Increase Productivity With 802.11b
802.11b brings low-cost, high-speed wireless access to the masses.
by Steve Makofsky
For this solution: PDA or laptop, 802.11b Compact Flash or PCMCIA Adapter
W hen I purchased my first PDA—back in the days of the HP 95lx and the Newton—people looked at you funny when you pulled out this oversized calculator-looking device to take some notes during a meeting (for PDA history buffs, see Resources). But as handy as they were for taking notes, what the road warrior really wanted and needed from these devices was wireless networking. Sure, there were early attempts with Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD) modems running at a blazing 9,600 baud (if you were lucky), but these connections were too slow to enable the mobile user to be truly productive.
Flash forward 10 years to 2002. PDAs are everywhere; no one looks at you funny if you pull out an iPAQ in Starbucks to check an appointment or jot down a note. Unfortunately, until recently, you were still stuck with digital phone cards and CDPD modems for painfully slow wireless connections (and I still don't understand how a cord from my phone to my PDA could be considered "wireless"). In 2001, a low-cost, high-speed wireless technology known as 802.11b (WiFi) took the mobile world by storm, making wireless connectivity affordable and useable. You'll find that 11 MB of wireless data is fast enough to solve your Web browsing, streaming media, instant messaging, and remote networking needs (and it's going to get better, see the sidebar, "WiFi Gets Even Faster").
Now, as a well-informed decision maker for your company, I'm sure the WiFi network revelation isn't completely new to you—the scare over possible security vulnerabilities brought wireless communications to the forefront of recent technology discussions. What you might find interesting, however, is some of the more recent trends in the way businesses are putting WiFi to use, details about how you can create a more "secure" wireless business network, and some predictions about where the technology is going.
Creating the Wireless Workplace
Although it's nice to lie on your couch and surf the Web wirelessly (these days it's pretty straightforward thanks to a slew of new cable/DSL wireless access points that have been released for under $300 from companies such as Linksys or SMC), having wireless access available throughout your office can be a real boost to productivity. As more businesses become ever more reliant on e-mail and .NET Web services, "access anywhere" will be the cry of office workers.
For example, think about how much time you (and your coworkers) currently spend in meetings, often disconnected from the network. If meeting participants at your company frequently use laptops to connect to the network for a presentation or to collaborate on a document during a meeting, think of the time they lose shutting down the PC at their desk, disconnecting from the physical network, reconnecting to the network in the meeting room, and rebooting. A wireless network allows users to move their laptops from their offices to the conference room and stay connected the entire time. You'll also save on follow-up time because rather than saying, "I'll get back to you on that," meeting participants can access their network applications and answer immediately. Of course, this wireless connection can have a downside when employees use it to catch up on their e-mail when they should be paying attention in meetings—that's hardly a selling point to the CEO for an investment in wireless (even though the CEO's the one who does it most often).
Back to top
|