Each time technology makes advancement, huge revolution occurs in the world. When man mastered fire, not only cooked food was available but he also found a new safety device. When he manufactured tools, not only artefacts were made, but also with wheels. In more recent times, advancements in communication, medicine, space and so on act as a time machine, launching him in the future of progress. He is no longer that rare conspicuous animal roaming and wondering as nomads looking for food. Today his behaviour has changed, putting him above the animal kingdom. He has become human, and predictably with the revolution in wireless communication, he will become super human.

In the 1990s people went bananas about the wireless. Electronic communications once thought bound permanently to the world of castles and hard-wired connection suddenly were sprung free and the possibilities seemed endless. A century back, the “magic box”, a wireless invention, kicked off an era of profound changes. Today again a wireless transformation will arguably shatter the whole planet. Certainly a huge part of this evolution comes from untethering the most powerful communication tools. Between mobile phones and computers, we are always connected. Soon our cars and appliances will be too. The wireless innovation sheds the tethers of conventional wisdom.

Wireless technology will be the means by which previously unwired chunks of civilization will plug into the cyber action, (due to its low cost and little upfront infrastructure investment). Pioneers are bringing wireless to places as distant as Pirai, Brazil and Colorado spring. Wi-fi is only one of dozens of wireless variants in this revolution. You might know GPS and satellite radio, blue tooth and RFID, but do you know the Zig-Bee? (It’s a means of networking lots of appliances). The result is about losing the wire further and further. Now let us have an overview of these possibilities.

In England, more precisely at Soho, the police have turned this small area into the first wireless law-enforcement district. Wireless cameras and sensors have been placed around the neighbourhood. They take real time videos and monitor unusual noises, creating an impression of total surveyance. Still concerning security and governance, in New York, traffic police carry barcode scanners linked via Wi-fi to portable printers tracking contravened vehicles, thus reducing errors.

The life of young South Koreans revolves around the wireless Internet. During their morning subway commute to school, graduate students at Yanse University in Seoul chat with each other or play online games through their PDA phones. They bring their laptops to class, take notes, search on the Internet and make presentations using Wi-fi hotpots sprinkled around the campus. The computer even accompanies them on zoology field trips in the country side. In Seoul, Wi-fi is available in airports, hotels, public offices, libraries, banks and fast food outlets. Concerning intellectual abilities, Tallinn, in Estonia, is a good example. It has built a reputation as a clandestine meeting spot for writers and intellectuals.

The most astonishing presence of wireless communication is in an up-to-now close circle – the clergy. Monks and nuns have always thrown an image of tradition and conservatism. The cloth has always seemed to be a powerful resistance to science and technology. Their behaviour and way of life entangled with their inaccesible monasteries have long seemed a barrier to materialism. But, if you walk through the doors of St Peter’s Basilica today, you might catch the glow of a laptop or wireless PDA through the smoky haze of burning incense. The distant hum of Gregorian chants may even be interrupted by the bleep of a mobile phone or the ping of a text message. The Vatican City is taking advantage of wireless techonology to spread the work even further. Prior to that, the Church also began issuing a daily papal prayer in the form of a cell phone text message. It is not amazing. We may even agree on incredible.

After such a vivid image of what is happening with the wireless revolution around the world, we may start wondering where Mauritius is in this train of change. Can this Island aspiring to be a cyber elite in the Southern hemisphere be up-to-date with new development in communication? Do you think taking out a huge imposing building out from nowhere and repeatedly calling it cybertower can push us to control part of this targeted market? Some optimist says we are on the right track. We already have a massive use of cellular phones. But can mobile phones used only for vocal communication and emailing be sufficient to transform this island into a cyber one ? The answer is simple: new up-to-date Japanese phones are taking 2 to 3 years to reach us here in Mauritius.

Are we not using obselete equipment to reach our aim as cyber elite ? When are we going to see our students with their laptops on educational tours ? Perhaps over 10 years. When are we going to see traffic inserted in a wireless device to unveil all the secrets of the driver? When are we going to see antennas, each the size of cigarette pack in hospitals, schools, city libraries and open-air kiosks ? This will take us at least 10 years and by that time our sacred cyber tower would have become a rusty white elephant.

<B>by Soorab Boodhoo</B>