IEEE Communications Society and Discover Magazine Host Annual Roundtable
Panelists from left to right: Eric Haseltine, Jeff Harrow, Robert Lucky, Joy Mountford, Marvin Minsky, Thomas La Porta,Dean Douglas, and Pekka Vartiainen.
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On June 12, the annual IEEE Communications Society/Discover Magazine roundtable, entitled "The Future of Wireless Communication," played to an appreciative crowd at New York City's historic Manhattan Center. Invited panelists for the discussion included Jeff Harrow from Compaq, Robert Lucky of Telcordia, Joy Mountford of idbias, Marvin Minsky of MIT, Thomas La Porta of Lucent, Dean Douglas of IBM, and Pekka Vartiainen of Nokia Americas. Moderating the event was Eric Haseltine, executive vice president of Walt Disney Imagineering.
When asked the question, "What in the future of wireless will surprise us?" the panelists discussed such things as rich phone calls where different elements of digital communication -- voice, data, multimedia -- merge; new applications that will be developed solely because of our mobility due to wireless; increased control over our devices as to what our preferences are for privacy and other options; and the biggest surprise of all: we will come to expect access to all of our information -- databases, Internet, office files -- anywhere anytime.
The panelists mentioned advances in predictive mainenance for our wireless devices and home applications, possibly scheduled by the manufacturers themselves. Whether or not this was an advantage was brought up, leading into the issue of privacy being undermined by wireless technology. Now that information about us as individuals (specifically, our physical location) is available, questions were raised as to the role of the government in guaranteeing our privacy and who should be allowed to have what information.
Other items of interest raised by the panelists were the advantages and disadvantages of various technologies -- 3G, 802.11, Bluetooth, and so on -- and what impact these technologies will have. Even more important, which of these technologies will become most useful?
Robert Lucky on the big screen making a point.
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There was little consensus among the participants on a number of topics discussed. The various opinions of the day seemed to be highlighted by the appearances of the panelists themselves. While most of the participants wore natty business attire appropriate for the big stage and lights of the Manhattan Center, Dr. Minsky showed us the way of the future by eschewing his suit jacket for a photographer's vest complete with numerous pockets for all his personal devices, as if declaring he no longer needed his office because he was in fact wearing it. Sitting immediately to his right, Joy Mountford -- who repeatedly throughout the discussion emphasized the importance of customizability of wireless devices -- proved her point when she emphatically stated: "I don't wear pockets." The day's main subject -- the future of wireless communications -- was highlighted quite nicely by this juxtaposition of viewpoints. It seems the future of wireless devices depends not only on the fact that so many new and wonderful things are available to us in a portable manner. For them to be of value, we ultimately have to be willing to port them.
Following the formal discussion, audience members were invited to participate in a question and answer session. Queries covered how widespread wireless technologies will be in parts of the world still unfamiliar with e-mail; voice service merging with the Internet; the FCC's reaction to self-organizing radio networks which bypass providers; the future of publishing; and the apparent quality of wireless in some third-world countries seeming to have surpassed that of the first world, and whether the first world would ever catch up.
Pekka Vartiainen on the big screen in front of the audience.
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The roundtable followed on the heels of the morning's presentation of Discover Magazine's yearly Innovation Awards held at the same location. The event, sponsored by Pfizer and hosted by David Hartman and Antonio Mora, featured nine recipients in the areas of environment, electronics, health, entertainment, aerospace, transportation, and communications. Additional awards included an Editor's Choice and a $100,000 scholarship from the Christopher Columbus Foundation.
The communications award was given to physicist Aharan Agranat of Trellis Photonics for his group's development of an all-optical intelligent lambda switch. The switch redirects light in fiber optic circuitry using a new technology the company calls electro-holography™. The switch will potentially increase the speed of information traveling along the Internet by eliminating the need for conversion from photons to electrons and back, as is usually the case now. This switch represents a step forward in making the entire process light-based.
A Webcast of the roundtable discussion can be downloaded from the IEEE Communications Society Web site:
http://www.comsoc.org/video/disney01.html
Manhattan Center Ballroom crowd.
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