Wireless wise

Rolling out wireless LANs requires a new set of operational and network management skills that are in short supply. You'd be wise to familiarize your staff with the technology now so they're ready for future deployments.

"It's not a matter of just going out to find thousands of people who have all this wireless experience. They're not there," says Charlie Wehner, a senior analyst at Cerner, a healthcare software vendor in Kansas City, Mo. "You almost have to bring your network administrators up to speed on this."

If you don't, you face the danger of users implementing their own rogue wireless access points. What's more, the lack of experience with radio waves, the "physical" medium for 802.11 or Wi-Fi LANs, can lead to networks that don't have enough bandwidth, or to gaping security  holes. Fortunately, it's relatively easy for experienced network administrators to pick up a basic knowledge of wireless LANs.

"Part of the job of being a network administrator is being able to adapt to changing technology," Wehner says. "A few years ago, you might have said 'VPN' and few people would have known what you were talking about. Now everyone knows. Wireless LANs are the same way."

The one main, and obvious, way in which wireless skills differ from traditional wireline skills is that the wire is replaced by a radio beam.

"An understanding of radio systems is quite helpful," says Christopher Misra, a network analyst with the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Last year, the IT group created a public access Wi-Fi network for students by installing Cisco wireless access points in five locations on campus.