The Concept of a ZPO - Zero Port Office (Who needs Wires?)

As we begin to truly investigate what it means to work in a Wireless World, we begin to redefine our work environment and ultimately our office. Bye gone are the days when you were chained to the desk in some forgotten windowless basement cell. With the adoption of Sun's Openwork Practice we are able to work privately and securely from anywhere at anytime. This re-shapes and begs the question, what does the office of the future hold?

One thought that seems to be making a come back is something I looked at a couple years ago, the ZPO - a Zero Port Office. A productive space consisting of a Desk/Table, Chair, Wireless Internet, and power in the form of a 110/220 Volt outlet. This becomes a place where you can power up the laptop, make a call, and work. This idea is already being embraced by food services such as McDonald's and Buffalo Wild Wings to name a few. If you notice, more and more locations frequented by mobile workers are delivering a super size of power and wifi to the table (as well as your meal).

So what would be the advantage to a ZOP in an Enterprise? Well for starters you could save ALOT in Physical Cabling, Network Equipment, and Installation Cost to each office desk. Since most mobile workers use Cell Phones already (remember GSM ad EDGE are also a great backup for no wifi), you could save on Phone equipment on each desktop. And lastly Time, WiFi allows faster deployment for 50 -> 128 Users than it's wired alternative. The only part of this solution lacking is Mesh.

Mesh Technology could allow an entire warehouse or technical support floor to be run off a single copper backhaul with tens or hundreds of AP's simply plugged into power (or 100% Green running off a Solar Panel or Wind Turbine) and configuring themselves to talk to their neighbor. With Mesh already included in the $199 OLPC, I have to believe the future is not that far off.