Wireless networking has its place in the home, small office, and enterprise environments. You can use an inexpensive Access Point to create a network of just a few computers, or you can use multiple wireless Access Points (APs) throughout a large company to further enable mobility of your networked clients. There are many good reasons to use wireless networking. First, it's a quick way to set up a peer-to-peer network that is needed for only a short period of time, such as in a home office where you only have two or three computers that need a link and you don't want to be running network cables through your walls. You can also use wireless networking to connect a computer and another device, such as a printer (using either built-in wireless networking or a wireless print server), a digital camera, or a handheld device such as a PDA. For the home environment, wireless networking may be the perfect choice because it not only eliminates the necessity of pulling cables, but also gives you flexibility in where you locate your equipment. For example, although you might have set aside a portion of your house to use for your home office, it's nice to be able to take the laptop into the living room (or out on the deck in the back yard) and work while you're watching that favorite TV show. Wireless networking makes this simple. Another use for wireless technology is the trade show environment. If you need to network several computers and possibly a printer or two, a network using a wireless Access Point can be a quick way to get your booth up and running in a hurry. This also can be used at a client site if you're in the consulting business and don't want to connect your computers to your client's network. Indeed, it can be an easy way to get your computers into the client's office because they'll have no up-front work to do to provide you with networking services. Finally, you can use a wireless network to extend the reach of your existing LAN. Access points can be connected to a wired LAN to provide an ingress point for wireless clients. On a SOHO network, you can replace an existing router with a wireless router. Both wired and wireless routers typically incorporate a multi-port 10/100 Ethernet switch, so you can use a single device to create a mixed wired/wireless network. However, just because it's possible doesn't mean it's necessary. Some places in a corporate network that you might find wireless network APs a good idea include
Another place that wireless networking can serve a useful purpose is for outdoor activities. I've worked at many places that have outdoor locations that employees can use at lunchtime. These areas also can be comfortable places to hold meetings. Sometimes just getting out of the office can boost employee morale and taking the network outside can, as noted previously, make meetings more productive. There are many other uses for wireless networks, and new ideas are being created every day. Note In addition to the deployment of wireless networking in the SOHO and enterprise corporate environment, wireless networking is finding its way into many public spaces. At this time, many hotels already offer wireless networking for guests and meeting room clients, along with the plug-in dial-up access that has become the norm. Public libraries, airports, coffee shops, truck stops, and a few entire cities offer a variety of free or paid wireless access services. Although it's still useful to find out in advance where you can get wireless access as you travel around the city or the country, who provides it, and how much it costs, you can easily stay in touch as you travel. |