In the previous chapter, we discussed the major business issues and challenges facing the wireless industry. In this chapter, we focus our attention on technology issues such as limitations of Moore's Law, spectrum issues in the USA, the WWAN vs WLAN debate, security, transcoding, roaming and billing for services.

Technology development and the laws

Both the computing and communications industries are impacted by the various laws, theorems, and principles that have become part and parcel of the scientific community. Two laws that are most commonly used to predict progress with respect to the wireless world are Moore's Law and Shannon's Law. Let us discuss these two briefly to see how they have shaped technology development.

Moore's Law

In an article titled, “Cramming more components onto integrated circuits” for Electronics magazine, young Gordon Moore of Shockley Semiconductor presented an idea that the development of smaller transistors at lower unit production costs would translate into exponential progress in silicon chip complexity at minimum cost. In other words, performance would double every 18 months. “Integrated circuits will lead to such wonders as home computers,” wrote Gordon Moore, “ … automatic controls for automobiles, and personal portable communications equipment.” The year was 1965, three years before he would co-found the largest silicon chip manufacturer now in existence – Intel. In 1965, chips could hold 60 transistors. Moore predicted that by 1975 as many as 65 000 transistors could be crammed onto a single chip.