Introduction

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Imagine anywhere, anytime Internet access.

Imagine a network that allows employees to enjoy a professional career yet work at home, without worrying about telephone jacks and cable outlets.

Imagine road warriors, armed with only a computing device (laptop or PDA), constantly on the move, quickly being able to sniff out wireless networks that provide highspeed Internet connections.

Imagine employees taking laptops to meetings, the cafeteria or even the warehouse-always in touch, always available.

Imagine Web surfing for a company's address and directions while sitting in traffic, or uploading a big presentation to the office while commuting by bus or train. Or perhaps browsing the Web while sitting on a park bench, or reviewing the latest news while you're waiting to pick up your kids from school. In other words, imagine being able to go anywhere with the means to communicate always at your fingertips.

Have I whetted your interest?

All of these exciting possibilities and many more become real with the help of "Wi-Fi" (short for "wireless fidelity") technology. The term Wi-Fi (which can be used interchangeably with IEEE 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, Wireless Local Area Network, WirelessLAN, and WLAN) is the idiom commonly used to describe wireless networking technology.

The author is among those believing that Wi-Fi represents the proverbial "next big thing" in our culture. Creating a geographically extensive "Wireless Net" based on such technology just might help launch the next big business cycle.

At present, media discussions of Wi-Fi emphasize how forward-thinking individuals can set up and operate a network and gain high-speed Internet access without wires or a monthly line fee. With perhaps the spotlight being shared by domestic wireless Internet access with its tantalizing possibility: "Jetsonizing" one's apartment, mountain retreat, lakeside cabin or oceanview condo with such far-out applications as remotely controlling all domestic environmental settings (from lighting to climate control), telling the oven to pre-heat in anticipation of popping in the roast that's sitting in your refrigerator, or programming the TiVo to start recording the big football game, now, since you are stuck in traffic and won't be home in time for the kickoff.

But it's not just individuals who will benefit from Wi-Fi. The opportunities Wi-Fi offers to the business community are only limited by the stretch of the corporate imagination. Wi-Fi makes new business models possible-models that offer the potential of a quick profit for a small investment. Wi-Fi and its anytime, anywhere Internet capabilities make it a standout as the next most promising area where entrepreneurial spirit and technical creativity will burst wide open. Wi-Fi, like the Web, can flourish because its technology runs atop the freely accessible communications standards of the Internet.

Wi-Fi has the potential to let anyone with a computing device connect to the Internet at high speed without the need for pesky cables. Instead of moving data through a network using Ethernet cable, the most popular version of Wi-Fi (802.11b) transfers data using a band of radio frequencies around 2.4 gigahertz (GHz). This is the same range used by some cordless telephones. The data transfer rate of 801.11b is theoretically 11 Million bits per second (Mbps), but under normal conditions it's usually between 4 Mbps and 8 Mbps-far better than the 1.5 Mbps offered by a typical broadband connection.

Just as technical inventiveness and entrepreneurial daring opened the Web (and the Internet) to pioneering information providers and hundreds of millions of users, so too will Wi-Fi (at least, according to its proponents) make possible many cutting-edge innovations by making the Internet easier to connect to-at speeds comparable to today's fastest digital phone lines or cable modem hook-ups.

And guess what, it's already happening! Wi-Fi networks are open to the public in places like airport waiting lounges, cafés, coffee shops, bookstores, laundromats, brew pubs, maybe even your next-door neighbor's den. In fact, an estimated 15 million wireless Net surfers in the U.S now use Wi-Fi hubs. Although the U.S. currently has the largest number of Wi-Fi users, it is predicted that by 2006, 100 million users worldwide will be using some version of Wi-Fi.

As attractive as Wi-Fi is, however, IT managers must confront complex issues. For example, viability with next generation technology-deploying a network today that can be upgraded easily in the future. Then there's the perennial issue of security. A firewall costing thousands of dollars can be completely compromised by a single incorrectly configured access point (a transmitting device that connects a wired local area network to wireless computing devices, typically referred to as "clients"). WLANs could also fall victim to their own success as multiple network standards, including Bluetooth, crowd each other with interference. There are also Internet Protocol (IP) addressing issues, and locating access points across subnets can make it difficult to roam from one location to another without mobility middleware.

The good news is that solutions exist for most of these problems, and forthcoming standards will address many of today's limitations. The Wi-Fi technology available today is good and it will only get better as time goes by, but to be successful in using it requires careful navigation through an evolving landscape.

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