Debate I:

1
Debate I From LAN to Wireless LAN
Pros, Cons, Opportunities and Hazards
Pros, Cons, Opportunities, Hazards
Chaired by Chris Noble - Sector Head for
Networks Media, The 451 Group 
2
From WLAN to Wireless LANPanelists

• Infonetics Research Richard Webb, Directing
  Analyst, Wireless LANs
• Extreme Networks Craig Easley, Director of
  Service Provider Marketing
• HP Brice Clark Director of Strategic Planning
  Worldwide, HP ProCurve
• Symbol Technologies Graham Melville Director
  Wireless Technical Marketing
• Trapeze Networks Mike Banic, Director of Product
  Marketing

3
The wireless menu

• Fat AP v Thin AP the smart place to put the
  smarts?
• Capacity problems a technology in flux
• Security Threats, Solutions, Paranoia
• Stand-alone wireless companies - do they have a
  future?
• Future Perfect The shape of the wireless future
  and how we get there.

4
Fat, thin or in between?

• Whats driving the debate- commercial realpolitik
  or technology?
• Which belongs where? Encryption, management? the
  MAC?
• Does lightweight mean proprietary lock-in?

5
Capacity Problems

• Will 802.11a/b/g cut it In terms of enterprise
  capacity?
• If not what are the most promising ideas
  tweaking antennas and RF management? Interference
  mitigation? A better standard? Something else?

6
Security

• Still the biggest brake on adoption? Real or
  paranoia?
• Part of wired security, or a completely separate
  problem?
• What has the industry still got to get to grips
  with?

7
Survival of the specialist

• "Wireless networking is a fundamentally new area
  where specialists will thrive for the foreseeable
  future, while wireline companies fudge wireless
  additions to their existing offerings.
• OR
• WLANs will quickly be subsumed into the
• generality of enterprise LANs. Specialised
  wireless companies are a mark of
• the technologies' immaturity".

8
Future directions

• The potential to reshape the way we live and work
  ?
• What must the industry do to realise that
  potential?