Although it wasn't ratified until September, the 802.11n wireless networking standard has been around for quite some time. In fact, the seven-year journey to ratification officially involved more than 400 individuals ranging from equipment and silicon suppliers, service providers, systems integrators, consultant organizations, and academic institutions from more than 20 countries.
After reading that this de facto standard was now in fact an actual standard I asked Jay Botelho, director of product management at network monitoring and troubleshooting vendor WildPackets, if becoming a true standard means anything to the industry and the vendors that support it.
Q: What are the benefits of 802.11n?
Jay Botelho: The biggest benefit by far is more throughput--significantly more throughput--from a theoretical maximum of 54Mbps to 600Mbps with the right hardware configuration. It is this leap in throughput that makes applications like Voice over WLAN (VoWLAN) and even video over wireless feasible. It is also the reason why the claim is being made that 11n will drive more new installations to be wireless-only.
I wouldn't go so far as to say 11n is more viable than cable--each has its pros and cons. Cable (wired) handles unlimited users without effecting throughput, while wireless is shared - the more users the less throughput each one gets. On the other hand wireless is far less expensive and easier to deploy so this is a key benefit in new construction.
802.11n has been around forever it seems. Realistically, will ratification translate to a surge in deployments?
Botelho: Many enterprises held off with 11n upgrades (and therefore wireless upgrades in general) for fear that the ratified spec would be substantially different from the Draft2.0 spec (the one the Wi-Fi Alliance based its pre-ratification certification tests on). Now that this question is no longer an issue, and since there's probably some pent-up demand since wireless upgrades in general may have been put on hold, it is expected that there will be a surge in deployments. As an aside, there is very little difference between the Draft2.0 version and the ratified version.
As we move toward 2010, there is little question that mobile devices and smartphones will continue to have a huge impact on the market. Research firm Nielsen predicts that smartphones will dominate market share by the end of 2011, with the iPhone and Android-based phones taking the lead spots by a wide margin over traditional cell phones.
As devices mature, Wi-Fi connections become more ubiquitous, and 3G networks become more reliable, consumers will start looking for new ways to use their smartphones as replacements for other larger devices, such as PCs and TVs. One area that has been called out for growth is mobile video and TV, as well as streaming movies directly to a mobile device.
mSpot CEO and co-founder Daren Tsui made the case to me recently that full-length streaming movies will be important to consumers in 2010 because people want entertainment on the go and on demand. Research suggests that the adoption curve will be lead by young males 18- to 24-years-old and parents with young children looking to keep kids distracted.
Not surprisingly, mobile carriers are very supportive of mobile movies. According to Tsui, mSpot has been powering mobile movies on the Sprint wireless network for three years and is currently working with other carriers to bring the service to their user base. Realistically, carriers will always be happy about services they can offer and charge for, but the real question is if they could handle an influx of users sucking down huge amounts of bandwidth.
The obvious obstacle to be overcome is the strength of the data network. Streaming full-length movies to a phone is data-intensive, and therefore relies heavily on a strong, consistently reliable network. Assuming WiFi is available, this is a non-issue, but, as an example, AT&T's 3G network has struggled with the data usage of iPhone users and you can just imagine what will happen when millions of people start streaming movies.
Anecdotally, I can tell you that my wife and I bring an iPod Touch out with us to entertain my 2.5-year-old with various games and movies. Pocket-size mobile devices, iPod or otherwise, can be great learning tools as well as distractions when things are going sideways or when you just want to go to a restaurant and not chase a kid around. That said, my iPhone/AT&T network experience has been so spotty that I would likely opt to keep the content local, though in an ideal world new content could be downloaded in the background.
Assuming bandwidth is not an issue there are many possibilities for mobile content to take the place of traditional PCs or print media but in the near term mobile content will be only as good as its data connection.
It seems like every few months I have to set up a wireless network for someone. And while it's certainly an easy task I am fairly sure that the security choices people make in the process are probably not the most iron-clad.
Whether by design or by default, every company and, now, most homes have a wireless network. Unless you understand, control, and manage this network, you are creating vulnerabilities that threaten network security. As more and more companies begin using wireless as a primary medium for data services, including VoIP and video, preventive measures should be taken to better safeguard your Wi-Fi.
I spoke with Jay Botelho, director of product management at WildPackets, who provided three tips to safeguard a wireless network:
1. Ad-hoc mode: Turn it off--forever.
I'm amazed how often I continue to see laptops in public places, like airports, coffee shops and trade shows, that are configured with ad-hoc mode enabled. Just "view available wireless networks" next time you're in a public place and I'm sure you'll find a neighbor or two with ad-hoc mode enabled. If they're a colleague of yours, do them a favor and tell them to disable ad-hoc mode--forever. There's nothing it can do for them, except create a possible security breach. And whatever you do, don't connect to an unknown ad-hoc network. You may just be taking someone else's bait.
2. Use WPA-2.
The word has been out for awhile, but usage of sub-standard wireless authentication/encryption, including WEP, is still prevalent. There's no reason to be using anything except WPA-2. Every wireless adapter and every AP for sale today supports WPA-2. Some of your gear is 4-plus years old and doesn't support WPA-2? Replace it! I'm sure there are some killer deals at your local electronics store. And the risk far, far outweighs the expense. You don't have to look far to find evidence of this--remember TJ Maxx?
3. Establish firm security policies.
The above concrete actions are just examples of what is truly needed: a complete security policy for your organization. The policy must tie overall network security with wireless security. It's all one network--it needs a single unified policy that incorporates all levels of network access. Wireless is only one of them.
Follow me on Twitter @daveofdoom
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