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Your city is going wireless 7
rules for safe computing | |
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Austin,
Texas; Baton Rouge, La.; Orlando, Fla., and San
Francisco are among the metropolitan areas with
extensive public wireless high-speed Internet
coverage. And Philadelphia is slated to become the
largest hotspot in 2006 when it flips the switch
on a network covering a 135-square-mile
area.
But that's only the beginning. In 2007,
when WiMax becomes widely available, making a city
wireless will take almost no effort. WiMax
(Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access)
is wireless broadband access technology built on
the 802.16 standard, and is considered the next
revolution in wireless. A single 802.16 hotspot
can deliver capacity of up to 40 megabits per
second (Mbps) per channel, or enough bandwidth to
support hundreds of businesses with T-1 speed
connectivity.
"This is a very significant
opportunity for small-business users to
dramatically increase their productivity," says
Lee Tsao, a director for Pronto Networks, a
Pleasanton, Calif., wireless networking company.
He says that if a typical user spends even one or
two hours per day away from the office, the
downtime waiting at different offices or outdoors
can now be transformed back into productive
time.
"The access to a citywide wireless
network can result in double-digit percentages in
productivity gains," Tsao says.
So, how do you
— and your business — prosper in a wireless
metropolis? |
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1. |
First and
foremost, make sure it works. Municipal
wireless networks — particularly the newest ones
— may need to get some of the kinks worked out
before they're ready for business use. "Making
sure that the city or municipality offering
network access can efficiently and effectively
maintain the network reducing any downtime is
something that a small-business user should
verify before committing to a long term service
contract," advises Rick Rotondo, a director for
Motorola Mesh Networks Product Group in
Maitland, Fla. But don't settle for having
enough up-time; make sure it has all the
features you need, including support for
high-bandwidth applications such as real-time
video and security features, Rotondo
says. |
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2. |
Don't surf and
sleep. It is mighty tempting to turn on
a computer and leave it connected to an
always-on hotspot. But you shouldn't. "Big
mistake," says Bert Williams, vice president for
Tropos Networks, a broadband wireless network
systems supplier. Indeed, security is a massive
issue for municipal wireless networks. Many of
the hotspots have little or no security (they
are considered "open" networks), which makes
anyone connected to them vulnerable to a virus
or wireless attack. Williams advises taking the
typical security precautions and not leaving a
laptop or desktop connected to a municipal
network — just in case. |
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3. |
Quality?
Remember that it's a public network.
That's the advice of Dave Mock, an author and
analyst specializing in wireless communications.
"Keep your expectations reasonable. A low-cost
or free public wireless network will not match
the quality of a business network," he says. Not
only do you deal with the variability of
wireless connections in public place, he adds,
but you also share the bandwidth with all other
wireless users around you. "You may be
attempting to download a critical slideshow
while three kids next to you clog the airwaves
downloading the latest music video." If you
can't share, stick with a dedicated wireless
network. |
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4. |
Know when to
stay off the network. "With a wireless
network like a Wi-Fi hotspot, the only absolute
in security is a virtual private network
connection," says Kevin Jaskolka, senior
marketing manager for Nomadix, a Newbury Park,
Calif., public-access networks company. In other
words, if you are dealing in sensitive
information or have clients who value security,
then you should either get a VPN or stay off the
public network entirely. (Windows Small Business
Server 2003 lets you create a VPN in a
snap.) |
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5. |
Expect the
unexpected. It goes without saying that
a Wi-Fi network is not the same thing as having
a traditional wired network. But it must be said
anyway. "One thing to keep in mind is that Wi-Fi
can easily be jammed by accidental or
intentional interference," says Robert Smallback
Jr., senior information systems manager for the
Southwest Florida International Airport in Fort
Myers, Fla. His airport provides mobility and
covers areas where the cost of providing a wired
infrastructure is very high and service demands
are low. But Smallback knows the network's
limits. "We never place mission-critical
applications on our wireless network as the
primary network," he adds. |
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6. |
Oh, and don't
forget the surge protector. Take it
from D. Kent Pingel, a blogger who goes by the
name of the "The Wi-Fi Guy" (www.wifi-guy.com).
You want to issue surge protectors to all of
your employees if you're sending them out of the
office with their laptops. "If you are plugging
in into a light pole at the park in
Philadelphia, or whatever, it could be trouble,"
Pingel says. (Pingel himself has lost two
motherboards while on the road, presumably when
he was plugged in at a coffee shop and someone
switched on a 200-horsepower coffee-bean
grinder.) |
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7. |
Ask
yourself: Are you ready to go all the
way with a public network? It is one thing to
use a municipal network for your business every
now and then, but quite another to rely on it
completely for your communication needs. "The
real challenge," says Steve Andriole, a
professor at Villanova University's College of
Commerce & Finance, "is to manage the
migration of business models and processes
directly onto the networks as the small-business
owners' primary communications platform." That
takes some insight and planning. If the network
is secure and reliable enough (and that's a call
you have to make with your IT professional) and
if your business is a good candidate, then you
might go for it. | |
Ready
for that big jump to a public network? Don't
forget to bring your manners and a little common
sense, advises Richard MacKinnon, president of the
Austin Wireless City Project
(www.austinwirelesscity.org), the world's largest
cooperatively-owned community wireless network
with more than 100 hotspots. By common sense, he
means to remember the spare battery and the power
adapter.
Beyond that, keep in mind that if
you're accessing a hotspot in a public place, that
it is . . . well, a public place.
"Don't
contribute to background noise with loud,
obnoxious phone conversations," MacKinnon says.
"Be considerate of your shared workspace. Don't
hog a table during a food establishment's busy
hours. Buy at least a drink every hour and tip
well."
Welcome to the wireless city. |
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