Interview with Prof. Ravi Kalakota

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Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi), a recent introduction to the wireless communication world has been treated as the next ubiquitous standard to make its mark in corporate networks. Please comment on the future of Wi-Fi.

First let me clarify the terminology. Wi-Fi is really a moniker for the IEEE 802.11b standard. There are other new technologies like IEEE 802.11a and 802.11g which operate at different spectrums and have higher bandwidth (54 Mbps as opposed to 11 Mbps). I am going to loosely classify all the 802.11 standards as Wi-Fi in this answer.

So, it is important to distinguish the class of applications and devices that Wi-Fi is a good fit for and those that it is less useful for. Currently Wi-Fi also requires a more sophisticated user than say a mass-market technology like 3G. I believe that this requirement of an "educated user" will likely limit the penetration of Wi-Fi to a early adopter segment.

What will the role of government in curbing the use of mobile technologies against national interest, as there are questions about the security issues raised by the defence department of the US on Wi-Fi?

The security issues are Wi-Fi are rather important. Hacking into a Wi-Fi network is rather easy. As a result, the encryption of data needs to be addressed quickly. Now this creates a problem as encryption falls under the purview of the National Security Agency (NSA) in the U.S. As a result, I see that companies that are very focused on security will not adopt Wi-Fi till the encryption is strong enough. Many startups are racing to address this issue. I see this as part of the maturation of a technology that will get resolved in due course.

What infrastructure bottlenecks and security related issues are being faced by companies across the globe in their transformation to m-business?

As companies gear up for mobile business, they are facing a lot of fragmentation in the infrastructure in terms of devices, operating systems, integration strategies and networks. This is a natural occurrence in a fairly new market. However, dealing with all the fragmentation implies that there is more burden on the managers of companies to show creative thinking. It will require having a clear idea of the specific task that is being improved by mobile access. For instance, mobile sales support requires a different type of architecture than a data-intensive activity like field service. Or, take the case of mobile health-care. Prescription writing (m-prescribing) by doctors using Tablet PCs or patient tracking in hospitals using Radio Frequency Identification Tags (RFID) requires completely different security models to protect data confidentiality and privacy. Also, global companies like Pepsi, Nestle, or Siemens will need to develop company specific and region specific mobile strategies to account for differences in infrastructure. In short, the pressure on managers to understand the details of mobile infrastructure is going to rise steadily over the next couple of years.

Where do you think the global mobile and wireless industry is heading towards?

The industry on the mobile infrastructure (e.g., GSM and GPRS networks) and device side (e.g., Palm, Handspring) is heading towards more consolidation. The players with good products but weak balance sheets will be forced to merge with stronger players. This phase of market growth is predictable and is necessary for the industry to stabilize and continue to develop of economies of scale. Also, this will solidify balance sheets and allow additional infrastructure investments.

But the dynamics on the Wi-Fi industry are going to quite different. This is a totally new market with tremendous creative energy right now. As new capabilities get created we are beginning to see many entrepreneurial startups and new business models such as hotspot aggregators (e.g., Boingo Wireless) and wholesalers (Cometa Networks).

What growth path do you visualize for the mobile business industry in developing countries like India?

Developing countries like India are going to see concurrent streams of innovation and market development. Two such parallel tracks are services around smart phones (phone + PDA) and services around Wi-Fi.

The growth around smart phones will take place in three phases. First, tremendous growth in the low-end (least-common denominator) services like SMS. This will be followed by growth in mobile transactions. Finally when corporate enterprise applications like ERP and CRM are in place, we will see increased mobile access to these apps.

On the Wi-Fi side, I anticipate that growth will explode in developing countries. Just like the Cable TV industry in India, I expect Wi-Fi networks are going to sprout everywhere. For a few thousand rupees it will be viable to setup a wireless local area network capable of serving several hundred households in a densely populated area. These Wi-Fi networks give the average household cheaper shared access to the Internet and Web. Wi-Fi alleviates the last mile access problem that is prevalent in developing countries. Imagine thousands of households in Delhi, Mumbai or Hyderabad able to get 256-512 Kbps access to the Internet. This will put them on the same level as many (rich) neighborhoods in developing countries. The potential to bridge the so-called digital divide in a rather short time is quite exciting to watch and be part of.

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