I recently blogged about how the 802.11n Wi-Fi standard may make wired Ethernet ports a thing of the past in some industries. Whenever I write about wireless in this way, I always get dinged with security concerns. Do we really want our financial transactions and health care records riding over radio waves willy-nilly across the enterprise?
I certainly understand the sentiment. After all, security professionals are paid to be paranoid. My contention however is that while Wi-Fi security has greatly improved over the past few years, many security professionals still hark back to the early days of the easily hackable Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) and use this to fuel their current skepticism. With all due respect to the security community, things have changed quite a bit.
Don't get me wrong. A mis-configured or rogue wireless access point is still a huge vulnerability, but a strong configuration based upon the WPA2 and 802.1x standards make Wi-Fi pretty secure. Still not convinced? Talk to Wi-Fi security leaders like Aruba Networks, Cisco Systems, and Trapeze Networks and you'll find some of the smartest network security minds around. Hey, they have to be more paranoid then security professionals or they don't sell a thing.
One final note on wireless security. A lot of today's commercial technologies had their roots in the military and were used in battlefield environments. Aruba Networks has received certification from the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.K. Ministry of Defense. Pretty tough security crowd, if you ask me.
Believe me, I am the first person to stand up and cry foul when the industry tries to hide security vulnerabilities, over-market security functionality, or use proprietary security technologies to lock out competitors and lock in customers. Wi-Fi security passes all of these hurdles in my mind. As such, it is time to start considering the "all wireless office" in earnest and stop reviving the arguments of the past.
Transition and evolution are a constant in the tech industry as niche products evolve into enterprise infrastructure. This is exactly what's happening with wireless local area networks (WLANs) in large organizations.
It first started awhile back with a few wireless access points in conference rooms. Intel's Centrino processor led to lots more laptops and thus lots more access points. This in turn led to the need for more wireless network management, security, and administrative tools.
All of these things have come to pass and now we are looking at enterprise-wide WLAN deployment, especially in industries such as education, government, health care, logistics, and manufacturing. Enterprise Strategy Group believes that these enterprise requirements will lead to a new chapter for WLAN vendors, one of opportunities and new challenges. For the sake of industry cliche, let's call this new era "wireless 2.0," which will be segmented into five buckets:
1. The incumbents. Many users will look to their existing WLAN vendors for new devices and integrated tools. Advantage: Cisco Systems and Aruba Networks. It should be noted, however, that the transition to wireless 2.0 is causing a lot of churn in the market and may open opportunities for lots of competitive swap-outs.
2. The techies. We work in a geeky industry and lots of customers are still gaga over speeds and feeds. Wireless 2.0 rhetoric centers on access points per controllers, wireless mesh networks, and network access control (NAC) integration. Advantage: Aruba, Meru Networks, Trapeze Networks, and Xirrus.
3. The "unified network" guys. This is marketing code for vendors that sell both wired and wireless gear. The message they preach is that large organizations need one well-managed network, not distinct wired and wireless pipes. In IT, consolidation and central management is always good so there is some logic to this message. Advantage: Cisco, Extreme Networks, Hewlett-Packard, and Nortel Networks.
4. The multimedia supporters. Wireless networks are becoming a gateway to network services like voice and video that require lots more focus on applications, users, and quality of service. Large organizations aggressively moving down the IP telephony path will be especially open to working with these vendors. Advantage: Meru.
5. The business process crowd. Ultimately, it isn't about ports and protocols; it's about getting work done. Driven by the proliferation of smarter mobile devices, we are bound to see lots more industry and business process-specific applications. Advantage: Cisco, Motorola/Symbol, and Siemens.
The early advantage has to go to market leaders Aruba and Cisco and up-and-comer Meru, but there is still lots of room for innovation, industry-specific focus, and customer churn. Let the games--I mean wireless 2.0--begin.
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