Network World

Wireless Alert

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

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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.
Possible relief for cellular capacity crunch: 11/03/09; Mobile WAN operators are battling in-building coverage and network capacity problems that have generated a spate of unfavorable press. Start-up SpiderCloud Wireless, though, has emerged from stealth mode this week with an alternative in-building wireless platform it says can alleviate these problems for mobile operators' enterprise customers.
Moving Wi-Fi complexity into the cloud: 10/30/09; There are now at least three companies moving enterprise Wi-Fi control functions, management functions or both into the cloud.
Wireless sensors: A potential 'hot' data center trend: 10/27/09; Let's be honest: In many companies, green initiatives have as much to do with saving money as saving the planet. But you don't want to reduce energy so much that it compromises the functioning of your data center equipment. Shutdowns and poor operation can be just as costly to the business.
Wireless helps hone data center efficiencies: 10/23/09; Enterprise efforts to consolidate data centers and install virtualization software are taking a big bite out of the number of power-hungry application and storage servers required to support enterprise data. But after taking this critical first step, what else can you do to boost efficiency?
Outdoor 11n Wi-Fi gear grabs spotlight: 10/20/09; A big focus for Wi-Fi makers these days is on building equipment that supports high-speed outdoor network applications. For example, there are enterprises that want to extend their wireless LANs outdoors. There are municipalities with wireless public safety and city service applications. And there are service providers wanting to build hot spots that offload data traffic from 3G networks that are quickly growing saturated.
Spec to bring enterprise mgmt. to P2P Wi-Fi: 10/16/09; The Wi-Fi Alliance -- a self-described marketing organization chartered to accelerate the use of wireless LANs -- is increasingly inventing and promoting the use of new Wi-Fi protocols. The latest example is a spec for direct, peer-to-peer Wi-Fi connections that's likely to trump the IEEE's ad-hoc mode specification written into the original 802.11 standards.
802.11n price wars already underway: 10/13/09; The ink is barely dry on the final IEEE 802.11n standard, and already vendors are slashing their equipment prices to encourage wide-scale enterprise deployments.
Mobile WAN operators raise 'openness' bar: 10/09/09; It was a productive week for mobile WANs, with AT&T, Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile and Sprint all making announcements that broke new ground for the licensed operators.
The fate of voice, SMS in LTE networks: 10/06/09; When mobile networks first become all-IP networks, they will not be inherently outfitted to support IP-based voice and short-message service. Yet today, circuit-switched voice and SMS are among the most popular services, not to mention the mobile operators' two biggest cash cows.
Mall owner, film studio fast-track mobile apps: 10/02/09; Figuring out how to efficiently deliver back-end corporate data to handheld devices in a way that's meaningful has long been a thorn in IT's side. But the task has gotten easier -- at least for Developers Diversified Realty, a commercial real estate company in Beachwood, Ohio, and Lionsgate Entertainment, an independent motion picture studio in Santa Monica, Calif.
Are femtocells poaching on wired nets?: 09/29/09; Although AT&T's recently announced MicroCell femtocell service is still in the trial stage, uproar over its pricing has already erupted. After all, if a mobile operator's network service coverage is poor in your home or office, why should it be up to you -- and not the service provider -- to foot the bill for making it better?
Who will enforce neutrality rules?: 09/25/09; By now you likely know about FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski's proposal to turn current net neutrality guidelines into bona fide regulations. Genachowski has implied that net neutrality regulations would apply equally to both mobile and terrestrial broadband access networks, given that they are all "roads to the same place" – the Internet – which the chairman believes should remain open.
LTE, WiMAX find common ground at 4G World: 09/22/09; At the 4G World show in Chicago, there was a pronounced acknowledgement that it will take consolidation of equipment, network interfaces and subscriber databases to deliver on the promise of the next generation of wireless networking. The 4G environment, many agreed, will be less about underlying technology wars and more about users having consistent, high-quality wireless experiences regardless of network type.
4G World: Ditch the tech wars: 09/18/09; It became clear at the 4G World show in Chicago that the wireless industry is striving to de-emphasize which network technology delivers the capacity users need to run their multimedia applications and focus more on simply seeing to it that users do, indeed, get that capacity.
BlackBerry joins iPass access options: 09/15/09; As the telecom and PC disciplines continue to collide in converged smartphones, remote access service company iPass has added BlackBerry Wi-Fi connectivity to its list of supported access devices and methods.
Wi-Fi to fill mobile WAN gaps: 09/11/09; As AT&T prepares yet again to upgrade its HSPA 7.2 3G access and backhaul networks in the United States, the word is that some mobile network operators will eventually look to offload some of their spiraling mobile data traffic onto Wi-Fi networks. It's not clear just yet exactly what kind of experience such a move would deliver to users, but it makes sense for major operators with both types of networks to supplement their mobile WANs with Wi-Fi where they need the bandwidth.
Verizon tackles soup-to-nuts enterprise mobility management: 09/09/09; A burgeoning crowd is selling fragments of mobility management software and services (I can think of about 30 off the top of my head). However, some companies are finally starting to stitch the components together so that enterprise mobile network managers' heads don't explode from having too many products and vendors to keep track of.
iDEN PTT now works on Moto WLAN: 09/07/09; It’s widely known that walkie-talkie users tend to favor the industry’s initial push-to-talk (PTT) technology, which Motorola developed for its iDEN network, for its speed advantages. I just recently learned that the company has added iDEN PTT to its suite of Wi-Fi enterprise mobility services. iDEN, of course, is best known as a service operated by Sprint Nextel in the U.S.
Time to make Wi-Fi deterministic: 09/01/09; One of last week's newsletters talked about a way to benchmark, at scale, what sort of real-world user experience your 802.11n Wi-Fi implementations will deliver before you make huge infrastructure investments. Also important is to then continuously monitor each device's actual performance so you can deliver consistent, deterministic user experiences that are reminiscent of Ethernet.
Prepping for (finally!) a standard 11n world: 08/28/09; As the IEEE 802.11n standard approaches ratification, expected in two weeks, mainstream enterprises will become more serious about investing in the high-throughput Wi-Fi technology. The Wi-Fi Alliance, which certifies interoperability among 802.11-based products, has confirmed that certified Draft 2.0 802.11n products won't require changes to comply with the standard.