The Innovation Journey of Wi-Fi The Road to Global Success

Wi-Fi has become the preferred means for connecting to the internet - at home, in the office, in hotels and at airports. Increasingly, Wi-Fi also provides internet access for remote communities where it is deployed by volunteers in community-based networks, by operators in 'hotspots' and by municipalities in 'hotzones'. This book traces the global success of Wi-Fi to the landmark change in radio spectrum policy by the US FCC in 1985, the initiative by NCR Corporation to start development of Wireless-LANs and the drive for an open standard IEEE 802.11, released in 1997. It also singles out and explains the significance of the initiative by Steve Jobs at Apple to include Wireless-LAN in the iBook, which moved the product from the early adopters to the mass market. The book explains these developments through first-hand accounts by industry practitioners and concludes with reflections and implications for government policy and firm strategy.

List of figures; List of tables; List of contributors; Introduction Wolter Lemstra, Vic Hayes and John Groenewegen; Reading guide; 1. The case and the theoretical framework Wolter Lemstra, John Groenewegen and Vic Hayes; Part I. The Wi-Fi Journey: 2. NCR - taking the cue provided by the FCC Wolter Lemstra, Donald Johnson, Bruce Tuch and Michael Marcus; 3. Creating a wireless LAN standard - IEEE 802.11 Kai Jakobs, Wolter Lemstra, Vic Hayes, Bruce Tuch and Cees Links; 4. Crossing the chasm - the Apple Airport Wolter Lemstra, Alex Hills, Vic Hayes, Dorothy Stanley, Albert Heijl and Bruce Tuch; 5. Hotspots - the Starbucks initiative Wolter Lemstra, Els van der Kar, Gerd-Jan de Leeuw and Leo Brand; 6. Wi-Fi community networks - wireless Leiden Wolter Lemstra, Leo van Audenhove, Huub Schuurmans, Marten Vijn and Gerard Mourits; Part II. The Wi-Fi Journey in Perspective: 7. Wi-Fi in developing countries - catalyst for network extension and telecom reform William Melody; 8. The Dutch connection to US-based NCR, AT&T, Lucent Technologies, and Agere Systems Wolter Lemstra, Marianne van der Steen, Ronald Brockmann, Jaap Haartsen, Cees Links, Richard van Nee, Bruce Tuch and Allert van Zelst; 9. Wi-Fi as community based innovation Ellen van Oost, Stefan Verhaegh, Nelly Oudshoorn and Wolter Lemstra; 10. The governance of radio spectrum - license-exempt devices Peter Anker, Wolter Lemstra and Vic Hayes; 11. Exploring the future of Wi-Fi Pierre Rossel and Matthias Finger; 12. Reflections and implications for policy and strategy formation Wolter Lemstra and John Groenewegen; Part III. Annexes: Annex 1. Glossary Wolter Lemstra; Annex 2. Timeline of major events related to Wi-Fi Wolter Lemstra and Vic Hayes; Annex 3. Overview of IEEE 802.11 Wireless-LAN standards Vic Hayes; Annex 4. The Wi-Fi ecosystem Gerd-Jan de Leeuw; Index.

Wi-Fi has become the preferred means for connecting to the internet - at home, in the office, in hotels and at airports. This book explains the development of this technology through first-hand accounts by industry practitioners and reflects on implications for government policy and firm strategy.

Wolter Lemstra is Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Technology, Policy and Management at the Delft University of Technology (TUDelft) and Senior Lecturer at the Strategy Academy, The Netherlands. He has twenty-five years of experience in the telecom sector, at Philips, AT&T and Lucent Technologies.
Vic Hayes is Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Technology, Policy and Management at the Delft University of Technology (TUDelft), The Netherlands. He is the recipient of eight awards, including The Economist Innovation Award 2004, the Dutch Vosko Trophy, the IEEE Hans Karlsson Award, and the IEEE Steinmetz Award.
John Groenewegen is Professor of the Economics of Infrastructures at the Delft University of Technology (TUDelft), The Netherlands. He is also a research fellow at the Tinbergen Institute (TI) in the Rotterdam School of Economics, Erasmus University Rotterdam.