Although wireless networking may not yet be an actual substitute for wired networking, it does offer some benefits that make it attractive in many cases. Where freedom of mobility is important, wireless networking has obvious advantages. And because it does not require pulling cables or making accommodations for wiring, it can potentially lower infrastructure costs, especially in locations with certain limitations. At the very least, wireless networking is easier to install because of the absence of cabling. Although wireless networking is not as robust in terms of performance as wired networking, Belanger pointed out that the evolving standards for wireless networking are at least making it as reliable. However, he noted that the measures taken to make wireless reliable have come with some overhead costs in terms of performance. "To get to that same level of robustness, there's overhead. The cost of building in the reliability is that it's not as efficient as Ethernet. Out of the 11 MB provided for in 802.11b, you might get 6 1/2 MB of actual throughput." The other question about wireless networking -- especially with Vivato's switches, which have an increased range -- is security. Belanger said that along with the security built into the boxes, including support for the Wi-Fi Alliance-backed Wireless Protected Access (WPA) protocol, VPN, low-level encryption, and 802.1X authentication and key distribution, the Vivato switches offer the security benefit of using focused beams rather than a broadcast signal. "The switches aren't putting out any more real energy than a conventional access point. Most of the range improvement comes from antenna gain that allows us to set up very narrow beams of Wi-Fi." The narrowing of the beam, Belanger said, makes it possible for the switches to achieve the greater range. The security benefit is that the signal isn't being broadcast in all directions to be easily intercepted. Beams are focused where they need to go (and when they need to go) rather than broadcasting all the time. "We can point the beams precisely at the intended clients, and we can move them around on a packet-by-packet basis.... Unless you're close in, you're not going to hear much traffic. You'll pick up traffic only when the beam is aimed in your direction," Belanger said. Through a built-in scanning function that operates all the time, the switches can locate the clients and direct the beam. Once the function finds a client, it records information about the location so it knows where to send transmissions. "We use that function to collect information about the nodes we want to participate on the network, but we can use that same function to detect rogue access points." The software that's shipping with the device will allow users to take advantage of the security capabilities of the switch. Another security benefit is that the onboard hardware accelerator supports 802.11i, which changes the encryption method and will require hardware upgrades for many wireless products. Vivato's switches will be firmware upgradeable to support the new standard. Bottom line
Because Vivato's switches introduce new wireless functionality and incorporate a number of useful features, they could represent a big step forward for wireless networking in the enterprise. The switches may eliminate the need for many wireless devices currently in use and extend the effective range of wireless connectivity, and they offer built-in security features. Organisations should pay close attention to wireless switching when Vivato's products arrive sometime in the first quarter of 2003.
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