While performance may be overhyped by vendors, transmission range is a more legitimate concern for SOHO users. Most enterprises are accustomed to installing lots of APs, but in SOHO environments you'd like to provide full coverage from a single AP. The quality of the client makes as much difference in effective range as the AP or gateway. For example, the latest group of Centrino notebook computers offers much better range than embedded wireless solutions that shipped two years ago. But if that's not enough, several options let you eke out an extra few feet of coverage from your gateway. For a summary of these alternative strategies, see "Extending Range" on page 88.
Although 802.11g is in the market sweet spot, dual-band gateways supporting 802.11g and 802.11a make sense for some environments. Probably the most popular situation would be in multitenant environments where there's significant congestion in the 2.4-GHz band. 802.11 is quite robust in dealing with co-channel interference, but in some cases, implementing 802.11a may make sense, especially as more notebook computers come equipped with 802.11a interfaces. In addition, 802.11a provides immunity from microwave oven and cordless phone interference, and its relative obscurity makes it less of a target for hackers.
Mobile Mania and Best Practices
Enterprise IT administrators have mixed feelings about the spread of wireless. Although they understand the technology's obvious benefits, they also realize that improper installation can lead to gaping security holes.
Many of these security vulnerabilities go hand in hand with the trend toward mobile computing. It's not just a home computing problem; it also relates to use of notebook computers in hotel rooms, airports, coffee shops and any public network location. And these challenges are not unique to Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi may be the hottest wireless technology, but the same concerns apply to 2.5G and 3G and, in the future, to new technologies like WiMAX. Every organization must adopt measures to protect mobile computing devices--including personal firewalls, antivirus software and spyware blockers--and establish policies concerning the physical loss or theft of devices where sensitive data files reside. The balancing act is to implement a mobile security model that encourages at-home and on-the-road job productivity without being an excessive burden to IT support staff.
Subsea cable alternatives can provide a level of comfort for those concerned about disruptions. Realistically, they will continue to play a small, but critical role in the short term.
Maintaining existing network infrastructures often incurs huge technical debt before newer technologies are adopted over time.
Amid ongoing regional uncertainties, telecom infrastructure in the Middle East has expand to include terrestrial low-latency network infrastructure, which offers resilience and agility in navigating political complexities without relying solely on undersea networks.
