The widespread proliferation of mobile devices and services provides opportunities for enterprises and service providers to better serve their end users based on location and preferences inside venues and retail spaces. With Cisco’s acquisition of ThinkSmart’s network and Wi-Fi location analytics capabilities announced today, the customer experience in public venues such as retail locations, hotels and airports, is about to get much better.

ThinkSmart Technologies, based in Cork, Ireland, is a software company that delivers location data analysis using Wi-Fi technology. Together, Cisco and ThinkSmart will enhance the wireless network by providing location intelligence and analytics to service provider and enterprise customers to know what is happening in their environments and to better engage end users.

ThinkSmart’s location analytics collects information on movement within a venue including time of day, traffic patterns and dwell times. This information helps enterprises and venue operators improve the customer experience by identifying appropriate staffing levels, reducing wait times, optimizing business processes, and improving customer flows.

Cisco’s vision for mobility solutions will be accelerated by the acquisition of ThinkSmart enabling customers to analyze location data from wireless networks and provide insight that can be used to drive new commercial opportunities and enhance end-user experiences.

ThinkSmart, initially formed at the Incubation Centre of University College Cork, joins Cisco’s Wireless Networking Group. The acquisition closed in the first quarter of Cisco’s fiscal year 2013.

The acquisition of ThinkSmart reinforces Cisco’s commitment to deliver an intelligent network by providing customers with enhanced tools, such as location analytics, that increase the value of the network. This aligns with the core; one of Cisco’s five foundational priorities, by providing differentiated solutions within the infrastructure of the network.

Tags: acquisition, Thinksmart, wi-fi

By Gaetano Pellegrino, Senior Manager, IBSG Service Provider (Western Europe)

According to new research from the Cisco Internet Business Solutions Group (IBSG), fixed broadband Internet access is the highest priority service in consumers’ entertainment and communication portfolio. Despite the advent of smartphones, they view mobile data as more expendable.

Cisco IBSG regularly tracks such issues in its Connected Life Market Watch research platform. In the fall 2011 edition, it surveyed some 3,900 broadband consumers in North America (including Canada) and France, Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom.

Consumers Love Their Smartphones—but Rely on Fixed Access

According to Read More »

Tags: broadband, Cisco, Connected Life, consumer, consumer spending priorities, IBSG, mobile data, mobile phone, service providers, smartphone, wi-fi

Last week Apple dominated tech headlines when it announced details of the iPhone 5. With its release today, thousands of fans will line up across the globe to be the first to try the new smartphone.

There have been a number of iPhone improvements, but the one I find significant is the fact that the iPhone 5 will have dual band Wi-Fi. This means that in addition to supporting the 2.4GHz band, it will now support the 5GHz band. Why is this significant? Well, the iPhone joins a number of other smartphone vendors who now have products capable of operating in both the 802.11b/g/n (2.4GHz) and 802,11a/n (5GHz) Wi-Fi bands. Other vendors that stack up include Samsung’s Galaxy S III and HTC’s One X.

Why is this 5GHz important? There is certainly nothing wrong with the 2.4GHz band. Both bands are unlicensed in most regions of the world. However, with the proliferation of devices due to the growing BYOD trend, the 2.4GHz band is getting real crowded. Remember: the 2.4GHz band only has 3 non-overlapping channels available. Think about it: all these devices like smartphones, laptops, tablets, and access points are competing for the available bandwidth while interference increases.  In short, the 2.4GHz band just doesn’t have enough capacity for all these competing devices.

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Tags: Bonjour, cleanair, ClientLink, iphone, smartphone, wi-fi, wlan

I recently returned from Seoul, South Korea, where I gave the keynote address at the 2012 KISDI International Conference. My talk, “The Next Generation of the Internet—Revolutionizing the Way We Work, Live, Play, and Learn,” focused on the key trends shaping the next generation of the Internet and the implications for players in the ITC industry and government policy/regulation. However, based on what I observed in Seoul, much of the future has already arrived in South Korea.

Besides the ultra-modern skyscrapers of Seoul, South Korea has the highest domestic penetration rate of Read More »

Tags: broadband, Cisco, devices, IBSG, Korea, mobile, ott, policy, research, Service Provider, Smartphones, South Korea, survey, wi-fi

Last year at Interop New York, Sujai Hajela, VP/GM Cisco Wireless presented a Keynote: Mobility and the Social Enterprise.  He asked the audience to show a raise of hands to see how many devices people were carrying.  As you would expect, there were plenty of people with 5 or more devices—some with as many as 7!

Similar to IT industry veterans, college students are also gadget geeks. Charles E. Spurgeon, Senior Network Architect at the University of Texas sees most students carrying 2-3 devices—typically a laptop, smartphone and some students also carry iPads.  Last Wednesday, more than 2 million pre-orders were placed within 24 hours of Apple announcing the iPhone 5—I’m sure many college students, Interop attendees, and gadget geeks were among those first orders.  

So what’s an IT director to do with all these devices on their network? How do you design a network to accommodate the influx of users, devices, and applications on your wireless network?

Read More »

Tags: 802.11n, high density, wi-fi