Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Another Try At True Anytime, Anywhere Wirelessness

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 19 Jan 2003 13:20:12 -0500

Another Try At True Anytime, Anywhere Wirelessness
Source: CMPnet
Publication date: 2003-01-17
Arrival time: 2003-01-18

The promise of a high-speed, easy-to-manage wireless network piques the
interest of any business-technology exec--for a minute. Then they remember
all the roadblocks: weak security, costly installations, complex
management, and spotty coverage.

Vendors are trying to remove some of the roadblocks with new technologies
and partnerships that could pave the way for anytime, anywhere wireless
communications. The wireless LAN market, expected by Cahners In-Stat to
reach $2.8 billion by 2005, is ripe for innovation, and analysts say a dozen
startups could launch this quarter alone.

Next week, Aruba Wireless Networks opens its doors with 802.11 Wi-Fi
products that address security, installation, and management concerns.
And this week, Avaya, Motorola, and Proxim announced plans to jointly
develop technology that combines Wi-Fi, cellular, and IP-telephony
networks.

For Larry Walls, CIO of Huntsville Hospital, such developments are welcome
news. "We're cautiously deploying wireless LANs as fast as we can," Walls
chuckles. Physicians at the 50-location health-care provider are clamoring
for wireless access to clinical records and other information. "But the
encryption and the security is just not up to a standard we need for health
care," he says. As a result, employees can access a limited number of
apps and only if they have a virtual-private-network client on their laptop or
handheld.

Aruba claims its product eliminates the need for VPNs and will start trials
next week. A centralized switch manages Aruba and other vendors' wireless
access devices, detecting unauthorized equipment and blocking
communications to the corporate network. Customers develop their own
security policies on the switch for access to applications.

The centralized security and management approach is different from
Cisco Systems' products, which distribute intelligence to the
remote-access devices. As wireless LANs grow, though, it will become
more difficult to manage them without centralized intelligence, says Meta
Group senior research analyst Chris Kozup.

Aruba also targets installation problems. Typically, businesses hire people
to conduct site surveys costing about $3,000 each to let them know how to
best deploy wireless LAN equipment to lessen interference and to get total
coverage. Aruba's switching system automates this process once IT
managers enter physical dimensions and other criteria. The system also
detects failed or overloaded access areas and reconfigures the network so
there's no loss in coverage.

Aruba will have a tough challenge, though, with other vendors getting into
wireless LANs, says Kozup, "We're heading toward a situation where there
is too much investment in this marketplace, so I'd expect to see
consolidation in 2004," he says.

Avaya, Motorola, and Proxim are nonetheless jumping in with plans to
develop a single wireless handset that operates over 802.11 using IP
telephony when near a Wi-Fi hot spot or corporate LAN and over public
cellular networks when between them. Trials of the products are expected in
the second half of the year. "It's a lot of nice fluff, but it remains to be seen
how they're actually going to achieve it," Kozup says. "It's fairly intensive
integration on the back end."

http://cnniw.yellowbrix.com/pages/cnniw/Story.nsp?story_id=35989869&ID=cnniw&scategory=Telecommunications%3AWireless&

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