CTS 179: 20 Years of Wi-Fi with Bob Friday

Did you know Wi-Fi turns 20 years old this year? It’s quite amazing that we’ve come to rely on Wi-Fi daily. From connecting to the Internet from our homes, watching 4k streaming videos, doing some of our important work, and connecting with family across the world. Bob Friday, CTO and Founder of Mist, joins the show to talk about Wi-Fi over the past 20 years. Bob has been in this industry for a long time. He’s a veteran Wi-Fi innovator, who has built solutions that you probably use every day. He also holds 15 patents! My early networking career I remember working on Cisco controllers. Bob Friday started a company called Airespace to help manage enterprise access points. Cisco ended up acquiring Airespace where he became VP/CTO of Cisco Enterprise Mobility. In 2014, Bob left Cisco to start Mist. His way of creating a big change in how we do Wi-Fi today. Mist was later acquired by Juniper Networks. Listen to this episode as we discuss Bob’s journey from where he began and how he got to where he is now. Some of the things we discuss: * What would help drive further adoption of 802.11k/v/r* What part of the past has impacted Wi-Fi today* What excites him about Wi-Fi today* How does AI impact Wi-Fi* What can be done better at the IEEE or Wi-Fi alliance* What will Wi-Fi look like in 5, 10, and 20 years from now?