January 16, 2003

Ready or Not, Here Come Wireless LANs

My spin: Wireless is all the rage and deservedly so. With competing standards, chipsets like Centrino are important for more and more businesses to use WiFi in their LANs and WANs.

The reason wireless is grabbing all the headlines in the local area network (LAN) industry can be summed up in a single word: mobility. At the office and in the home, people are gravitating toward use of laptops and handheld devices that they can carry with them while they do their jobs or move from the living room to the bedroom. And they want untethered access to a high-speed Internet connection.

Wi-Fi , also known as 802.11, is the technology that makes that happen. While there have been a few bumps in the road -- most notably security issues -- Wi-Fi is viewed as an attractive alternative to Ethernet-type LANs.

"Wired LANs will always be cheaper and faster, but for the mobile worker using a laptop, it's a simple decision to go with Wi-Fi," Brian Grimm, a spokesperson for the Wi-Fi Alliance, told NewsFactor.

(full story)

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