Fellow Canadian and keen Japan wireless observer Sean Bennett asked a question last week that should be thunderingly obvious to anyone watching this market: have a question regarding NTT DoCoMo’s M-Zone – do you know how this differs/compares to NTT Communication’s Hotspot WiFi [WLAN] service? The pricing is similar, though one charges higher sign-up fees while the other has higher monthly fees…
“They have high-speed network links back to planet Earth. The architecture diagram of Mars Rover looks just like the architecture diagram of any ol’ Earth-based, end-to-end enterprise app. And they’ve got this problem that the network link is very slow… it has high latency.” Well of course. It covers a hundred million kilometers. In today’s program, we bring you a special year-end wrap-up including a couple of clips that didn’t make it into our regular programming. Join us for WWJ’s special year-end web video! Thanks to all for your comments and support, we look forward to another super year in 2003.
NTT Communications doesn’t expect to generate large revenue from WLAN itself, says senior executive vice president Shuji Tomita. Instead, the company will bundle hotspot access via high-speed WLAN base stations with landline connectivity and value-added services including roaming, security, and IPv6. The company’s software will also offer secure communications into the Internet itself and into corporate intranets using IP-based VPN (virtual private network) technologies via a security server that is co-located with the corporate client’s network. They’re also busy boosting their 250-base-station network to 1,000. Phew!
There’s a tremendous amount of initial wireless LAN network activity going on in Japan right now, but it’s still too early to say how WLAN will affect 3G. One thing is certain however: licensed-spectrum carriers are looking closely at WLAN to determine whether the technology will disrupt their carefully knit 3G network, wireless Internet, and data revenue plans. We speak with an industry insider on a recent WLAN hotspot trial conducted by a major mobile telco. But large carriers and others thinking about launching hotspot networks shouldn’t worry about finding content. First, solve the billing, roaming, and security problems — then content providers will beat a path to your door… just as happened with, oh…, for example, i-mode.
There’s a whole donburi full of WLAN projects in the works right now, including efforts by NTT DoCoMo, NTT Communications, Yahoo BB, Speednet, and others. All are following the famous “hotspot” model, and are angling tie-ups with your Macdonalds, your Mos Burgers, and your coffee shops. But we found a new entrant with a contrarian approach. Forget all the relatively immobile burger eaters and coffee drinkers; MIS provides fat pipes to surfers who are actually walking down the street.
Japan’s Omron has tied up with America’s Cellport to commercialize telematics technology that will allow onboard sensors to report maintenance, operation, and other data to a central server using a keitai. We take a look at a Cellphone-enabled Jeep parked in downtown Tokyo and speak with the CEO of Omron Cellport Telematics Inc. to find out when we’ll be able to buy a Lexus that’ll transmit low engine oil problems straight to the garage (Not that soon..)
Dr. Masayuki Fujise from Yokosuka Research Park’s Communications Research Labs talks about the Intelligent Transport System and a fiber-optic-based road-to-vehicle wireless system that will stream multi-megabyte files to your car in under 10 minutes.
Wireless connections at fiber speed to your car by 2010 😎
One thing Japan’s carriers don’t do terribly well: sell wireless data and IT services to the enterprise. But then there are mobile ‘virtual’ network operators.
We speak with Dr. Seiji Sanda about his MVNO, his new v100 data card service, and implications for GSM/GPRS operators everywhere.
