WLAN : Securing New Heights

Wireless technologies are a promising prospect for various public
applications. WLAN adoption is still relatively new to India but is growing at a
rapid pace. It is only now that enterprises and other segments are being forced
to rethink their wireless strategy. They realize that having seamless
integration between fixed and wireless deployment gives greater flexibility and
increases productivity.

There are ample opportunities for wireless as the market is flourishing and
benefits of pervasive wireless networks are being seen. The adoption of mobility
solutions based on the wireless platform by industry segments like hospitality,
manufacturing, retail, real estate, etc, is also leading to more adoption and
proliferation of WLAN. And this adoption of WLAN technology by enterprises is
radically transforming business operations, networks, data centers and bringing
centralized IT control.

Key Trends

Gone are the days when WLAN islands were deployed by early adopters,
especially in the retail and logistic verticals, to run specific mobility
applications. The most important emerging trend here is the advent of all
wireless enterprises. The trend is toward adoption of enterprise mobility
technologies and applications to increase business efficiency and deliver an
enhanced level of customer experience.

Wireless LAN is becoming the preferred medium of network access. A wireless
network uses wireless mesh technology at the network distribution and access
layer, considerably saving wiring and maintenance costs. Coupled with resiliency
and security mechanism, it is becoming a big trend, especially for green field
deployment.

Wireless security is an important aspect as wireless networks expand. Data
frauds and denial of service attacks are becoming a major threat. Therefore the
need to safeguard critical data is no longer a choice but an imperative.
Enterprises are seeking ironclad security in wireless networks to safeguard
their business critical data from theft and intrusion.

With 802.1 and WPA2 encryption WLAN provides high level of security. There
has been substantial amount of innovation and integration of wireless intrusion
detection and prevention capabilities into the WLAN solution.

Hottest Technology

There is an increasing trend where by adding VoIP technology to wireless
networks (VoWLAN), businesses are improving collaboration and responsiveness and
discovering new ways to reduce cost. The collaboration between RFID and wireless
is leading to new mobility applications and solutions for industry segments like
manufacturing, retail and healthcare.

Last year the industry adopted the 802.1x secure authentication framework.
This system enables users to authenticate and encrypt data traffic on the
wireless medium. But security requirements go beyond just secure authentication.
Monitoring the air and analyzing RF environment for any abnormal events like
hacking attacks are critical elements that complete the security portfolio.

Another emerging technology in this segment is IEEE 802.11n. This solution
will operate in the 2.4 and 5 GHz radio band, offering backward compatibility
with pre-existing 802.11a/b/g deployments. Wireless solutions based on the
802.11n standard employ several techniques to improve the throughput,
reliability and predictability of wireless LANs. The three primary innovations
are MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) technology, packet aggregations and
channel bonding. Together these techniques allow 802.11n solutions to achieve an
approximate five-fold performance increase over the current 802.11a/b/g.

Experts panel

Paramjit Singh Puri, business development manager, advanced technologies, Cisco Systems, India & Saarc Rama Subramanian, head, systems engineering, Juniper Networks, India Jayesh H Kotak, VP, product management, D-Link India Lakshminarayan Bhat, sr product manager, Motorola Enterprise Mobility Division Subhashini Prabhakar, chief technology manager, DAX networks Ashok Saraf, product marketing manager, wireless, Extreme Networks

Wireless transmission Draft N with 2x3 and 3x3 radio transmission design is
much talked about for WLAN. It can achieve wireless speeds of up to 300 Mbps and
450 Mbps, making it faster than Cat Ethernet. On the other side, unified
wireless system with self healing, load balancing, centralized RF management,
and rogue AP detection and control is the next stage for enterprise wireless
networks.

Besides integrated firewall, there is simultaneous support of multiple SSID
per access point to support different user groups. URL filtering for parental
control in home users, integrated IPSEC VPN for corporate VPN, and future proof
IPv6 readiness are some other popular technologies in the Indian WLAN market.

What they Want

In today's economy and volatile market conditions the demands from CIOs
include the alignment of IT with business. CIOs are looking to empower their
workforce with insight, collaboration and awareness. To meet customers' demands
at lower cost is the CIO's demand today. Most CIOs are looking to deploy
centralized unified access solution and network management.

24x7 intrusion detection and prevention, real time wireless RF environment
monitoring, and automated alerts are key for CIOs. They are looking to amortize
the cost of wireless infrastructure across a number of mobility applications
including data, voice and video.

Higher security levels, including client and access point level, open
standards technology, so that compatibility issues are resolved, complete
coverage with minimum access points, and voice over Wi-Fi LAN are some major
demands from CIOs.

The single overriding concern for a CIO should be to address security needs.
They must adopt a 'no compromise' security policy. Enterprise will need to
safeguard their business-critical intellectual property as well as safeguard
customers data.

Emerging Verticals

Wireless adoption in large enterprises, campus-wide deployments in educational
institutions and even small and mid-size businesses are witnessing increased
traction. The adoption of mobility solutions based on the wireless platform by
verticals like hospitality, manufacturing, retail, real estate, government, etc,
is also leading to increasing adoption of wireless. Service providers are
offering managed services which enterprises are taking to in order to cut costs.
This would help enterprises concentrate on their core competency.

Traditionally retail, warehousing, manufacturing, transport and logistic were
early adopters but today education and healthcare verticals are also considering
deployment of WLAN as a preferred medium for network access.

2009 will be a challenging year for the industry and the expectation is of
'more for less'. CIOs and network administrators are looking at means to extend
every rupee spent on network infrastructure. Developing of wireless cities would
be an area of focus this year too. The industry will continue to explore new
opportunities and applications to improve business and enhance productivity
through a mobile workforce.

Organizations which have dominated the scene will have to prove the
worthiness of the premium they demand for the products. The key is to provide
suitable solutions which will address the current requirements as well as result
in significant cost savings.

Arpita Prem

arpitap@cybermedia.co.in