Jammed Channels

But there are problems to overcome. As more organizations climb aboard the wireless LAN bandwagon, signal interference problems are becoming a major headache. Not only can networks sometimes interfere with each other (a problem in crowded office buildings), but IEEE 802.11b’s spectrum turf, the unregulated 2.4GHz band, is home to everything from cordless phones to wireless audio speakers to consumer TV video extenders. "Many wireless LAN users think their system works wonderfully--until someone in the next office decides to microwave a muffin," says Gemma Paulo, an analyst with Cahners In-Stat Group, a technology market research company in Scottsdale, Ariz.

IEEE 802.11b’s lax approach to security also causes many potential adopters--particularly those involved in financial or government activities--to gulp twice before cutting the network wires. "Wireless LAN technology was designed to be open, and that may also be its biggest shortcoming," says Jarad Carleton, an analyst with technology market research company Frost & Sullivan in San Jose, Calif. Tapping into a wireless LAN data stream can be as easy as driving into a company’s parking lot and turning on a laptop computer. Although encryption will safeguard information from casual eavesdroppers, using it slows network performance--and serious snoops can still intercept and deconstruct data. "Wireless signals, by their nature, don’t respect property boundaries," says Carle-ton. "With a wireless LAN, you just don’t have the simple protection of keeping your data stream contained inside a physical wire, and that’s a situation that will never be changed."

New Standards

Although IEEE 802.11b brought wireless LANs out of the wilderness, new standards are arriving to provide even better performance. The recently ratified IEEE 802.11a, for example, operates at speeds of up to 54Mbps, allowing wireless LANs to accommodate heavier, multimedia-rich traffic loads. The standard should also go a long way toward relieving interference problems because it uses the less congested 5GHz band allocation as well as an improved frequency division multiplexing (FDM) transmission technology. (FDM transmits multiple signals simultaneously over a single transmission path.) The first IEEE 802.11a products are expected to arrive late this year at prices slightly higher than current wireless equipment.

Meanwhile in Europe, a non-IEEE initiative--HiperLAN/2--is generating considerable interest. Backed by telecom heavyweights Ericsson and Nokia, HiperLAN/2 uses a different networking architecture than IEEE 802.11a, yet it is similar in that it also tops out at 54Mbps, uses the 5GHz band and relies on frequency division multiplexing. For wireless LAN adopters, HiperLAN/2’s biggest drawing card is its strong security attributes, including built-in encryption and authentication capabilities. Still, HiperLAN/2 and IEEE 802.11a have so many similarities that some wireless industry leaders are predicting that the standards will someday unify, though "that’s just speculation right now," says Paulo. Yet he notes that even without a formal convergence, it’s likely that many vendors will begin producing equipment that’s compatible with both standards in order to meet the needs of a global market.