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Multi-tenant reliability

How reliable can IEEE802.11b be in a multi-tenant building, where multiple nets potentially interfere? If I need a secure WiFi system and adopt 128-bit encryption, will I be able to mix and match equipment from different vendors, or is there an interworking problem?
Ahh, I see entrepreneur written all over this question ;>

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. 802.11b is very reliable and, yes, you can run a profitable multi-tenant MAN at 11MBps provided that you have a proper WLAN/LAN/WAN design. You can easily run WiFi with WEP (although I would incorporate a WiFi-tolerant VPN instead) to secure your system. Interference can be managed as long as you properly subnet your network, group users properly by SSID, and limit the maximum number of users to per WAP (max 50). I just designed a system for a friend in NYC that is doing this very thing.

This was first published in December 2001

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