache Software Foundation that coordinates development of the Apache web server software) provides a free Win32 WML browser named Klondike. It is quite useful for testing WML pages without having to use a wireless device. You can get this browser at http://www.apachesoftware.com/Browser.html. To give you an idea of what WML looks like, here is a sample WML page from the Apache Software company web site:




This demonstration is intended to highlight some WML features.
Some of the accompanying text explicitly refers to how Klondike implements features, and might not apply to other browsers.



Text Alignment
Text Emphasis
Table
Multiple Cards
Selection Boxes
Variables
Variable escaping
Text Input
Timer
Access Restrictions
Deck-card task shadowing
Card intrinsec events

 Numerous opportunities will exist in our new wireless world. Many of the same forces that have driven us to embrace the Internet for email and web browsing will push us toward wireless technologies, particularly WAP-based devices. Those who jump on the bandwagon early will prosper; those who don't will fall behind. ### Two excellent books that deal with issues covered in this article are: title: Understanding WAP Wireless Applications, Devices, and Services authors: Marcel van der Heijden and Marcus Taylor publisher: Artech House title: Residential Broadband Second Edition author: George Abe publisher: Cisco Press Web pages for companies and technologies mentioned in this article are: http://www.bluetooth.com http://www.homerf.org http://www.proxim.com http://www.apple.com/airport http://www.teligent.com http://www.omnisky.com http://www.palm.com/products/palmvii/index.html http://www.novatelwireless.com http://www.wapforum.org http://www.apachesoftware.com ****************************************************************************** DB/C Class Schedule Class: DB/C DX and JX Language Fundamentals Date: October 2000 (tentative) Location: Oak Brook, Illinois For information, contact Judi Tamkevic at: voice 630.572.0240 email admin@dbcsoftware.com ****************************************************************************** Subscribing to the DB/C Newsletter If you don't already have the DB/C Newsletter delivered to your email address and would like to have it emailed to you when it is produced, just send an email message to 'request@dbcsoftware.com' and put the line 'subscribe dbcnews' in the body of the email message (omit the ' characters). The newsletter will be delivered to the email address from which the message was sent. To stop delivery, put the line 'unsubscribe dbcnews' in the body of the message.