Introduction

Several good books have been written on the various technical aspects of wireless local-area networks (WLANs), including devices, networking protocols, and radio technologies. Network designers and administrators wanting to learn and apply the technical nuts and bolts of WLANs have no shortage of reference material to consult.

What is more challenging to find is a single reference on the lifecycle aspects of WLAN solutionsthat is, a guide that covers the business considerations, which include the value proposition, cost-justification, and alignment of security, architecture, and operational components with the business. We wrote this book to address that shortage by examining WLANs from a lifecycle perspective. The scope extends from the identification of the business value that a WLAN can bring to your organization to how to build and operate your enterprise-class WLAN.

Today, the evolution of WLANs and the subsequent penetration into the enterprise market have moved faster than ever expected. This trend is expected to accelerate over the next couple of years. However, the increased and accelerated up-take will not occur haphazardly. Following the IT investment frenzy of the 1990s, scrutiny and accountability have become the new norms when it comes to evaluating and pursuing technology investments. Understanding the intricacies of a technology provides little value when evaluating the business benefits that IT management requires. Indeed, it is more crucial to understand the organizational value that the technology solution offers and the risks that are inherently associated with it. These requirements drive an increased need for understanding how a particular technological solution can impact your organization, why an investment in the technology makes economic sense for the organization, and what the organization should do in terms of architecture, deployment, and operation strategies.

The nature of LANs has evolved to include the adoption of wireless transport as a primary medium. Today, enterprise-class equipment and solutions enable companies to pursue aggressively an investment in wireless LAN technology. However, this relatively simple transport mechanism can quickly become complex when introduced into the enterprise.

A holistic assessment of the opportunity to leverage WLANs in an organization requires not only an in-depth understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of WLAN technologies but also identification of opportune areas of application and legitimizing of the use of WLANs in your specific organizational ecosystem. Economic considerations must be made, and various methodologies and frameworks can be drawn upon to develop a relevant and robust WLAN business case. This process will not only ensure a comprehensive approach for the evaluation on WLANs but also increase the speed and accuracy of the assessment of the business proposal by the key stakeholders.

When the time comes to tackle the question of how to plan, design, implement, and operate a WLAN in a scalable, reliable, and secure fashion in your organization, it will quickly become clear that these domains are inherently strewn with barriers.

The Business Case for Enterprise-Class Wireless LANs takes a business approach to wireless networking. This goal is achieved by focusing more on strategic and business justifications and less on the intricacies of the underlying technology. However, a baseline analysis of WLAN technology is included, empowering you to understand the complex technology-related decisions detailed later. Most books on WLANs go into great technical detail and are therefore off-putting to our audience. Therefore, this book will not cover WLAN technology to that degree of detail.

The book also provides advice on the business and high-level technical issues you should consider. Specifically, the book offers guidance on how to identify and mitigate challenges surrounding large-scale enterprise deployments. Finally, because real-world examples form a valuable baseline against which to compare your specific WLAN consideration, various case studies of WLAN deployments in large organizations are included to complement and ground the theoretical methodologies and frameworks.

Objectives

Among the many concerns that arise when considering WLANs for an enterprise environment, several are more common than others and clearly stand out. These recurring apprehensions include

• No clear view of the benefits

• Security concerns

• Budgetary constraints

Additional worries include such items as performance and reliability, network coverage, lack of expertise, and management challenges.

The goal of this book is to address these concerns by arming you with the necessary information to assess the value of WLANs in your organizations and develop a robust execution plan to deploy and operate the WLAN. The book is not intended as a highly technical guide for network engineers. Instead, its goal is to provide upper and middle management with the necessary technological understanding of WLANs to perform a realistic and sound assessment of WLAN investment and deployment decisions. In addition, the book intends to assist program managers and project staff who are responsible for the actual deployment by conveying recommended practices, exposing known risks, and imparting remediation techniques.

For this purpose, the book leverages the PPDIOO technology lifecycle to construct a phased and exhaustive approach for evaluating and managing the addition of WLANs to the IT infrastructure portfolio. The PPDIOO lifecycle methodology consists of six distinct yet interlinked phases. The phases are as follows:

• Preparation

• Planning

• Design

• Implementation

• Operation

• Optimization

As the nomenclature implies, each phase has distinct focus areas and characteristics. The methodology adopted by the book explores each phase in depth to develop an overarching view of the considerations that are required when exploring the potential value of deploying and operating WLANs in your organization.

