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A white paper published by the research firm Parks Associates takes an optimistic view of the prospects for successful deployment of ultrawideband (UWB) technology in the coming year, despite the inability of the IEEE (define) to get the consensus needed to set a single standard. Analyst Kurt Scherf, the author, says significant UWB product announcements can be expected before the end of the year.

The paper, entitled The Market for Ultra-Wideband Solutions, assesses the hype ...read more

...Kurt Scherf, Vice President and Principal Analyst at the research firm Parks Associates, says it's "exciting to see that immediately on the heels of the initial release of the MBOA-SIG ultrawideband specification we already have an over-the-air demonstration that meets the full 480 Mbps bandwidth."

From the article "UWB Hits High Speeds" By Jeff Goldman.

Last week, the WiMax Forum announced the formation of a Regulatory Working Group, tasked with improving availability of WiMax spectrum worldwide. "The availability of spectrum is mission critical for enabling mass-market deployments," says Intel's Margaret LaBrecque, the working group's chairperson.

Michael Cai, senior analyst at the market research firm Parks Associates, says the group's efforts will be crucial for global deployment of WiMax technology.

"They need to tr ...read more

Not all industry watchers think the move is logical. Will Cheek, an analyst with Parks Associates, told internetnews.com that a Google VoIP offering could be at a disadvantage against services from telecoms or cable operators.

"[Google doesn't] control the actual broadband connection to the home, so they don't have control of quality-of-service," Cheek said.

Those service providers also have the ability to bundle VoIP with other residential services, including high-speed ...read more

Yet, with all these digital music files filling up hard drives, research from Parks Associates indicates that most music-lovers lack immediate playing portability.

The September 2003 study finds that only 20 percent of digital-music users own an MP3 player — and a scant 8 percent plan on purchasing one within the next 12 months — preferring to burn their own CDs instead. Parks found that some 80 percent of PC users own a CD burner.

"The CD is being replaced as a distribu ...read more

Parks Associates found that two-thirds of the 10,500 Internet households that were surveyed created a network to share an Internet connection....

"Current home network users — consumers who already have data networks for PC connectivity — will constitute a significant portion of the early market for multimedia networks," commented Tricia Parks, president of Parks Associates.

From the article "Home Is Where The Network Is," by Robyn Greenspan.

Is it any surprise that 45 percent of U.S. households still don't have a DVD player? Or that 45 percent of the people who own a PC say they are intimidated by technology, said [Carly] Fiorina [HP chairman and chief executive officer], citing research performed by Parks Associates.

From the article "HP Opens Curtains on New Consumer Strategy," by Bob Liu.

And while researchers say the majority of McDonald's customers don't have Wi-Fi access, that will change as the price of laptops, mobile phones and PDAs drop and new products have chips that automatically find and connect to Wi-Fi hotspots.

According to Parks Associates, there will be as many as 2.5 million Wi-Fi users in the United States by the end of the year.

From the article "McDonald's , AT&T, Offer Free Wi-Fi," by Colin C. Haley.