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Cisco Systems outfits Staples with wireless LANCisco Systems Inc. has reached an agreement with office supplies retailer Staples to deploy a wireless local area network (LAN) in all of its 1,200 U.S. locations, providing store employees and shoppers with secure wireless network connections. The wireless LAN is not only expected to improve the customer experience, it will help reduce operational costs and improve employee productivity. On the customer experience side, shoppers can now order products that not be in stock through in-store kiosks. Employees can look up detailed product information, use mobile printers to print labels, and use hand-held devices for inventory operations. “The Cisco intelligent retail network solution helps us get information closer to our customers’ point of purchase and enables store associates to be more productive, allowing them to focus on our customers,” Scott Cloeck, Staples’ CIO, said in a news release. More suits launched in RIM patent disputeThere have been more patent infringement claims filed in the highly contentious, and potential precedent-setting Research in Motion Ltd. patent dispute with NTP Inc. Computer Leasco has charged that NTP and some of its former employees tried to gain possession of the patents. The Michigan-based wireless equipment maker has based its claims on a 1990 ruling, giving control of the patents, formerly under the control of Telefind, to NTP. Computer Leasco appealed and lost, but has again launched a claim. “Now the company is reviving its claim with a sworn affidavit from former Telefind employee Ted Andros, brother of former Telefind president Andrew Andros. Ted Andrew told Computer Leasco president Ferris J. Haddad of a conspiracy to mislead the court into believing NTP and Campana owned patents instead of Telefind,” reads the report. Computer Leasco is seeking NTP’s patents and damages. Philadelphia to offer free Wi-Fi next summerThe City of Philadelphia has revealed plans to offer free and low-cost Wi-Fi access in a move most observers say should help bridge the digital divide between the poor and the rich. The city announced last year that it would blanket its boundaries with wireless access. The network would cover 217 square miles. The service will be free in public parks and at very low rates for low-income residents. Business will have to pay more for the service, but city officials insist they will get broadband speeds at dialup rates. Several cities across the country have announced similar plans or have already started deploying networks, but the deployment in the city of brotherly love is believed to be the largest for public use in the United States. WiMAX to adopt HiperMAN specs: reportsThe WiMAX standard is expected to HiperMAN specifications as broadband wireless stakeholders rush to create a unified worldwide standard. According to reports out the Wireless Communications Association annual conference earlier this month, the WiMAX Forum and the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) met behind closed doors to hammer out the last details of a deal establishing a unified standard. An agreement between the two groups would allow WIMAX to get done quicker, by adopting much of the work already completed by ETSI. Coming to agreeable terms is crucial for WiMAX if products are to be released to the market by the end of this year. RFID tag market to hit US$3 billion in 2009New research from In-Stat projects global revenue from RFID tags will increase dramatically by 2009, growing from US$300 million in 2004 to US$2.8 billion by 2009. Supply chain management will be one of the biggest market sectors for RFID tags, according to In-Stat analyst Allen Nogee. “This segment alone is forcasted to account for the largest number of tags/labels from 2005 through 2009,” he said in a market alert. The report, RFID Tags and Chips: Changing the World for less than the price of a cup of coffee, details tag shipments and revenue, and more.

ROW International News

News | January 26, 2005

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