Wireless

In the 19th century, the invention of the telegraph and the telephone forever changed how messages moved around the world. In the 20th century, radio, television, computers and the Internet further revolutionized the near-instantaneous processing and transmission of data.

Experts say the 21st century will usher in a second Information Age in which these technologies, and their benefits, will be accessible anytime, anywhere.

Linking it all together? An absence of wires.

French national rail company SNCF will from Friday offer passengers Wi-Fi access on two major 300kmph services in a year-long trial of the technology.

Wireless Internet access will be provided on SNCF's Paris-Bordeaux and Bordeaux-Pau TGV (Train à Grand Vitesse) high-speed rail links. The service will commence on 17 October.

Firms that are unconvinced about the wisdom of installing an 802.11b network may find their employees decide to rectify the situation with a trip to Dixons

The booming enthusiasm for wireless connectivity among office workers is proving a headache for IT managers.

At a debate at the NetEvents European Press Summit last week, industry figures warned that firms who are reluctant to install a corporate Wi-Fi network because of concerns over security and scalability may find that staff take the matter into their own hands.

Opinions abound on how best to provide a secure, well-managed wireless network. Products can focus on security or management, from a perspective of users-in or infrastructure-out. The latest offerings from Bluesocket and Wavelink exemplify various approaches and deployments. Bluesocket’s Wireless Gateway 2100 appliance sits between the wired and wireless networks, providing security through a variety of authentication and encryption techniques.

With wireless intrusion threats adding to the nightmares facing enterprise IT administrators, IBM Corp. (Quote, Chart) announced its entry into the Wi-Fi security space, rolling out a subscription-based intrusion detection service (IDS).

The new IDS offering, which is part of IBM's managed Security and Privacy Services portfolio, offers security from man-in-the-middle attacks, denial-of-service scenarios, address-spoofing and encryption breaches.

Some of the details may have been different, but Lo recalls that similar concerns surfaced when automatic teller machines debuted. In his mind, it's just a matter of time before all the pieces fall into place for Wi-Fi.

Usually when I'm choosing reading material needed to get reviewed, I first check if we have some O'Reilly books laying on the shelf. Since the fine folks at O'Reilly supplied us with a number of great publications I chose this wireless title. Today, I'm taking a look at "802.11 Security", a neat little wireless security guide written by a two well known wireless experts. Bob Fleck is a security researcher and the Director of Methodology Development at Secure Software, Inc.

RESELLERS are missing valuable opportunities in wireless network installations because they cannot overcome customer objections to security and performance issues.
The charge comes from US Robotics operations director for EMEA Peter Blampied whose recent countrywide road show tried to educate resellers to the benefits of selling wireless technologies.

Blampied admits he was "disappointed" with the quality of the resellers in terms of their wireless knowledge on the two week tour which attracted just over 100 resellers.

The developerWorks Wireless technology zone is a storehouse of hundreds of articles, tutorials, and tips that can help a developer make the most of wireless technology and its related applications. However, the volumes of resources can be overwhelming for users trying to discover where to start learning about wireless technology. With that daunting task in mind, developerWorks offers this page as an overview, or starting point, for users to learn about wireless technology.

The need for wireless policy has never been greater. 802.11/a/b/g wireless networks (WLANs) [1] have taken the Information Technology world by storm. With 35 million units expected to sell in 2003 and with a predicted growth rate of 50-200% compounded year over year through 2006, wireless is here to stay. The benefits of wireless connectivity in the business world are immense; they come in the form of flexibility, convenience, portability, increased productivity, relatively low cost, and ease of implementation. These benefits are not without an expense, though.