While wired Internet broadband capacity and usage keeps relentlessly increasing, the truly interesting action is happening in wireless Internet. Technology companies are not devoting a great deal of effort to doing innovative stuff with cable modems; they’re working on innovative stuff for mobile devices. Even as wireless carriers compete fiercely to get us to use their brand-new 4G cellular wireless networks, work is already starting on 5G cellular. It looks like this next generation of wireless technology could drive a change in the way we use the Internet in our daily lives, with the expansion of the so-called Internet of Things (IoT) and new developments in machine-to-machine (M2M) networking.
- 5G research centre gets major funding grant (BBC News) “Prof Rahim Tafozolli said work had already begun. ‘The boundaries between mobile communication and the internet are blurring, so the fifth generation is internet on the move,’ he told the BBC. Prof Tafozolli, professor of mobile wireless communications and the director of Surrey University’s Centre for Communications Systems Research, said: ‘4G for us is old hat. We started working on 4G 10 years ago.’”
- Start thinking about 5G wireless (CNNMoney/David Goldman) “Each generation of network technology has enabled a new set of features: 2G was about voice, 3G was about data and 4G is about video. 5G, [Bell Labs’ Tod] Sizer predicts, will be about intelligent networks that can handle billions of connected devices while remaining stable and operational. That will be tricky if the future proves as connected as industry leaders forecast.”
- Empowering “things” for our Internet of Things (World Future Society/Thomas Frey) “Our mushrooming ‘Internet of Things’ is growing exponentially, and estimates of its progression vary tremendously. GSMA [GSM Association] estimates connecting 24 billion devices by 2020, while Cisco and Ericsson think we will hit 50 billion. Depending on a few key breakthroughs, these estimates may all be on low end, and here’s why. Telecom carriers are primarily concerned about devices that connect directly to the Internet, but a rapidly growing category of peripheral devices are designed to connect indirectly through smartphones, home or office Wi-Fi, or other smart devices.”
- M2M technology ushers in the age of total connection (ComputerWeekly/Kathleen Hall) “One issue for the deployment of M2M is the lack of seamless connectivity for wireless and patchy 3G coverage. The GSMA says spectrum will be crucial in achieving a more networked economy, supported by a sufficiently flexible regulatory environment in the telecoms sector and in other industries. In the next four years the mobile industry will invest $793bn in expanding the coverage and capabilities of mobile networks, according to GSMA.”
Historic fact:
Arguably the first smartphone was the IBM Simon, which was distributed by BellSouth from late 1994 to early 1995. It offered users a calendar, address book, calculator, email, fax services, and games. It cost $899 with a two-year contract.
