Stephen Lawson

Improved security, notebooks with built-in Wi-Fi clients and an eventual boom in mobile VOIP (voice over Internet Protocol) around the office will cause the enterprise wireless LAN market to more than double in revenue by 2009, industry research company Dell'Oro Group Inc. predicted.

Proposals for standardizing wireless mesh networks, which can link many wireless LANs to cover a city or campus, were presented last month to a working group of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc. (IEEE).

Cisco Systems Inc.

Gaming on the small screen is entering the big time. PC and console game giant Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) will deliver mobile-phone games through both Verizon Wireless Inc. and Sprint Corp. in the next few months, the companies announced.

Prices are coming down on wireless LAN gear that uses advanced multi-antenna technology, bringing its higher speed and greater range within reach of more power-hungry consumers -- as long as they're comfortable with pre-standard products.

Faster broadband came closer to reality Friday with completion of the latest International Telecommunication Union (ITU) standard for DSL (digital subscriber line), which is already in the playbooks of two major U.S. carriers.

Broadband wireless is blowing into Supercomm in Chicago this week just as certification tests are about to begin based on the WiMax fixed-wireless specification. Redline Communications Inc. demonstrated the equipment it plans to submit for WiMax Forum testing next month, while Aperto Networks Inc. introduced its WiMax line and one major carrier laid out plans for fixed wireless deployments later this year.

Two U.S.-based mobile industry groups are trying to rein in a Wild West market for cell-phone downloads, publishing a set of "best practices" for selling content such as ringtones, daily messages and screen backgrounds.