Wireless networking has come a
long way in a short amount of
time. It used to be that the only time people thought about wireless networking was in reference to a laptop
computer.
Today, wireless technology involves
anything that has to do with the ability to
connect to network resources without
the use of cables. It’s no longer limited to
people wanting to be able to check their
e-mail from a conference room or to
access the Internet from a hotel.
“Part of my job is to introduce alternative ways to utilize a wireless network to
increase productivity and efficiency of
users in any kind of enterprise or vertical
market,” says Josh Zenner, wireless solution specialist for Berbee Information
Networks Corp.
Smart Business asked Zenner how
wireless networking has become more
prevalent in today’s business world.
How has wireless networking grown in
recent years?
There are a multitude of ways to leverage a wireless network to increase productivity. Voice is an excellent example.
With a wireless Voice-over-IP (VoIP)
phone, employees can take their desk
extension anywhere with them throughout a facility or between office locations.
This makes them accessible 100 percent
of the time, instead of only the times
they are at their desks.
Here at Berbee, I can take a wireless
phone into any one of our offices
throughout the Midwest and be automatically connected to the network with my
extension, no matter which office I’m in.
Another example is video. We can put
wireless security cameras in a part of a
school that’s been plagued by vandalism.
In the old days, we were required to hardwire each security camera with coaxial
cables. Today, as long as that area is covered by the wireless network, we can put
up a wireless security camera and be able
to monitor multiple areas of the building
without ever having to pull a cable.
We can also use a wireless network for
location services and asset tracking. Once
a facility has Wi-Fi coverage, we can track
any device with an 802.11 network card in
it. A hospital can track laptops, infusion
pumps, phones — anything with a wireless network card. Or an RFID tag can be
attached to a device that doesn’t have a
card and be tracked, too. If tags are put on
a fleet of wheelchairs, the hospital could
know where those chairs are at all times,
anywhere in the facility. Knowing the
location of assets like wheelchairs and
infusion pumps in a hospital greatly
decreases the time staff spends looking
for those devices, allowing them to dedicate more time to patient care.
The addition of these advanced services has definitely triggered much of
the growth we’ve seen in wireless networking.
When did wireless become more popular?
Things started to take off in the late
’90s when it became more standardized.
The retail industry was the first to adopt
it with handheld bar code scanners.
There was a need to have real-time
access to inventory information at all
times. Then we saw it become more
prevalent in the health care industry.
Hospitals could give their nurses and
doctors wireless tablets that provided
real-time access to patient information
without having to rely on paper charts.
People talk about wireless security as
being an issue. Think about it. In the
past, anyone could walk into a room and
look at someone’s paper chart and have
access to all of that patient’s medical
information. But when a user name and
password are required to log onto a
tablet PC, that sensitive information is
much more secure.
Since then, wireless networks have
become increasingly popular. Now that
laptop sales have surpassed desktop PC
sales — and nearly all laptops come with
an integrated wireless network card —
people have come to expect wireless
access everywhere they go.
How secure is wireless?
Wireless had a bad rap when it came to
security, when actually it should be just
the opposite.
When you implement a pervasive
wireless network in a facility, you have
a view into the wireless airspace in that
environment. This is extremely important when it comes to things like rogue
access points. All too often, employees
attach their own access points into the
network in an attempt to be more productive. While they’re not intentionally
being malicious, they don’t have security on the access points and are essentially broadcasting a network connection outside the building. With the right
network equipment, we can identify
potential threats and mitigate them
before they become a security risk. So
companies with wireless are more
secure than those without because they
can keep an eye on what is happening
in their airspace.
JOSH ZENNER is a wireless solution specialist for Berbee
Information Networks Corp. Reach him at (715) 241-4412 or
[email protected].
