By Jessica Forsyth
Computers that can be used like a notebook. Cell phones that can be talked on without being held. Internet access anytime, anywhere. New wireless technologies similar to these will be the focus of today”s eBusiness conference.
Companies, professors and students will display research and gadgets at the biannual conference held on the first floor of the Tanner Building.
Committee officials said the goal of the conference is to introduce students to new technologies that they might not encounter normally.
“Our purpose in the [Rollins eBusiness Center”s] extended education committee is … to extend knowledge and education about e-business and its applications and the technologies that are used, not only campus, but throughout the whole world,” said Clint Kofford, extended education committee student lead.
This year”s conference theme is “E-business Everywhere: Weaving a Wireless Web.” It will focus on the changing world of wireless technology and will include a wireless gadget demonstration.
Companies, both corporate and local, and several professors and students will display new wireless inventions and recent research in the field of wireless technology.
Some of the companies that will attend include Agilix Lab Inc., Dell and NLE representing AirMagnet.
Agilix will display their tablet personal computers. These computers allow the user to write on the screen of a computer as if writing on a notebook.
Associate professor Steve Liddle of the eBusiness Center will display the Bluetooth chip. This device allows a user to integrate several wireless devices into one device.
Bluetooth is designed to replace as many cables as possible. For example, with this device a cell phone call can be made with a small earpiece when the cell phone is across the room.
Liddle will also have a display about the ways wireless devices have affected our lives. He will discuss technologies that will emerge in the near future. He said he believes students will benefit from attending the conference.
“Students who come to the wireless gadget show are going to have their eyes opened to how we can start cutting the cables in our lives,” Liddle said. “There are many applications where if we could just get the cord out of the way things would be so much more convenient.”
The conference will begin with a keynote address by Wayne Perry, chief executive officer of Edge Wireless LLC. He will address issues in the future of wireless communication.
Students who attend the conference will also have a chance to win a free X-box if they attend the keynote address and go to each gadget demonstration booth.
Perry”s keynote address will be from 9 to 10 a.m. in 151 TNRB, followed by the wireless gadget demonstration from 10 a.m. to noon in the atrium TNRB.
