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IEEE 802.21 is a working group tasked with developing industry standards for seamless hand-off (roaming) between wired Ethernet, 802.11 wireless LANs (a.k.a. Wi-Fi), and 802.16e WMANs (a.k.a. WiMAX). The goal here goes beyond seamless roaming between, say, Wi-Fi access points, to roaming between different network technologies. (Find more information about the 802.21 task group's work at their web site.) An advance would be useful to someone responsible for monitoring physical plant that extends beyond a factory floor (an oil refinery or other outdoor operation). It would allow an engineer monitoring processes from a laptop computer at his/her desk to disconnect from a wired Ethernet port, walk the factory floor (while connected via 802.11a/b/g/n), move outdoors (connected via 802.16e) and across the property (or even drive between facilities with overlapping coverage) —without dropping the network connection or losing process alerts or updates. This is obviously a useful and desirable technology. The question is, is it nice-to-have or must-have technology? Is seamless hand-off critical for your operation?
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