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Home > Networking News > Wireless could unify networks, conference speakers say |
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LOS ANGELES -- Wireless systems are just one of the technologies adding complexity to networks, but ultimately it may also be one of the technologies that helps networks to simplify and converge, according to presenters at the Gartner Wireless Access, Mobile Business Solutions conference. Nigel Deighton, a vice president at the Stamford, Conn., research firm Gartner Inc., said in his presentation that wireless is adding a dizzying array of devices and information to corporate networks. In addition to voice calls, wireless data of all kinds is moving across networks with increasing frequency. New developments with radio frequency identification tags will become a mainstay in manufacturing and logistics, and that data about individual products will all move over corporate networks. Mobile employees are now able to access and update information on many different devices, ranging from phones to PDAs and handheld devices that send images and sound, and that will become more common in the next few years, speakers said. All of this is occurring at a time when corporate networks are undergoing significant change, said Bob Hafner, a vice president with Gartner who presented along with Deighton. With voice over Internet protocol (VoIP), voice is becoming another application on corporate networks, he said. Video is likely to follow. And wireless local area networks (LANs) are also adding a new kind of traffic with new security concerns to networks. In time, Deighton said, networks will evolve, becoming flexible enough to absorb continually changing devices and applications. The key, he said, will be middleware, which will be capable of moving information to and from myriad devices connecting over many different mediums. It will be the gatekeeper between the device and the network. While that ultimate vision is a number of years away, it is in the making today, some say. Companies are starting to look for more diverse ways to connect to the Internet, said Gary Aven, senior director of technology strategy at the National Center for Crisis and Continuity Coordination in El Segundo, Calif. The company provides services to the homeland security market. Internally, the company has deployed a wireless LAN that enables its employees to access the Web through its wireless wide area network (WAN) as well. Aven's laptop supports wireless VoIP. To make a phone call, all he needs to do is plug in a headset and click. To be able to function during disasters, the center's customers want as many ways to link the Internet with their back-end systems as possible, including satellite up links, he said. The same is true for Stephen Campbell, group manager of network services with Beckman Coulter, a Fullerton, Calif., laboratory automation products company. While he is unsure about moving to VoIP, Campbell's company has deployed wireless LANs and also gives its workers wireless WAN access. Hafner said that, eventually, wired networks will converge around the metro area network, which will help to break down the barriers between the WAN and the LAN. Wireless networks will begin to converge when technologies that allow roaming between wireless LANs and WANs mature, he said. While companies should not deploy new technologies without having a good business rationale, Hafner said, businesses should begin thinking about the larger picture. They should have a clear road map for the evolution and convergence of their networks, he said. FOR MORE INFORMATION: Visit SearchNetworking.com's Wireless Info Center The Best Web Links on wireless WANs IP network design: Designing wide area networks
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