Another Try At True Anytime, Anywhere WirelessnessAnother Try At True Anytime, Anywhere Wirelessness

The promise of a high-speed, easy-to-manage wireless network piques the interest of any business-technology exec--for a minute. Then they remember all the roadblocks: weak security, costly installations, complex management, and spotty coverage.

Vendors are trying to remove some of the roadblocks with new technologies and partnerships that could pave the way for anytime, anywhere wireless communications. The wireless LAN market, expected by Cahners In-Stat to reach $2.8 billion by 2005, is ripe for innovation, and analysts say a dozen startups could launch this quarter alone.

Next week, Aruba Wireless Networks opens its doors with 802.11 Wi-Fi products that address security, installation, and management concerns. And this week, Avaya, Motorola, and Proxim announced plans to jointly develop technology that combines Wi-Fi, cellular, and IP-telephony networks.

For Larry Walls, CIO of Huntsville Hospital, such developments are welcome news. "We're cautiously deploying wireless LANs as fast as we can," Walls chuckles. Physicians at the 50-location health-care provider are clamoring for wireless access to clinical records and other information. "But the encryption and the security is just not up to a standard we need for health care," he says. As a result, employees can access a limited number of apps and only if they have a virtual-private-network client on their laptop or handheld.

Aruba claims its product eliminates the need for VPNs and will start trials next week. A centralized switch manages Aruba and other vendors' wireless access devices, detecting unauthorized equipment and blocking communications to the corporate network. Customers develop their own security policies on the switch for access to applications.

The centralized security and management approach is different from Cisco Systems' products, which distribute intelligence to the remote-access devices. As wireless LANs grow, though, it will become more difficult to manage them without centralized intelligence, says Meta Group senior research analyst Chris Kozup.

Aruba also targets installation problems. Typically, businesses hire people to conduct site surveys costing about $3,000 each to let them know how to best deploy wireless LAN equipment to lessen interference and to get total coverage. Aruba's switching system automates this process once IT managers enter physical dimensions and other criteria. The system also detects failed or overloaded access areas and reconfigures the network so there's no loss in coverage.

Aruba will have a tough challenge, though, with other vendors getting into wireless LANs, says Kozup, "We're heading toward a situation where there is too much investment in this marketplace, so I'd expect to see consolidation in 2004," he says.

Avaya, Motorola, and Proxim are nonetheless jumping in with plans to develop a single wireless handset that operates over 802.11 using IP telephony when near a Wi-Fi hot spot or corporate LAN and over public cellular networks when between them. Trials of the products are expected in the second half of the year. "It's a lot of nice fluff, but it remains to be seen how they're actually going to achieve it," Kozup says. "It's fairly intensive integration on the back end."