Just how wireless can we get?

Network Architecture This newsletter is sponsored by Eaton 10 Ways to Protect Your IT Infrastructure Have you wondered how to provide serious IT protection on a small-business budget? Some of the questions are constant like what is the proper power, cooling and security for your network? How to develop a strategy that is fiscally responsible for a particular business model? How to increase IT reliability and longevity? Learn the answers to these questions and more in this whitepaper. Network World's Network Architecture Newsletter, 08/30/07 Just how wireless can we get? By Jeff Caruso With 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. Get Up to Speed on the Latest in WLANs Easily stay on top of the latest developments and issues in WLAN technology, standards, security, telephony, management and more with Network World's latest Executive Guide, "Keeping Up With the Wireless Whirlwind." Click here to download! 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?   What do you think? Post a comment on this newsletter

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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 This newsletter is sponsored by Eaton 10 Ways to Protect Your IT Infrastructure Have you wondered how to provide serious IT protection on a small-business budget? Some of the questions are constant like what is the proper power, cooling and security for your network? How to develop a strategy that is fiscally responsible for a particular business model? How to increase IT reliability and longevity? Learn the answers to these questions and more in this whitepaper. ARCHIVE Archive of the Network Architecture Newsletter. BONUS FEATURE IT 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 You've got the technology snapshot of your choice delivered to your inbox each day. Extend your knowledge with a print subscription to the Network World newsweekly, Apply here today. International subscribers, click here. SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES To 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