Audience

This book focuses on how to understand, identify, and manage the value that WLANs can bring to organizations. As such, it is not designed to be a general networking topics book, and it is also not designed to be an in-depth technical reference on WLAN technologies. The book primarily targets business and management decision makers and those with the responsibility for architecture and deployment of enterprise-class WLANs. The book provides advice to the decision maker on the business and high-level technical issues they should consider for evaluating the investment decision of deploying WLANs and ensuring the sound execution of the deployment of the WLAN.

The audience for this book can thus be segmented into a primary and secondary audience:

• The primary audience consists of business decision makers who shoulder the accountability for making the investment decision and ensuring the positive deployment and operation thereof at the program level.

• The secondary audience consists of IT engineers and project managers who are responsible for the actual deployment and who want to strengthen their understanding of the upstream decision-making process and best practices for WLAN deployments.

The primary audience should possess a strong background in enterprise-level projects. Executive-level readers should have accountability for long-term enterprise infrastructure project and programs. Competency in strategic planning, technology delivery, and large-scale (global) deployment is highly recommended. An understanding of Ethernet and wireless Ethernet technologies would be beneficial for technical leadership readers.

The secondary audience should have an understanding of the target market for WLANs and their benefits. Although it is not a necessity, the secondary audience should have a basic understanding of wireless technology. A solid background in project management is assumed for most readers.

Organization and Approach

The Business Case for Enterprise-Class Wireless LANs focuses on the decision making and business justification in addition to the WLAN execution program management effort. Throughout the book, you find reader-friendly descriptions, quick reference sheets, diagrams, and visual layouts that aid in explaining all topics. Case studies provide real-world touchpoints on the topics discussed. The book adopts a four-part structure, as follows:

• Part I, "The Fundamentals of Wireless LAN Strategic Planning," provides a succinct technical introduction to the technology and concepts surrounding wireless networking. This section also outlines the strategic rationale and business drivers that you will have to consider when contemplating a WLAN deployment. You will be given explanations of how to construct a strategic outlook based on financial, technological, and operational considerations, thus providing the foundation for making well-informed business decisions. Additionally, Part I is designed to allow you to address high-level technical architecture interests. Part I includes the following chapters:

  • Chapter 1, "Introduction to Wireless LAN Technologies" This chapter will help you develop the basic understanding of WLAN technology that is needed for effectively using this book. The OSI framework illustrates how WLANs relate to other internetworking technologies, including LAN, WAN, and mobile cellular solutions. The framework will also help position the WLAN-specific concepts that are covered throughout the remainder of this chapter.

  • Chapter 2, "Business Considerations" This chapter provides frameworks for tackling the challenge of business-technology alignment and identification of opportune application points for WLANs within the organizational ecosystem. Quantitative, qualitative, and risk considerations are covered to provide an exhaustive view. Finally, given the importance of economic returns, the most common financial barometers including return on investment, payback period, Net Present Value, and internal rate of return are described in detail.

  • Chapter 3, "Preparation and Planning" This chapter focuses on the preparation and planning considerations that are critical for successfully deploying your enterprise WLAN. Our aim is to provide a structured approach for your deployment, highlighting areas that require preparatory work, as you need to identify management and technical dependencies that are unique to your context.

  • Chapter 4, "Supplementary and Complementary Services" This chapter covers supplementary services and applications. These include voice, video, guest WLAN acess, and location-based services (LBS). Complementary and supplementary services greatly increase the complexity of your network by adding several incremental challenges. This chapter outlines the benefits and challenges that are associated with each enhanced service. In addition, strategies to identify the proper mix and implementation of these services are discussed to maximize the positive impact and success of the services.

