Study technical and management details
The procedure for figuring out where to place access points, according to Au, is fairly clear. First, the CIO and his staff should do a survey to see which frequencies are being used by WLANs on adjacent offices and on the floor above and below. The second step is to consult the information provided by the vendor on placement.
It's a series of choices, depending on how much throughput a company wants at certain distances. Finally, temporary access points should be established at various points in the WLAN area. Collect data concerning the strength and purity of the signal, then make your decisions on permanent placement. Freeware tools are available for this process. AirMagnet offers a tool, Au said, that does this in a more automated fashion than the freeware tools.
WLAN calling
CIOs must also recognise that users access their phones in more placesââ,¬"parking lots and rest rooms, for instanceââ,¬"than their computer devices. -Network coverage must be considered in this light," said SpectraLink director of marketing Ben Guderian. Adequately supporting voice requires tight control of latency and jitter through a quality of service (QoS) standard. Currently, the issue is handled by proprietary algorithms. A standards-based approach to the problem is expected from the IEEE's 802.11e committee sometime later this year.
WLAN voice has ramifications for both the wired and wireless network. Clearly, access points must be designed to maintain QoS, or the voice application will fail. However, the challenge goes deeper: Until now, most wired LANs have been purely data networks. -Thus, if the WLAN is intended to support voiceââ,¬"and most areââ,¬"the LAN with which it will partner must be upgraded," Guderian said.
Managing the standards risk
The ramifications are that the enterprise always has to be careful when facing a scenario in which there is a challenge today and proprietary solutions exist to solve itââ,¬"but standards-based solutions are expected. The question is whether it's best to wait for the standards or use today's solutions if the desired application is deemed critical.
Generally, if you go with a non-standard proprietary solution, you're running the risk that those vendors (or this particular solution) will disappear when the standards-based solution arrives. So, a few years down the road, a company that needs help with an antiquated proprietary solution may be out of luck.
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