‘Dude, Where’s My Car?’ — Locating Killer WiMAX Applications Under Development

Many people have asked me what the killer application will be for WiMAX. My immediate answer is that there is no single application that will be the ‘silver bullet’ for making mobile broadband take off with mainstream consumers. However, there are some inventive applications now under development in WiMAX Forum-sponsored applications labs. These new apps provide a glimpse of what is possible today, and signal why WiMAX is at the forefront of enabling the next generation of mobile Internet and communications.

The WiMAX Forum has partnerships with two applications labs today: one in Taiwan’s Hsinchu Science Park at the M-Taiwan WiMAX Application Lab (MTWAL), and The MIND Lab and The MAXWell Lab applications labs in the United States at the University of Maryland. These applications labs allow WiMAX Forum member companies, and university researchers in the case of UMD, to test their applications on both of these live WiMAX networks.

The U.S. applications labs at the University of Maryland currently are deploying a WiMAX network on both the campus and local transportation systems. This application lab will offer students campus-wide mobile broadband access to important information via WiMAX. For the newly connected students and faculty, gone are the days of struggling to remember which lot they parked in or wondering when the next bus will arrive. Also available is instantaneous access to campus security information, including live video feeds from the spot where an emergency call is made and even the location of the closest restroom.

Perhaps you may be wondering why all of this would be helpful? After all, we get along without this information today. But this was a question once asked about cell phones and QWERTY handheld devices. Think about what your day is like when you forget your cell phone at home. For most people today it’s rather unsettling.

These new applications and more to come will take the Internet age to new heights by providing a constant link to the world around you, whether you are wandering the parking lot looking for your car or just wanting to surf the Internet while using public transportation on your way to work.

Ron Resnick is president and chairman of the WiMAX Forum as well as director of industry programs for Intel’s Broadband Wireless Division. In June 2002, he launched and became general manager of Intel’s Broadband Wireless Access startup business focused on wireless Metropolitan Area Network technology. He joined Intel in April of 2000 where, as director of new business development for Intel’s Corporate Technology Group, he managed technology commercialization efforts within Intel’s labs. Resnick concurrently served as a staff member of Intel’s New Business Initiatives, an internal venture fund established to attract and incubate new business efforts internal to Intel. Before joining Intel, Resnick served in executive marketing and business development positions, most recently as vice president of marketing of a computer peripherals company, ThrustMaster. He earned a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering from Rutgers University.