Wireless technology is not new and has been widely used in many industries for years.  Manufacturing, courier services, and retail are just some of the industries successfully using wireless for inventory control, package tracking, and pricing applications to increase productivity and streamline procedures.  In the past, wireless technology was used for dedicated applications, but this is rapidly changing with the advent of wireless LAN standards and 802.11 technologies.

The popularity of wireless networking is growing and users have recognized the many benefits of using mobile technology.  Wireless networks can provide new connectivity to places that were once hostile to traditional wired networks.  Access to the Internet and corporate data files while roaming freely throughout the enterprise has been proven to improve productivity and communications.  Employees are now demanding wireless service.

With the popularity of mobile computing devices such as laptops and PDA’s growing, the demand for enterprise class wireless LAN solutions is increasing quickly.  The ability to access applications to check email, schedule meetings, and to conduct business from anywhere in the enterprise and at anytime is a reality with combination of wired and wireless LAN technology.  The benefits of wireless are many:

• True mobility - the means to conduct business without physical cable attachment to the network
• Increased productivity - continuous access to information 24x7
• Lower cabling costs – can eliminate the need for new cable plants or extensions of existing cabling
• New network access – provides network access where it was previously difficult to deploy traditional wired LANs (e.g. manufacturing, warehousing, temporary office space, leased buildings, etc.)
• Broad OS support – Windows, Macintosh, Palm OS, etc.
• Easy installation
• Rapid deployment
• Lower long term costs

Despite the many benefits of wireless technology, enterprise users are only beginning to adopt wireless LANs.  The challenge of providing mobility and easy access to corporate information for enterprise users while maintaining data security over open air waves has held back many enterprise deployments.

Unlike wired networks, wireless networks transmit their data over open air waves – through walls, ceilings, and floors – giving possible access to anyone within range of the radio waves.  The lack of strong security in early implementations of 802.11b technology using Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) security showed the danger and ease of how wireless LANs could be compromised -  giving enterprises no confidence in deploying immature wireless LAN technology.

With modern wireless technology and the latest IEEE standards, many barriers to early wireless adoption have been addressed.  Strong authentication, data privacy, packet integrity checks, and increased transmission speeds are now available in enterprise class wireless LAN solutions – allowing enterprises to implement consistent security and integrity over both wired and wireless LANs with confidence.

This article is from the website of Foundry IronPoint™

Hands On Technology Inc. does not support this company and is not affiliated in anyway.