Chapter 9. Enterprise Case Study

In 2000, Cisco information technology (IT) began developing a consistent and supported global wireless networking architecture. During this process, IT recognized a growing number of non-IT deployments throughout the company, led by user demand for the benefits offered by wireless networking. These WLANs were purchased, deployed, and supported by local teams without IT support or supervision. This situation resulted in many inconsistent "gray IT" deployments, often with poor security and sometimes involving ready-to-use wireless solutions with no security. Most of these "DIY" networks used Cisco Aironet access points, but wireless products from other manufacturers were also identified. Even when the same products were used, software versions and configurations were often different.