Wireless Alert

Joanie Wexler looks at how enterprises can take advantage of wireless LANs and WANs.

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4G-status update: 02/09/10; Where does the wireless industry stand with 4G mobile networks? If you're referring casually to the next generation of packet-switched mobile data networks, there is one answer. If you're referring to formal standards-based networks, however, there's another.
Financial services firm readies mobile cost-sharing model: 02/05/10; At the Mobile Explosion conference this week in San Diego, telecom managers struggled with the issue of how to strike the appropriate balance between responsibly securing and managing their mobility environments while still keeping their user bases happy. This is of particular concern as Generation Y enters the workplace accustomed to using whatever devices and communications methods suit their fancy, said experts speaking about the current enterprise mobile landscape.
Cellular pricing models crumble: 02/02/10; Several chinks are appearing in the way we've historically separated voice from data, 3G from traditional cellular, and international calling from domestic calling. With many businesses and individuals fixated on cost savings, some industry developments have cropped up to help avoid or at least reduce international roaming fees.
Wi-Fi robot helps treat trauma patients: 01/29/10; A robot roaming from bedside to bedside at the Ryder Trauma Center at the University of Miami/Jackson Medical Center in Florida is expanding the reach of physicians in an initiative that could one day extend to U.S. soldiers overseas.
Plea for real-time mobile meter: 01/26/10; Since usage-based mobile pricing is likely in our future, something we could all probably use is real-time visibility into our cellular consumption levels.
Video over wireless: What works?: 01/22/10; There's quite a buzz about corporations getting into video or "content delivery." These efforts involve large files, real-time QoS requirements and significant bandwidth consumption. Within enterprises, the most popular uses for video are collaborative meetings and streaming content for online training or executive speeches and messages.
Milking the iPod Touch for savings: 01/19/10; Telecom managers, small business owners and parents fretting over unpredictable cellular data usage costs are discovering a way to stay connected to the Internet while avoiding or at least decreasing cellular charges. Several are using the Apple iPod Touch -- more or less an iPhone minus the cellular connection.
What's Verizon Wireless up to?: 01/15/10; Verizon Wireless has just revamped its service plan pricing in a move to get the masses hooked on mobile data. The lower prices are intended to drive greater usage of data-centric services so that by the time usage-based pricing kicks in on the carrier's LTE 4G network, the crop of users addicted to mobile data will more likely be willing to stick with the program for the privilege of continuing their newfound habits.
Digging into mobile device management: 01/12/10; I alluded recently to the chaotic state of mobile device management and security created, in part, by the myriad mobile handsets popping up left and right. If you are able to settle on a handset strategy (a challenging task in and of itself), how do you paw through the MDM choices and solutions out there to find the right one(s)?
Stop inventing mobile phones: 01/07/10; I'm a cheerleader for competition, innovation, freedom of choice and all that, but the volume of mobile operating systems and phone types has reached the point of creating industry chaos and confusion for both enterprises and consumers. Google's recent foray into the mobile phone market with its Android-based, HTC-manufactured Nexus One makes me wonder: Should the industry just take a breather for a few months while broadband wireless network buildouts and mobile device management (MDM) capabilities catch up to smartphone demands?
Mesh gains disciples: 01/05/10; The latest Webtorials Wireless LAN State-of-the-Market Report reveals that enterprises appear open to embracing new architectures, particularly mesh, and that their plans for voice deployment remain consistently iffy (pardon the oxymoron).
WLANs: The state of the market: 01/04/10; The results are in from the annual Webtorials Wireless LAN State-of-the-Market survey, which was conducted in the fourth quarter of 2009, post-ratification of the 802.11n standard. A few interesting trends emerged, particularly regarding "all-wireless" plans (or lack thereof), customer satisfaction levels, architecture choices and that ever-elusive variable: voice.
Free calculator lets you estimate 11n AP volumes: 12/22/09; Several of the wireless LAN vendors these days have very slick virtual site-survey and planning tools that make it fairly painless to ascertain exactly where to install access points (and how many of them) to yield the coverage and throughput levels needed throughout a floor or building. Trapeze Networks and Motorola, for instance, jump immediately to mind as having particularly sophisticated but simple-to-use tools.
