Playing Catch-Up?
Over the years, our experience has consistently shown WLAN adoption rates lower than what vendors and pundits would have us believe. Plenty of IT groups, especially in industries with tight security requirements, ignored the hype and moved slowly on wireless deployments, choosing to tinker in back rooms and cautiously launch pilots in executive offices, conference rooms, maybe guest areas. In the reader survey for our June 22, 2006, tests of wireless security systems (see "Safe Inside a Bubble"), for example, 30 percent of respondents reported no implementations to date. Of those with WLANs, only 20 percent had production-scale overlays with more than 15 APs. Just 3 percent had completely displaced their wired networks in all or some locations.
But as your company plods through the equipment replacement cycle, replacing desktops and older laptops with new models that embed Wi-Fi cards, spotty coverage isn't good enough. Frustrated users will pick up SOHO APs at the local Best Buy--it's either extend coverage and capacity or invest in a wireless IDPS to track down rogues that threaten LAN security. It seems many are choosing the former--58 percent of North American enterprises Forrester Research surveyed said they will boost spending on WLANs in the 12 months beginning November 2006, with 27 percent budgeting for significant increases.
So what's the state of the art in WLAN implementation? "It depends" is the high-priced consultant's familiar line, but when you're talking enterprise Wi-Fi, that refrain rings true. The best way to get a grip on wireless network design is to fully understand coverage and capacity, and we go into more depth in these areas at WLANs: Balancing Capacity, Coverage.
We've seen some unique approaches to maximizing the Wi-Fi experience along these two planes, but the vendors promoting them have not made significant dents in the enterprise WLAN market. This is understandable: Few IT shops want to be on the bleeding edge, buying into methods that are so unique compared with market mainstays as to seem implausible, and from companies that may not be around in six months. For those with more cash than lust for adventure, antennas have proved an easy way to extend coverage, and in certain configurations, expand capacity.
