• No results found

Solutions Fast Track

Wireless Technology Overview

; Wireless technologies today come in several forms and offer a multitude of solutions applicable to generally one of two wireless networking camps: cellular-based and wireless LANs.

; Cellular-based wireless data solutions are solutions that use the existing cell phone and pager communications networks to transmit data.

; Wireless LAN solutions are solutions that provide wireless connectivity over a coverage area between 10 and 100 meters.These provide the capabilities necessary to support the two-way data communications of typical corporate or home desktop computers

; Open source code does not necessarily have to be free. For example, companies such as Red Hat and Caldera sell their products, which are based on the open source Linux kernel.

; Convergence within devices will be the norm over the next two years.

; While the majority of cellular-based wireless traffic today mainly consists of voice, it is estimated that by the end of 2003 nearly 35 to –40 percent of cellular-based wireless traffic will be data.

; Information appliances will have a big impact on wireless network deployments

; Information appliances are single purpose devices that are portable, easy to use, and provide a specific set of capabilities relevant to their function.

; Information appliance shipments will outnumber PC shipments this year.

Understanding the Promise of Wireless

; Corporate applications of wireless will consist of: Corporate Communications, Customer Service,Telemetry, and Field Service

; New wireless services will allow for a single point of contact that roams with the user.

; New context (time and location) sensitive applications will revolutionize the way we interact with data.

Understanding the Benefits of Wireless

; New end user applications and services are being developed to provide businesses and consumers alike with advanced data access and

manipulation

; The main benefits of wireless integration will fall primarily into five major categories: convenience, affordability, speed, aesthetics, and productivity.

Facing the Reality of Wireless Today

; New more powerful and intelligent devices will provide additional options for attackers.

; The WAP standard is a moving target and still has many issues to overcome.

; WEP is limited and has many known security flaws.

; General wireless security posture: the majority of devices employ weak user authentication and poor encryption.Two-factor authentication, enhanced cryptography, and biometrics are necessary

Examining the Wireless Standards

; Cellular-based wireless networking technologies and solutions are categorized into three main groups: 2G Circuit Switched Cellular Wireless Networks, 2.5G Packed Data Overlay Cellular Wireless Networks, and 3G Packet Switched Cellular Wireless Networks.

; 3G will provide three generalized data networking throughputs to meet the specific needs of mobile users: High Mobility, Full Mobility, and Limited Mobility.

; High Mobility: High Mobility use is intended for generalized roaming outside urban areas in which the users are traveling at speeds in excess of 120 kilometers per hour.This category of use will provide the end user with up to 144 Kbps of data throughput.

; Full Mobility: Full Mobility use is intended for generalized roaming within urban areas in which the user is traveling at speeds below 120 kilometers per hour.This category of use will provide the end user with up to 384 Kbps of data throughput.

; Limited Mobility: Limited Mobility use is intended for limited roaming or near stationary users traveling at 10 kilometers per hour or less.This category of use will provide the end user with up to 2 Mbps of data throughput when indoors and stationary.

; There are four largely competing commercial wireless LAN solutions available: 802.11 WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network), HomeRF, 802.15 WPAN (Wireless Personal Area Network) based on Bluetooth, and 802.16 WMAN (Wireless Metropolitan Area Network).

; The 802.11 standard provides a common standardized Media Access Control layer (MAC) that is similar to 802.3 Ethernet (CMSA/CA). It supports TCP/IP, UDP/IP, IPX, NETBEUI and so on, and has a Virtual Collision Detection VCD option. It also supports encrypted

communications using WEP encryption.There are still many issues being worked on by the standards bodies, including support for voice and multimedia, QoS specifications, intervendor interoperability, distributed systems, and roaming.

; HomeRF is based on existing standards like TCP/IP and DECT. It is a solution aimed at the home wireless LAN market, and supports data, voice, and streaming multimedia.

; The 802.15 WPAN standard is based on Bluetooth, and provides a network interface for devices located within a personal area. It supports both voice and data traffic. 802.15 WPAN Task Groups are investigating issues including interoperability with other technologies.

; The 802.16 WMAN standard addresses support of broadband wireless solutions to enterprises, small businesses, and homes. Several working group streams are investigating solutions for licensed and unlicensed frequencies.

Q:I have heard the i-Mode data service for data-ready cell phones in Japan is a huge success with well over 20 million subscribers.What made it so suc- cessful?

A:In Japan, as with most countries outside of North America, telephone usage charges are incurred for every minute used. As a result, few people have had access to or have used the Internet on a day-to-day basis and a large pent-up demand existed. i-Mode provided basic text Internet access via data-ready cell phones. Charges were based on total bytes transferred instead of time online. This provided a cost-effective means for users to access even the basic services offered via the Internet.

Q:Will i-Mode be available in North America or Europe?

A:Although i-Mode parent NTT DoCoMo has ownership stakes in several North American and European cellular operators, it is not expected that i- Mode, as it currently exists, will be offered in these markets.This is primarily due to the limited 9.6 Kbps access rates.

Q:Why have WAP deployments in North America had limited success?

A:While security and technology concerns have had an impact on the deploy- ment of WAP-enabled services, the main reason for the slow adoption of WAP has been due to the limited access speeds available to the data-ready cellular handsets. North Americans are used to accessing the content- and graphics-rich Internet.With the data-ready handsets providing a limited viewing screen and access speeds being limited to 9.6 Kbps, users have been forced to rethink how they use the Internet in order to accommodate the limitations of WAP.