Network Computingwww.networkcomputing.com

Here's the good news. We believe that many senior managers--the ones who sign off on big technology initiatives--will respond favorably to well-conceived mobile and wireless projects thanks to their personal experiences. Your job is to identify the most promising technologies and deploy them at the right time.

Security Concerns

The WLAN market, estimated by Gartner to be a $1.78 billion market worldwide in 2001, continued its torrid growth in 2002 despite a weak economy. But it could have been even hotter were it not for widespread security concerns. In the post-9/11 world, it's no surprise that security concerns are at the root of nearly every new business initiative, and in the mobile and wireless market, it's an ever more serious problem. One reason is that today's generation of security standards represents a sorry state of affairs. It's no surprise that security concerns are cited as the No. 1 obstacle to wireless technology implementations.

A second problem is that the effective wireless security solutions that do exist are complex, for both the users who have to deal with them and the IT professionals who must implement and manage them. Everyone's in search of a silver bullet, and it's nowhere to be found.

The prevailing wisdom for enterprise WLAN security is to deploy the same VPN technology that has long been used for secure remote access on wired networks. Although VPN client software is often a pain in the butt for users, most people adapt to it, and some good VPN clients are available. But simple VPNs can be ill-equipped to deal with the roaming and intermittent disconnects typical of wireless connections. Yes, there are VPN variants that address these problems, but they add complexity and cost.

Many people look to 802.1x as the solution to WLAN security. While we expect 802.1x to gain much greater acceptance in the coming year, it doesn't address all the problems. Look for significant progress to be made in 2003 by the IEEE 802.11i committee in charge of revamping security, but don't be shocked if standards aren't here until 2004. Faced with those delays, the Wi-Fi Alliance, formerly WECA, has announced a new set of security standards, dubbed Wi-Fi Protected Access, or WPA, that will be incorporated into its product certification process during 2003. That move will enhance security, but it is best viewed as an interim solution. If you can't wait that long, there are plenty of other solutions to solve WLAN security, but most are proprietary, expensive or both.

Perhaps the greatest challenge you'll face is to select WLAN infrastructure that provides some level of investment protection so you don't need to throw it away next year when new standards emerge. That's an issue that separates enterprise-oriented wireless vendors from low-cost suppliers that target the small office and home office markets.