* Wired/wireless debate is heating up in the business world
As part of Network World’s recently published list of the networking industry’s all-time greatest arguments, Senior Editor John Cox contends that there are indeed IT people acting in their right minds who are exchanging their dedicated 100Mbps and Gigabit wired Ethernet connections for shared wireless ones.
College IT departments, in addition to wiring all their dorm rooms with high-speed connections, also have to supply students with WLAN access as their main mode of access to campus applications, libraries and labs, and the Internet.
Cox argues that this wired/wireless debate is heating up in the business world as well for two reasons. First, new software and silicon now let vendors build WLAN functions directly into Ethernet switches. The infrastructure will handle both wired and wireless access with integrated security and management. Second, and more dramatically, vendors such as Meru and Cisco are now releasing next generation Wi-Fi gear based on the draft 802.11n standard. Users can expect to see shared throughput of 150M to 200Mbps to start and well over 300Mbps in premium equipment soon.
In the newly revamped Enterprise Wireless LAN Buyer’s Guide, you can tap into a wealth of information on which WLAN players are considered the strongest in this field, on how to best implement wireless technology and products on a wide-scale basis, and how the more than 60 products listed in this guide compare on everything from port density on the wired side to 802.11n support on the wireless one.
