WiMax, IEEE Wi-Fi, and the DOCSIS PacketCable standard created by CableLabs are highlighted in a discussion of the true potential of cable and wireless amalgamation. A spokesperson for Time Warner Cable, the second largest multiple system operator, says We are looking at how wireless devices and applications may fit our customers needs and how they may fit into our business plans, but not much else to say at this point. Traditional and non-traditional cable vendors, however, are developing ways to link cables wired networks with wireless. The CableLabs industry research and development (R&D) consortium is setting guidelines on how advanced equipment should be constructed. DOCSIS PacketCable, a specification process, is a very big step forward, for instance. PacketCable 2.0 is being designed to enable a host of multimedia services, says Ed Miller, VP of advanced network systems for CableLabs. The specifications work centers around the ways in which cable operators will be able to link broadband networks with mobile devices so a mobile phone could roam between a cellular network and a Wi-Fi based network. It is likely that cable will chase WiMAX with a portable wireless play that expands cable's broadband data access into wireless hot zones throughout a franchise area and then follows up the WiMax specification process to become a mobile play in 2007 or soon after. Among topics covered are problems with mesh, portable to mobile, partnerships, MVNO worries, buying bandwidth, and handsets.