Network ArchitectureNetwork World's Network Architecture Newsletter, 08/30/07Just how wireless can we get?By Jeff CarusoWith wireless LANs advancing rapidly, people keep raising the question, could we live without wires in our networks? We have a whole other newsletter directed at wireless issues, but it is getting increasingly difficult to think of wireless as something outside of the rest of network architecture. Wireless is everywhere, it seems. Wireless is getting faster, with the advent of IEEE 802.11n (still in draft state, admittedly, but that's not stopping products from appearing). Wireless is becoming part of the network infrastructure of our nation's cities (although Chicago just took a step in the other direction). I just did a search and found that I first touched on the issue of leaving wired networks behind four years ago. Back then the security issues had not been resolved, and that remained a sticking point. Interference and the limited bandwidth that WLANs provided were also cited as problematic.
Today, it seems, the security issues are still a challenge - and so are the interference issues, in a way. Joanie Wexler recently wrote in the Wireless in the Enterprise newsletter that, in the midst of speculation that some networks could go "all-wireless," we also have to consider the possibility of wireless-specific attacks - namely, jamming. As she points out, jamming your WLAN signal is essentially a denial-of-service attack, and it's certainly possible to do. The real reason people are asking whether we can go all-wireless, or at least mostly wireless, is the new speeds we are starting to see with 802.11n. But is that enough?
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Contact the author: Jeff Caruso is managing editor of online news for Network World. He oversees daily online news posting and newsletter editing, and writes the NetFlash daily news summary, the High-Speed LANs newsletter and the Voices of Networking newsletter. Contact him at jcaruso@nww.com ARCHIVEArchive of the Network Architecture Newsletter. BONUS FEATUREIT PRODUCT RESEARCH AT YOUR FINGERTIPS Get detailed information on thousands of products, conduct side-by-side comparisons and read product test and review results with Network World’s IT Buyer’s Guides. Find the best solution faster than ever with over 100 distinct categories across the security, storage, management, wireless, infrastructure and convergence markets. Click here for details. PRINT SUBSCRIPTIONS AVAILABLE International subscribers, click here. SUBSCRIPTION SERVICESTo subscribe or unsubscribe to any Network World newsletter, change your e-mail address or contact us, click here. This message was sent to: networking.world@gmail.com. Please use this address when modifying your subscription. Advertising information: Write to Associate Publisher Online Susan Cardoza Network World, Inc., 118 Turnpike Road, Southborough, MA 01772 Copyright Network World, Inc., 2007 |
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