Subject: [NEXTEL-1] War, and WiFi, on My Mind- Wi-Fi Growing in Popularity; Security Still an Issue

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 24 Mar 2003 15:21:12 -0500

Wi-Fi Growing in Popularity; Security Still an Issue

Wi-Fi hotspots are popping up everywhere – public parks, cafes and hotels, to
name a few. With free hotspots or those offered by T-Mobile or Boingo
Wireless, a notebook computer and a wireless network card, access to email
and the latest news headlines are just clicks away. However, security still
remains a concern with Wi-Fi. Many public sites don’t include the encryption
features of a home or office network. Wi-Fi hardware with upgradeable
“firmware” is available to allow for future security improvements. (Source:
Reuters, Washington Post)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
War, and WiFi, on My Mind

Monday, March 24, 2003; 12:00 AM

Last week has had plenty to distract me, and all of you, I'm sure.

The Web helps to satisfy one's curiosity about the war in Iraq, but after awhile you can't
help noticing that news doesn't makes
its way off the battlefield any faster as a result. Revisiting the same news sites over a
couple of hours is not much more
informative than watching uninterrupted CNN for the same span of time; you see much but
may not learn anything new.

So eventually I have to turn my attention back to my day job.

Last week, that meant some unexpected insights on WiFi wireless networking, even though I
didn't write anything about it on
Sunday.

On Tuesday, Intel CEO Craig Barrett stopped by for a chat with several Post writers and
editors. In between discussions on
the state of the economy and policy issues, we spoke a bit about Intel's Centrino
marketing. Centrino, if you haven't seen the
TV commercials, is Intel's brand name for the combination of its new Pentium M processor,
two new system chipsets paired
with it, and an Intel-brand WiFi receiver.

What bugs me about those ads is the way they emphasize only the last element, even though
Intel's WiFi hardware doesn't
work any faster or carry any more data than anybody else's. The real news in Centrino is
the Pentium M, not the WiFi angle --
but Intel, as Barrett stressed, sees wireless networking as one of the few really exciting
parts of the computer business.

I asked him how Intel planned to compete for wireless market share when it couldn't hope
to secure any kind of proprietary
lock-in -- people who need to run Windows need to buy Intel processors (or
Intel-compatible chips, for which Intel usually
collects royalty fees), but WiFi has no such restrictions. Barrett said his company was
emphasizing an "it all works together"
theme. The idea is that when one company controls all the crucial hardware and can test it
exhaustively to ensure it works,
customers can spend less time fiddling with WiFi and more time using it.

I told him that sounded a little like what Steve Jobs might say. Barrett laughed for a
moment. But other manufacturers of WiFi
hardware for laptops may not find this so funny.

Then on Wednesday, I moderated a panel discussion on WiFi arranged by Capitol
Telecommunications Professionals. I asked
two of the panelists -- one runs a WiFi Internet provider, Oneder, the other works at a
wireless-network design firm, Foxcom
Wireless -- about three issues that often come up in discussions of wireless networks.

One was security: WiFi doesn't offer much defense against eavesdropping, and many WiFi
setups come with even that minimal
protection turned off by default. Oneder CEO Keith Walter, however, said that when set up
properly, even the current
standards offer reasonable protection, especially in the context of home use. He noted
that somebody who wants to get at your
banking data will do so by trying to hack into your bank or your own computer from the
comfort of his own home, not by
camping outside your house with a WiFi antenna.

Walter did, however, recommend buying WiFi hardware with upgradeable firmware to allow for
future security improvements
-- advice I strongly concur with.

The second was the potential for interference to WiFi reception from other devices that
share the same 2.4 GHz frequency,
such as cordless phones and microwave ovens. The answer in that case was, essentially,
don't worry about it; unless you have
a WiFi receiver or access point on top of or in the microwave, you shouldn't see any
problems.

Finally, I asked the panelists what they thought of the proposed higher-speed versions of
WiFi -- 802.11a and 802.11g. A and
g, as they're referred to in the industry, seem to work comparably, except that g is
compatible with existing WiFi hardware and
a is not (backers of a, in turn, say it allows greater capacity in a wireless network). I
had expected to see people take opposite
sides, but both panelists sided with g over a.

Foxcom's Bob McDonald said that a's range falls short, which in his company's case would
mean needing to buy more access
points to cover a building than g would require.

We had planned to run a special Sunday section on wireless networking on March 30,
covering these topics and more, but
now it looks like that's going to hold for a couple of weeks while we address some
war-related topics. So if you've got
questions on WiFi, you now have a little time to quiz us. Let me know what's on your mind.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A18061-2003Mar24?language=printer

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