Wireless: Backstage with Craig Mathias

By Sandra Gittlen, Network World
April 05, 2004 12:10 AM ET

. What's this?

Network World hits the road this month with its Wireless LANs Technology Tour. Craig Mathias, principal at Farpoint Group, keynotes the event and will highlight the important changes in the WLAN industry. Network World Events Editor Sandra Gittlen recently discussed what's ahead with Mathias.

IT managers are being pulled in all directions regarding wireless technology. What is the best way for them to decide if WLAN technology fits into their network?

I always like to caution against the gratuitous use of wireless. There are three key justifications for going wireless in any form: where wire just can't be installed due to physical constraints, where wireless is less expensive over the life cycle of a given installation (note this includes productivity improvements and any other financial elements), or where mobility is a factor.

What would be an obstacle to using WLANs? Security? Distance? Interference? Are there any network "deal-breakers"?

Related Content

Security has been the classic deal-breaker. . . . But we've now addressed the core WLAN security concerns, primarily through Wireless Protected Access and the use of upper-layer authentication (like RADIUS) and encryption (like VPN) techniques. It's my opinion that no potential user should reject going wireless purely based on security concerns.

Range was a concern for quite a while, back when access points cost more than $1,000. But with much more cost-effective access points now available, we usually advise clients to install more of them and to make the distance between them less. Less distance means higher throughput since radio signals degrade rapidly with distance, and more access points provide more capacity and thus a greater potential for improved productivity. . . . Fortunately, a combination of network protocols, using the 5-GHz 802.11a spectrum, and radio frequency spectrum management techniques can be used to address interference.

Some IT organizations have been charged with blending their private and public wireless efforts. What do you recommend when doing this?

Public-access Wi-Fi is going to be huge. It's replacing modem connections for many people. It's more convenient than wired broadband. But it does have one big problem today - security. Unlike enterprise WLAN installations, where all security is under the control of network managers, public-access WLANs can be very insecure and even spoofed, allowing unsuspecting users to associate with the spoofer and give away valuable passwords and credit card information. Strong mutual authentication is required, and that's not in place in most public WLANs yet. The public-space WLAN operators will get around to this once they understand the problem, and once users demand it. And note that two layers of authentication are required - one to set up a secure connection with the public-access WLAN, and this is really no different than any other ISP, and one to build the VPN tunnel with the user's enterprise network. We think that the cellular carriers are likely to dominate in this space over time, and that security will likely improve as a result. But for now, caution is advised.