Get Ready For A Wire-Free Enterprise
May 24, 2008
Done right, Wi-Fi can be deployed with greater security than wired networks, which often leave ports unprotected in cubicles and conference rooms. Because security concerns have long been a drag on WLAN adoption rates, it's now standard form to use 802.1X to ascertain a connection's user credentials and the Advanced Encryption Standard to encrypt traffic until it reaches a wireless controller in the data center or at the network edge. Those still using a VPN overlay on an open wireless network, take note: Unless you have specific application requirements or hardware limitations, now is the time to move to 802.1X with AES.
A wireless network's greatest vulnerability is in performance-degrading interference or denial-of-service techniques, some facilitated by options in the 802.11n standard. Your wireless infrastructure management system may be able to pinpoint the source of malicious traffic, or else a product from an overlay wireless intrusion-prevention system vendor like AirDefense, AirMagnet, or AirTight can do that and more. Work on the 802.11w standard is progressing to offer management frame protection, among other capabilities, to fill gaps.PEOPLE, GET READY
If you have some sentimental attachment to the copper feeding your desktop, consider that your future workforce has spent the past four years in a wireless oasis. Most colleges and universities provide Wi-Fi in a substantial portion of their classrooms and public spaces, some in their dorms. Freshly minted graduates expect mobility when they step into the workforce, and that starts with Wi-Fi access in the office.
If businesses want to attract young talent, staying on the cutting edge isn't optional. To see how close we can come to going wire-free, we broke down wireless communication into three areas: data, voice, and video.
Conventional office applications account for the majority of data access. Whether e-mail, productivity suites, or line-of-business applications, data apps consume the largest amount of a knowledge worker's time and have been successfully mobilized, in and out of the office.
Wireless voice is often thought of in terms of cellular services, but voice over Wi-Fi, or Vo-Fi, increasingly is considered a key application for wireless networks. CIOs are generally cautious about running voice over their enterprise WLANs, for good reason: Unless the wireless network was engineered with voice in mind, whether it be first- or third-generation gear, poorly implemented quality-of-service functions and a weak signal will lead to disappointed users. All the major WLAN infrastructure vendors have spent considerable time working with enterprise-class Vo-Fi providers, such as Cisco, Polycom (formerly SpectraLink), and Vocera, developing deployment guides to assist VARs and IT groups with configuring the WLAN for QoS.
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