wi-fi

Free Unified Communications Security Webinar

If you’re free next Wednesday, October 28, you should mark your calendar and plan on attending The Final Frontier: Secure Unified Communications to Any Device in Any Place at 12pm Eastern time (9am Pacific).

Unified communications, like just about any useful technology, can be a double-edged sword. Often, for every benefit or convenience there is a tradeoff of increased risk and exposure. As organizations work to extend unified communications to smart phones and wireless devices, they face even more security and compliance challenges.

The webinar is being presented by Sipera Systems and Aberdeen Research and will include the latest research and industry trends, real-world scenarios from actual deployments, and best practices for deploying unified communications securely.

Nortel Brings UC to Mobile Phones

Communications have come a long way in the last couple decades. People used to have one phone number. At one point, that was one phone number with no voicemail which meant you either got a hold of the person at their desk, or you didn’t get a hold of that person. Over time, that person has acquired voicemail, email, a mobile phone number, instant messaging. Suddenly, you could communicate with a person almost any time, and almost anywhere…as long as you could figure out which method to use to find them. One of the promising features of Unified Communications in general is the idea of merging the ubiquitous communications methods down to a single client- providing a means for reaching someone any time and anywhere without having to figure out which method to use, and without the receiver having to figure out which device or application to use. Nortel has taken another step in that evolution by providing technologies that bring Unified Communications to the mobile phone by leveraging dual-mode capabilities in some phones to use Wi-Fi networks when in range, and cellular networks when out of range, allowing a single phone number to function both in, and out, of the office. You can learn more by reading this TMCNet article.

Rogue Wireless Devices Create Security Risk

Wireless networks can be cost effective and help employees to be more productive, freeing them to move about while still maintaining access to necessary data and network resources. Since the inception of wireless networking though, corporations have struggled with the security implications. With compliance mandates such as the PCI Data Security Standards, or HIPAA, it is even more important that companies are aware of every possible vector of risk to their network resources and data assets. However, so many devices have wireless functionality now, and it is so easy for users to set up rogue wireless networks without authority, that it is extremely difficult to stay on top of the security issue. Mobile device security: Auditing the airwaves, by Lisa Phifer takes a look at these issues and some ways administrators can monitor for, detect, and proactively manage the wireless access to their networks.

Wi-Fi and Cellular Converge To Improve Productivity

One of the promises, or benefits, of unified communications is being able to communicate with people where they are when you need them. The concept of ‘presence’ in Microsoft’s UCC (Unified Communications and Collaboration) is designed so that you can tell if a person is available or not, the contact them by the most efficient, or convenient means possible. One potential gap in the communications is determining if a user is actually at their desk, available to answer their office phone, or if they are moving about the building or even off site, in which case you would contact them via their cell phone. Of course, the user can always set up various call-forwarding solutions to try and send the calls to where they will be, but that is cumbersome and most users don’t understand it and won’t take the time. Now, new solutions are emerging that leverage the converged wireless networking and cellular communications capabilities of mobile phones so that the land line can be ditched and the mobile phone can be the sole method of voice communication. For more details, read Wi-Fi cellular convergence can boost mobile worker productivity on SearchMobileComputing.

Wi-Fi Networks Enter 4th Generation

New 4th-generation wireless networking equipment is entering the market. We started with consumer-based wireless equipment with virtually no security, then enterprise quality products with improved security were released. The current standard, the 3rd-generation wireless networks, have centralized controllers that help enable the hand-off between access points as users move about, and even more improved security. The next generation though, based on 802.11n technology, allows all access points to share a channel and greatly improves the hand-off from access point to acccess point. Unlike previous wireless implementations, which require careful placement of access points to maximize coverage while avoiding channel interference, 4th-generation wireless networks allow for denser, and simpler deployments. Take a look at this SearchNetworking.com article for more details about next-generation wireless for the enterprise: Wireless networking heads into fourth generation — but should you follow?

Hyperconnectivity: Accessing the Internet Anywhere From Everything

At some point in the future, maybe the next generation will simply see the rate of evolution of technology as a given. A normal way of life. On a day to day basis, I don’t think that much about it, but when I look back and realize just how much has been invented, and developed in just the past 10 or 15 years, and the rate that technology changes, it is somewhat mind-boggling. It wasn’t that long ago that 56Kbps modems were considered to be blazing fast. But, the extent of most users access to the Internet was from their employer’s network, or via dial-up on a 56k modem from home. Now, there are still some stubborn stragglers using dial-up, but broadband access with 24/7 connectivity is becoming the norm instead of the exception for home users. Notebook computer sales, even for consumers, have skyrocketed. Cell phones are PDA’s and mini-computers all rolled into one. From my cell phone, I can surf the Web, look up a phone number, click the linked phone number, and automatically initiate a call. While I used to have to be in my home or at my office desk to access the Internet, now I can access the Internet from almost anything and almost anywhere. This article from Computerworld takes a mort in-depth look at the trend of “hyperconnectivity” and what it means for the future of technology and communications.

Choosing a Wireless Platform

If you are a road-warrior and do most, if not all, of your computing from anywhere but your desk in your office, you need to know how to stay connected. Whether you are in a hotel, driving down the interstate, waiting for a flight at an airport, or stopping off for a cup of coffee, you want to be able to access your email, the Web, and other Internet-based resources. There are some emerging and cutting edge technologies that are not quite ready for primetime, but, according to network expert Lisa Phifer, you basically have to choose between 3G and WiFi. Take a look at this overview for more advice from Lisa about the pros and cons, and the factors you should consider in choosing which wireless platform works best for you.

Projected Network Infrastructure Spending For 2008

What are your plans for your network infrastructure for 2008? Do you have a holiday wish list or some New Year’s resolutions regarding the technologies you want to implement or the changes you plan to make? TechTarget’s SearchNetworking site conducted a survey of over 1,200 respondents and they have published the results. Some of the key results are:

• 21.28% project an increase in their budget of more than 10%
• 7.26% of respondents said their networking budgets will decrease
• 8.34% claim that VoIP/data convergence is driving their budget increase

Check out Applications, convergence to boost network spending for the complete results. You can read it just out of curiosity, or maybe you can use the survey results to help prove your case to management and get your budget requests approved.

Researchers Propose Vehicles As Wireless Network Nodes

Researchers at UCLA are working on developing a concept to use vehicles as nodes in a sort of fluid mobile mesh of wireless nodes connected in a mobile adhoc, or peer-to-peer network allowing vehicles to communicate with each other and access the Internet. Some of the benefits would be the ability for vehicles to communicate with each other in real time to provide relevant safety and logistical information such as weather conditions or traffic jams. The concept faces many challenges not found in static, land-based wireless networks such as the need to be able to determine the signal strength, speed, and direction of each node in order to select the best connection path. The UCLA Newsroom web site has more details in an article titled Taking It to the Streets: UCLA Scientists Seek to Turn Cars Into a Mobile Communications Network.

Cisco Buys Its Way Into WiMax Technology

WiMax, based on the 802.16 standard, claims a transmission range 100 times greater than standard 802.11 WiFi networks. Because WiMax devices will be able to connect over a much larger area than standard wireless networks allow, WiMax offers more potential for developing large-scale wireless networks that cover entire cities or counties. Cisco is jumping into the WiMax fray through the acquisition of Navini Networks, Inc. According to a report on Computerworld.com, “Cisco said it is particularly interested in Navini’s expertise with “smart beamforming” technologies used with multiple-input, multiple output antenna arrays, which in Wi-Fi systems allow base stations to handle much higher data throughput.”