WIRELESS UPDATE

1
WIRELESS UPDATE

• Terry Gray
• Networks Distributed Computing
• 19 March 2002

2
Whats New?

• 802.11a here sooner/cheaper than predicted
• Climate of increasing liability concerns
• More 802.11 standards

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802.11a Successor?

• Faster (54 vs. 11 really 27 vs 6)
• Shorter distance (30m vs. 100m)
• More power consumption
• Available now at 2x price of 802 .11b
• Incompatible w/ 802.11b installed base
• Probably need WAPs for both, or dual-mode WAPs

4
LAN Wireless Standards

• IEEE 802.11 2.4GHz, 1-2Mbps, FHSS, DSSS
• IEEE 802.11a 5Ghz, 54Mbps
• IEEE 802.11b 2.4Ghz, 11Mbps DSSS (WiFi)
• IEEE 802.11e QoS, etc
• IEEE 802.11f Inter-AP protocol
• IEEE 802.11g 2.4GHz, 20Mbps
• IEEE 802.11h spectrum managed 802.11a
• IEEE 802.11i Security, incorporating 802.1x
• IEEE 802.11j Convergence w/Hiperlan
• In US, all use unlicensed ISM bands

5
Global 802.11 Issues

• WISPr (wide area) roaming
• Comcast vs. community bandwidth sharing
• Shutdowns due to security concerns
• Shutdowns due to interference

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Campus 802.11 Issues

• liability --attractive nuisance
• addressing
• roaming
• management
• ad hoc installations
• maturity 802.11 a e g h i
• designing for both 802.11b and a
• cost recovery for enterprise deployment

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CC Wireless Approach

• Dedicated per-building subnet
• addresses, performance, fault isolation
• Enterprise access points auth server
• Auth policy perimeter control only
• Assume insecure use SSH/SSL/K5
• Convenient user configuration
• L2 roaming only

8
Conclusions Same as Before

• Wireless is very addictive.
• It will be very popular.
• It will be very problematic.
• It will cost more than you expect.
• In offices, it is not a replacement for wired.
• The dust has not settled.