• Part II, "Wireless LAN Architecture, Design, and Deployment," addresses the key areas of architecting, designing, and deploying an enterprise-class WLAN. Most of the concepts focus on enterprise deployments, although some examples are easily transposable to non-enterprise environments. This part also deals with the challenges of WLAN security, which covers security concepts, threats, and mitigation strategies in more detail. Finally, Part II provides recommended practices for managing your WLAN after it has been deployed. This part of the book includes the following chapters:

  • Chapter 5, "Guidelines for a Successful Architecture and Design" This chapter demystifies the process of creating a scalable and robust WLAN design. The focus is on providing a structured catalog of fundamental architectural considerations that will help you construct an efficiently functioning WLAN. The chapter also provides recommendations on how to develop a successful architecture. Finally, it clarifies the most important technical aspects of wireless LANs that do not apply to traditional wired ones.

  • Chapter 6, "Wireless LAN Deployment Considerations" This chapter discusses the implementation considerations that are required when deploying an enterprise-class WLAN. Enterprise-class WLAN deployments are complex and lengthy processes that include many interdependent factors. Methodologies and frameworks are provided that will help guide the WLAN deployment along the critical path and minimize the execution risk associated with the program.

  • Chapter 7, "Security and Wireless LANs" This chapter describes how to think securely in the context of IT communications infrastructure. Fundamental security vulnerabilities are tackled, and methods are provided for identifying security threats. Security terms and protocols are introduced in addition to key WLAN security components and security standards. Finally, the chapter discusses how to address the security threat and craft a scalable security management strategy and platform.

  • Chapter 8, "Management Strategies for Wireless LANs" This chapter introduces the fundamentals of wireless network management, the unique challenges associated with managing wireless networks, and the various strategies that can be adopted to support this critical area.

• Part III, "Wireless LAN Deployment Case Studies," provides real-world case studies of WLAN solutions implemented by various enterprise-class institutions. These studies outline the requirements and constraints from these institutions and reveal the recommended practices for each. Key hurdles and lessons learned from actual deployments complement the ideals and theoretical notions outlined in this book. This part includes the following chapters:

  • Chapter 9, "Enterprise Case Study" This chapter provides a detailed case study of the global WLAN deployment of Cisco Systems Inc. The question for Cisco IT was not whether WLANs should be deployed, because Cisco had long since identified the many benefits offered by the technology, but rather how Cisco could cost-effectively maintain control, reduce overall support costs, ensure that a secure wireless infrastructure was used, and still provide benefits to Cisco employees. This chapter discusses why and how Cisco pursued its enterprise-wide WLAN deployment.

  • Chapter 10, "Healthcare Case Study" This chapter covers the strategic drivers of Lifespan's WLAN deployment and the progressive uses of WLAN in the healthcare environment. The WLAN's impact on Lifespan's business model is discussed, as is the strategy that the organization employed for designing, implementing, and operating its WLAN solution.

  • Chapter 11, "Manufacturing Case Study" This chapter discusses a deployment of a WLAN in a large and successful manufacturing company. The specific demands and constraints that the manufacturing industry imposes on WLANs are touched upon, as are the strategies that the company employed to accommodate these specific needs.

  • Chapter 12, "Education Case Study" This chapter introduces an extremely successful deployment of WLANs in the educational vertical. Griffith University in Queensland, Australia, deployed a university-wide WLAN to provide increased IT services, reduce the load on existing computing labs, and supplement the existing wired network infrastructure. This chapter covers the rationale for providing students and staff with the mobility benefits offered by WLAN technology and how the university executed its plan.

• Part IV, "Appedixes," includes the following:

  • Appendix A, "Wireless LAN Standards Reference" This appendix provides summary descriptions of the various WLAN standards, including the infamous "802.11 alphabet soup."

  • Appendix B, "Wireless LAN Security References" This appendix provides descriptions and definitions of the many facets of WLAN security.

  • Appendix C, "Example Project Plan for an Enterprise-Class WLAN Deployment" This appendix is composed of examples that have been proven to be successful in developing and deploying an enterprise-class WLAN.

Finally, a glossary of terms is included for your convenience and review.

Companion Website

Join ciscopress.com and register your book to receive free supplemental content for this book. To register, visit www.ciscopress.com/title/1587201259 and follow the instructions to log in or join. After you register your book, you can access additional materials, including a sample WLAN deployment project plan.