Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Wi-Fi Hi-Five Interference.

From: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 12 Nov 2003 12:38:47 -0500

Reducing costs, headaches of wireless LAN deployment
Wed Nov 12, 7:00 AM ET  

Jim Rendon, SearchMobileComputing.com News Writer 

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- While Wi-Fi networks are often seen as simple 
and inexpensive to deploy, there are plenty of hidden costs and 
complexities lurking under the surface. Now, a number of new vendors 
are poised to remedy those problems. 

Panelists at the Pulver.com Wireless Internet Summit said that 
problems with radio frequency interference and site surveys often 
plague enterprises deploying wireless (news - web sites) local area 
networks. 

Wireless LAN deployments are often expensive for companies because 
RF surveys, which help ensure proper network coverage, can cost as 
much as $1,000 per access point, said Albert Lew, director of 
product management for Burlington, Mass.-based wireless LAN vendor 
Legra Systems Inc. IT departments usually lack the expertise to do 
these surveys themselves, he said. 

Interference is also becoming a problem for many businesses, said 
Tyler Burns, product marketing manager with Ottawa-based wireless 
products manufacturer IceFyre Semiconductor Inc. He noted that the 
growing popularity of Wi-Fi, and the numerous technologies that 
compete with it, are taking up much of the space in the 2.4 GHz RF 
band. 

Having high quality of service over Wi-Fi networks will be 
increasingly important, particularly when it comes to voice and 
eventually video data, because that technology was not intended for 
those uses, said Warren Sly, director of marketing for Bellevue, 
Wash.-based in-building wireless infrastructure company RadioFrame 
Networks Inc. 

Third-party vendors, such as San Francisco-based Sputnik Inc., are 
developing products that can help IT managers both configure access 
points and control them, ensuring better coverage. 

Dave Sifry, CTO and co-founder of Sputnik, said that his company's 
products enable IT managers to bypass costly RF surveys. Instead, 
they can use low-cost, commoditized access points. With Sputnik's 
firmware, these access points configure themselves, and are 
controlled from a central management console. So instead of 
installing a few costly access points from vendors such as Cisco 
Systems Inc., Sifry said, an enterprise (news - web sites) could 
mount a larger number of inexpensive access points and forgo the RF 
survey. 

Sly said that enterprises may soon be able to avoid deploying their 
own access points altogether. He said RadioFrame sells a mountable 
box that provides not only Wi-Fi connectivity but also multiple 
types of wide area wireless coverage. It is currently available 
through Nextel Communications Inc. 

Carriers are particularly interested in wide area wireless 
technology because it can help to boost cell phone coverage within 
buildings. The No. 1 reason enterprise customers switch carriers is 
poor service, Sly said, and this product can help carriers keep 
their customers, but it also gives them a presence inside the 
enterprise. 

In time, Lew said, Wi-Fi networks will become aware of RF 
interference and self-adjust to avoid interference. However, that 
technology is still a ways off. 

http://searchmobilecomputing.techtarget.com/originalContent/0,289142,sid40_gci936529,00.html

------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-->
Buy Ink Cartridges or Refill Kits for your HP, Epson, Canon or Lexmark
Printer at MyInks.com. Free s/h on orders $50 or more to the US & Canada.
http://www.c1tracking.com/l.asp?cid=5511
http://us.click.yahoo.com/mOAaAA/3exGAA/qnsNAA/61FxlB/TM
---------------------------------------------------------------------~->

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/