Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Preface
- Introduction
- 1 The case and the theoretical framework
- Part 1 The Wi-Fi Journey
- 2 NCR: taking the cue provided by the FCC
- 3 Creating a wireless LAN standard: IEEE 802.11
- 4 Crossing the chasm: the Apple AirPort
- 5 Hotspots: the Starbucks initiative
- 6 Wi-Fi-based community networks: Wireless Leiden
- Part 2 The Wi-Fi Journey in Perspective
- Part 3 Annexes
- Index
- References
2 - NCR: taking the cue provided by the FCC
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Preface
- Introduction
- 1 The case and the theoretical framework
- Part 1 The Wi-Fi Journey
- 2 NCR: taking the cue provided by the FCC
- 3 Creating a wireless LAN standard: IEEE 802.11
- 4 Crossing the chasm: the Apple AirPort
- 5 Hotspots: the Starbucks initiative
- 6 Wi-Fi-based community networks: Wireless Leiden
- Part 2 The Wi-Fi Journey in Perspective
- Part 3 Annexes
- Index
- References
Summary
The innovation trigger: the FCC Report and Order
Although different research perspectives may result in different starting points, a meaningful start for a wireless-based product such as Wi-Fi is to trace back the event or events that led to the allocation and assignment of radio frequency spectrum. In this case, it is the Report and Order adopted on 9 May 1985 by the US Federal Communications Commission to authorise ‘spread spectrum and other wideband emissions not presently provided for in the FCC Rules and Regulations’ (see also Figure 2.1 for the coverage of the Report and Order; FCC, 1985).
The initiative by the FCC to open up the ISM spectrum for communications applications using spread-spectrum technology was in itself innovative, as most rule making is triggered by industry. This initiative had a different origin, as Marcus explains:
The political climate preceding the 1985 spread spectrum order was set by the Carter administration (1977 to 1981). Carter's programme was one of deregulation, which had already affected the airline, trucking and railroad industries. The White House facilitated a dialogue with regulators on basic concepts, and an interagency committee occasionally organised workshops for agencies to exchange ideas on deregulation. For example ‘labelling’ was considered a possible alternative to stricter regulation. For instance, the cigarette industry had to label its packages with the tar and nicotine contents, to be measured according to a new standard. The labelling made people conscious of the health risks, and the sales of high-tar cigarettes plummeted. This result would probably not have been reached if a regulation had been put in place with a set limit, since the political compromise necessary to get such a limit adopted would probably have resulted in a high limit for the tar and nicotine content.
The chairman of the FCC from October 1977 to February 1981, Charles Ferris, intended to extend the deregulation spirit to apply to the RF spectrum. He would like to end the practice whereby numerous requests for spectrum were brought forward, based on special cases of technology application. The motto was ‘Let us unrestrict the restricted technologies’. To that end he hired as chief scientist at the FCC in 1979 Dr Stephen Lukasik, a physicist famous for having been the director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) from 1970, during the pioneering years of the ARPAnet.
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- The Innovation Journey of Wi-FiThe Road to Global Success, pp. 21 - 52Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010