Inevitable Ubiquitous Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi is one of the hottest technologies in enterprise networking, but actual adoption has not been as pervasive as one might believe. A number of issues have combined to make IT managers cautious about rolling out Wi-Fi ubiquitously. Many are still concerned about security, and even where security is implemented, such implementation can be highly complex. Tools are still being developed to assist enterprises in largescale deployment, management and monitoring of Wi-Fi systems.

Companies must also tackle the issue of how to scale Wi-Fi networks from today’s broad-but-shallow deployments to corporate campuses where wireless access is ubiquitous. Standards are continuing to evolve in these and other areas, creating a moving target for investment in Wi-Fi hardware and software.

The bottom line: wireless LAN deployment may not yet be simple, but a wide variety of products and techniques is available today or will be available to address the concerns that trouble most IT administrators.

AirDefense (www.airdefense.net)

Airespace (www.airespace.com)

AirMagnet (www.airmagnet.com)

Airwave (www.airwave.com)

Aruba Networks (www.arubanetworks.com)

Atheros (www.atheros.com)

Berkeley Varitronics (www.bvsystems.com)

CA (www.ca.com)

Cisco (www.cisco.com)

D-Link (www.dlink.com)

Fortress Technologies (www.fortresstech.com)

Hewlett-Packard (www.hp.com)

IBM (www.ibm.com)

Interlink Networks (www.interlinknetworks.com)

KoolSpan (www.koolspan.com)

Network Chemistry (www.networkchemistry.com)

Network Instruments (www.networkinstruments.com)

Newbury Networks (www.newburynetworks.com)

Perfigo (www.perfigo.com)

Proxim (www.proxim.com)

Sniffer (www.sniffer.com)

Trapeze Networks (www.trapezenetworks.com)

Wavelink (www.wavelink.com)

Wi-Fi Alliance (www.wi-fi.org)

WildPackets (www.wildpackets.com)

Wireless Security Corp (www.wirelesssecuritycorp.com)