Conclusion

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QoS is on the forefront of networking technology. The future brings us the notion of user-based QoS in which QoS policies are based on the user as well as on the application. The upcoming 802.11e standard is a good start. It can be an efficient means for QoS support in WLANs for a wide variety of applications, although problems, as discussed in this chapter, still remain to be solved. In particular, there must be a continued evolution toward end-to-end services. But, thankfully, companies like Cisco are expanding QoS interworking to operate seamlessly across heterogeneous Data Link Layer technologies, and are working closely with host platform partners to ensure inter-operation between networks and end systems.

Multiple powerful trends in the technical community are driving the need for distribution of high quality digital media in a wireless environment. A large number of service providers and equipment manufacturers stand to reap the economic benefits of these trends, if the necessary equipment and networking technologies can be delivered to meet both the quality requirements of these applications and the market's price points.

So while it may be some time before the corporate market will truly take advantage of multimedia data delivery over a wireless infrastructure, home use of integrated voice/video/data networks will happen much faster. But there is no reason to wait for these more exotic features. Today's products offer more than sufficient capabilities for many applications. And as long as you put some hard questions to your vendors about interoperability and upgrade paths, you can deploy a network that you can enhance as needed, over time, safely.

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