WIPS vendor to add performance mgmt.: 12/18/09; A challenge with most network monitoring and reporting systems is that the more data-rich they are, the more incomprehensible they become to network administrators. Pawing through volumes of raw data to pinpoint cause-and-effect information is so time-consuming that some problems simply go undetected. At least one wireless vendor, though, is trying to help alleviate this problem in Wi-Fi networks with predictive performance management and smart forensics.
Mobility mgmt: Don't give up just yet: 12/15/09; The state of mobility in the enterprise is officially at a crossroads. Businesses are torn as to whether they should wash their hands of procuring mobile devices and wireless services for employees to save money or to cling to centralized control to maximize productivity and ensure enterprise security.
The future of cellular pricing: 12/11/09; My ears pricked up the other night when I heard the following clip on my local news channel: "How would you feel about paying your iPhone bill by the byte? News at 11!"
Holiday phone flood could test enterprise security: 12/08/09; By the time we're all singing Auld Lang Syne, another 50 million smartphones will have joined the worldwide business environment during the year, according to IDC. Many will likely be Apple iPhones received as holiday presents. These "rogue" devices can worm their way onto your corporate network via the ActiveSync protocol.
What would you outsource to your mobile operator?: 12/04/09; The mobile landscape is growing larger and more strategic to business. Users' phones are supporting a blend of personal and business use. Such an environment is complex to plan, build, manage and secure, so how would you feel about outsourcing it? How about outsourcing it to a mobile network operator?
Indoor cellular success requires give and take: 12/01/09; You can get cellular coverage into buildings more affordably and less painfully than has been possible in the past. But a few Wireless Alert readers take issue with alternatives that piggyback onto the Ethernet LAN they've built or the Internet access connection they pay for each month.
The cell phone camera conundrum: 11/25/09; A recent study indicates that many organizations' mobile policies concern themselves more with direct, immediate cost-saving behavior than with big-picture liabilities or limits on user productivity.
The under-hyped tech that's changing the world: 11/20/09; I was asked recently whether I thought any wireless technologies were currently being over-hyped. The cynic in me was ready to tick several off of my fingers. But the more I thought about it, I realized there's actually one I consider under-hyped. That would be the wireless sensor. These little gizmos are quietly on a path to change civilization as we know it.
Wireless turns inside out: 11/17/09; Cellular networks were originally built to keep people connected when away from their wired indoor phones. For its part, Wi-Fi's genesis was to eliminate cabling to desktop PCs, then later to provide data mobility in and around the home and office. Now, the respective technologies' goals are flip-flopping. Cellular is doing its darnedest to affordably cover indoor locations, while Wi-Fi is making a hard push outside. What gives?
Shifting mobile cost to employees? Think twice: 11/13/09; I've noticed a disturbing anecdotal trend in talking to enterprise customers lately, and some recent IDC numbers I just stumbled across seem to back it up. The unfortunate movement is away from corporate-liable mobile phone models and towards individual-liable setups, where employees procure their own wireless devices and services and may be reimbursed for their expenses by their employer.
How 2x2, 2x3, 3x3 configs affect WLAN performance: 11/10/09; Most enterprise wireless LAN vendors have supported two spatial streams in their 802.11n access points. Yet their product pitches go something like this: "Our latest-and-greatest AP is an 802.11n 2x3 [or 3x3] MIMO system that greatly enhances data rates, range and performance." So what is the difference in the actual bottom-line impact on network performance between 2x2, 2x3 and 3x3 designs?
New 11n chips could soon make 802.11abg gear extinct: 11/06/09; Setting the stage for a new generation of 802.11n wireless networks, Wi-Fi chipmaker Atheros last week launched a family of enhanced chips that include some of the optional features of the recently ratified final 11n standard. Many enterprise-class wireless LAN makers base their systems on Atheros chips, and with the enhanced standards-based components available, it likely won’t be long until 802.11abg products start disappearing from vendor inventories altogether.