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Hooking on to WiFi

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DQI Bureau
New Update

Try listening to a wireless geek and you will find that none of the jargon rolls off the tongue like WiFi, the hip name given to a set of wireless technologies that can be used to connect everything from office PCs to home appliances. Wireless fidelity, in short WiFi, is the buzzword used to describe products that follow the 802.11 set of standards developed by the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers.

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“Wireless fidelity, in short WiFi, is the buzzword that’s used to describe products that follow



802.11 standards, which have been developed by IEEE”

Manish Singla

Based on a study, it was found that WiFi allowed workers of an organization to remain connected for one--and-three-fourths more hours a day, which translated into productivity improvement worth as much as $6.3 million per annum for a particular organization. On the other end of the spectrum, Starbucks, McDonald’s and Borders have gotten behind the wireless technology by putting up WiFi hot spots at their commercial establishments. These companies believe that it will provide added value to their customers.

With WiFi so close to us, there’s a need to understand the business implications of adopting the technology and this brings us to studying the technology from the perspective of ICE–internalize, conceptualize,

eventualize...

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Internalize: Am I the user?



Consider a system in a grocery store in Europe. A customer picks up a handheld Wi Fi-enabled device and inserts her/his credit card. He scans his purchases into the device, which transmits the information to a computer in the store. When the customer checks out, the total is billed to her/his credit card. German airline Lufthansa and US-based Boeing are installing wireless access points aboard some airplanes to provide passengers with Internet access on transcontinental flights. All this points towards a singular fact that technology is indispensable and it’s a matter of time before your organization will need it for achieving its business goals. 

802.11 a
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Newer to the marketplace

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Eight channels per access point

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Uses the 5-GHz frequency

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Five times faster than

802.11 b
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The most common version

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 Operates in the 2.4-gigahertz (GHz) frequency

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Reach of an access point is up to 300 feet

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Operates at up to 11 megabits per second (Mbps)

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Three channels per access point

802.11 g
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Operates in the 2.4-GHz frequency

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Reaches speeds of up to 54 Mbps

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Three channels per access point

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Products will be available by the end of 2003

Choice of a product from a particular vendor should be made after a thorough consideration of six issues

Conceptualize: What’s my requirement?



When the need for WiFi has been acknowledged, there is a need to complete a requirement analysis and assess the exact investment requirement, which should start with three fundamental elements: a site survey, a usage policy and business need.

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While too few access points means low performance, too many access points can actually harm network performance by introducing interference. This makes site survey critical. In a site survey, the organization should deploy temporary wireless access points while moving radio frequency transceivers around the building to check the signal strength at points where users will need it. This helps the company determine how many access points it needs to cover the area adequately.

Usage policy should spell out how wireless networks are used. Questions like: “Are we killing the rogue access points altogether, or bringing them under some sort of comprehensive security framework?” should be addressed by the policy.

Wi Fi networks, like wired networks, are a shared medium. An 802.11b WiFi network may provide 11 Mbps of bandwidth to an individual user. Theoretically, if 10 users are simultaneously using the network, each will have to share and may only get 1 Mbps or so each. However, network sharing is not quite this simple. A lot depends on the users’ behaviors. Someone who is just sending and receiving e-mail just uses the wireless connection in bursts. He will probably never notice any slowdown.

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On the other hand, a roomful of WiFi-users who are accessing high-resolution multimedia over a single access point may indeed notice a slowdown. In this instance, they may require additional access points or higher speed access points that use 802.11a or 802.11g, which provide more than 54 Mbps of bandwidth. After an initial assessment, planning for hardware requires and understanding that WiFi networks consist of two basic components–WiFi radios and access points or gateways.

Eventualize: What next?



In some ways, today’s wireless networks work very much like the ethernet that most companies use to run their Internet protocol networks. IEEE has created specifications for three versions of wireless networking–802.11b, 802.11a and 802.11g. (See table below)

The first issue is that of interoperability. The product should be backward compatible with the existing equipment you already own. Despite the wide acceptance of 802.11b, not all vendors are interoperable. Although stated compliance with the 802.11 standard assures interoperability, any attempt at combining systems or devices that operate with proprietary technology with those that do not results in the sacrifice of data transmission speed.

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The second issue is that of installation. The most important thing to consider is that as network topology changes, the wireless system and devices you purchase today should support new networking requirements of the future without incurring huge expenses to manage the transition.

The third issue is antenna technology. It should not be disregarded as a minor component in an overall wireless network purchase. The appropriate antenna should be selected based upon several important aspects including regulatory requirements, size and shape of the area requiring coverage, antenna mounting options and aesthetics.

The fourth issue is dual radio technology. Upgrading an access point with a single data radio requires you to upgrade all clients on the wireless system at the same time. Not only does this mean huge capital investment, it also requires a potentially lengthy shut down period. Dual radio technology lets you operate different radio technologies simultaneously, allowing a phased approach to upgrades and built-in support for legacy devices.

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The fifth issue is voice over IP. In a business world filled with multi-media information, real-time data means voice and images, not just numbers and letters. Voice, images and data are all converging onto a single network operating on IP. To offer a complete communications solution, wireless network should provide the mobile users same connectivity for real-time voice as data collection for increased efficiency and productivity.

The last and the most important issue is security. Whenever you communicate over the Internet using a wired or wireless connection, you may want to ensure that your communications and files are private and protected. Though security is a personal decision, if your transmissions are not secure, you take the risk of others intercepting your business e-mails, examining your corporate files and records, and using your network and Internet connection to distribute their own messages and communications. In case of WiFi, using WEP to secure your networks, you can increase your security by periodically changing the encryption key. If you’re concerned about privacy, change your code every week or two. If you’re very concerned, change it more often or use an advanced security technology such as 802.1x, which can change your WEP code automatically every five minutes or so. 

Every technology has its own rate of adoption. In the case of Wi Fi, for the market to grow over the next few years, there has to be a clear single message to consumers on its value. But for early risers, cutting ICE should be good enough to call up a Wi Fi vendor and ask for a proposal.

Manish Singla



The author is a consultant with PriceWaterhouseCoopers India 

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