Demystifying Wireless Technologies: Navigating Through The Wireless Technology Maze

A significant part of the growth in consumer-to-business electronic commerce is likely to originate from the increasing numbers of mobile computing devices and smart telephone devices. Most of the data from mobile computers will be carried over by emerging wireless networks. Many wireless technologies and standards are now available. As a result, it is becoming increasingly difficult for non-domain experts like managers, to sort through the maze of wireless technologies and standards to make business decisions involving these technologies. This article surveys existing and emerging wireless technologies and uses the Open System Interconnect (OSI) framework to organize the wireless landscape. The survey provides a quick reference to the entire spectrum of wireless technologies in use today.