No matter what you call it, the wireless LAN, or WLAN or Wi-Fi standard; after more then ten years of development, project IEEE 802.11 is a major success. WLAN deployments span home networks, telecommuters, small offices, regional sites, headquarter facilities and public spaces. The typical office WLAN deployment sits within the workgroup network offering mobility to knowledge workers. Wireless access point pricing will plunge over the next twelve months propelling pervasive WLAN deployment. Wireless switches from companies such as 3Com, www.3com.com, and Symbol Technologies www.symbol.com will be offered this fall using wired infrastructure as a backhaul for wireless traffic flows. The Wi-Fi market is poised to boom and usher in a new way of providing computer network connectivity and voice services with:

?¬¢‚Äö?ᬮ¬¨¬¢ Intel www.intel.com et al promising to bundle multi-function Wi-Fi cards into their laptop processors.
?¬¢‚Äö?ᬮ¬¨¬¢ the availability of low cost access points,
?¬¢‚Äö?ᬮ¬¨¬¢ wireless switches on the horizon
?¬¢‚Äö?ᬮ¬¨¬¢ public massive Wi-Fi hotspot build outs

While analyst market projections may vary, what is consistent is the general trend line. It´s up, up, up and away.

IDC www.idc.com estimates there will be 4.2M homes equipped with WLAN by 2004. In-Stat/MDR www.instat.com believes that there are 5 million devices worldwide with embedded WLAN ports today and this number will balloon to 91 million over the next five
years. There are over 2000 hotspots today. Hotspots are public places such as Starbucks, American Airlines lounges, hotels and parks that provide a public WLAN service. These hotspots are projected to grow to 41,000 by 2007 generating some $3Billion of revenue according to Analysys www.analysys.com . And this projection is low based upon resent events.

There is a WLAN flash point occurring in the telecommuter, small business and conference rooms for medium to large business taking place. As the entry price falls from $340 to now $229 for a small installation an acceleration of WLAN use has resulted. In 2000 only 9% of telecommuters used WLAN, it is projected that this has accelerated to 25% by year-end 2002 according to In-Stat/MDR.

Backward and Forward Migration Standards

While the 802.11b standard has found market acceptance, the IEEE has finished work on the new 802.11a standard and is projected to complete the 802.11g standard soon. 802.11a network interface cards and base stations are available today. 802.11a is similar to 802.11g, in that they both deliver up to 54 Mbps of bandwidth, with extensions for even higher data rates. Radio frequency interference is much less likely in 802.11a because the less-crowded 5 GHz band is used for transport. The 5GHz band also reduces the range to approximately 80 feet which is less than lower frequency systems used in 802.11b and
802.11g. This will increase the cost of 802.11a systems because it requires a greater number of access points per network diameter. However, the shorter range enables a much greater capacity in smaller areas via a higher degree of channel reuse.

The 802.11g standard is backward compatible with 802.11b while 802.11a is not unless multi-mode (802.11a, b, g) network interface cards are used. Expect them in May to June ´03 time frame. 802.11g is an extension to 802.11b. 802.11g products are available now in limited supply ramping up during Q1 ?¬¢‚Äö?ᬮ?Ä??03. 802.11g broadens 802.11b’s data rates to 54 Mbps within the 2.4 GHz band exploiting OFDM or orthogonal frequency division multiplexing access technology. The range at 54 Mbps will likely be less than existing 802.11b access points operating at 11 Mbps. 802.11b radio cards will interface directly with an 802.11g access point and vice versa at 11 Mbps or lower depending on range. For example, 3Com´s Access Point 8200/8500 products, available January 2003, support 802.11b/a/g, IP Voice, QoS, load balancing and extended roaming. Upgrades and backward compatibility will be dependent on vendor implementations, so choose your vendor wisely.

The next question is which WLAN standard to use? The answer is, it depends. For high speed requirements in small areas with a dense supply of users 802.11a may be best. For conference rooms where it´s unknown which WLAN NIC laptops are being used, waiting for 802.11g may be best. If there isn´t a high speed requirement, then stick with 802.11b. It seems like 802.11a products will satisfy niche markets while 802.11b/g will address the bulk of the market. In any case, the networking industry is delivering options for WLAN installations and the options are only going to increase.

Blurring Public and Private Wi-Fi Service

The future of WLANs will bring higher speed connections, multi-modal NICs and access points, wireless switches and new wireless devices. Pervasive WLAN access, driven by cost reductions in access point products, will enable roaming around a building without loosing a WLAN connection supporting both networked applications and VoIP services. Pervasive WLANs will deliver to IP phones what they currently don´t have; roaming. IP phones supporting Wi-Fi and bluetooth connections will be available by most vend

Posted 2 March 2003 at 6:57 pm under Lippis Report, Enterprise Mobility. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.