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Wireless
LAN
A wireless LAN
lets users roam around a building with a laptop (equipped with a wireless
LAN card) and stay connected to their network without being connected to a
wire. You may be wondering what is a Wireless LAN? A wireless LAN (WLAN)
is a local area network (LAN) without wires.
WLANs have been around for
more than a decade, but are just beginning to gain momentum because of
falling costs and improved standards. WLANs transfer data through the air
using radio frequencies instead of cables. They can reach a radius of 500
feet indoors and 1000 feet outdoors, but antennas, transmitters and other
access devices can be used to widen that area. WLANs require a wired
access point that plugs all the wireless devices into the wired network.
A
new standard put out by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers (IEEE) called 802.11b or Wi-Fi is making WLAN use faster and
easier, and the market is growing quickly. It is predicted that revenue
for total enterprise WLAN end-use will reach almost $4.6 billion by 2005.
WLANs are typically used on college campuses and in office buildings. They
can be set up in houses allowing multiple users to access one Internet
connection. Resorts, apartment buildings and airports plan to offer WLAN
access (some already do). Often the best use for WLANs are in places where
LANs aren't installed yet, like schools or public institutions that are
slow to adopt new technologies. Starbucks and Microsoft are also getting
into the WLAN game. They are teaming up to equip their coffee shops with
WLANs, which allow laptop users to surf the Net while sipping coffee.
There are few different kinds of WLANs. Bluetooth and HomeRF are also WLAN
technologies, but Bluetooth works in a smaller area than 802.11b does and
HomeRF hasn't become as popular as 802.11b. 802.11b transfers data
at speeds of up to 11Mbps (million bits per second) in the 2.4 gigahertz
radio band (a license is not required for this band). The next version,
802.11a, is supposed to transfer data at even higher speeds of up to
54Mbps in the 5 gigahertz band.
A small research group at the University
of California at Berkeley recently put out a report stating that they
found flaws in the 802.11 standard and 802.11b standard. Their report says
that they were able to intercept transmissions over the wireless network.
These transmissions were encrypted, but the encryption was broken. If too
many people or businesses in the same area have WLANs, then the band of
air that they transmit signals on can become overcrowded. Problems with
signal interference are already occurring and there are fears that the
airwaves will become overloaded. |
