Stories by: Joanie Wexler

Along with the potential performance and coverage benefits of 802.11n come a few new security risks, says industry security guru Joshua Wright. Wright presented a Webinar last week that outlined several new vulnerabilities that high-speed 802.11n networks introduce.

There is much buzz about enterprise access networks going "all wireless" as the increased throughput and range of next-generation 802.11n wireless LANs become available in IEEE-standard products.

It has been widely reported that 802.11n, the wireless LAN IEEE draft standard that uses multiple input/multiple output technology to boost Wi-Fi speeds to over 100Mbps, is "backward compatible" with today's 802.11a, 11b, and 11g networks. This can seem confusing, given that 802.11a, which runs in the 5-GHz frequency band, is not compatible with 802.11g and 11b, which operate in the 2.4-GHz band.

Now that the broadband wireless industry can boast some bona fide WiMAX Forum-certified products - with several more on deck for certification testing - will WiMAX services suddenly proliferate as an enterprise-class, last-mile access alternative?

Despite the recently announced US$21 million sale of its assets to Moseley Associates, Proxim intends to introduce an appliance this week that brings its product line in sync with centralized wireless LAN management architectures.

How do you know that you've covered all the bases when it comes to wireless LAN security?

Bluetooth and ZigBee have much in common. Both are types of IEEE 802.15 "wireless personal-area networks," or WPANs. Both run in the 2.4-GHz unlicensed frequency band, and both use small form factors and low power.

Cisco's intent to acquire wireless LAN switch start-up Airespace for $US450 million in stock, announced last week, reminds me that the IT and networking businesses more closely resemble the political arena every day.

Most of the enterprise-class wireless LAN access point makers say they can triangulate the location of a wireless VoIP call to within a few meters of an AP. This bodes well for E-911 over WLANs.

Cisco has been making headway developing its own RF management tools during the past year. But apparently it wasn't catching up to its nimble and RF-savvy start-up competitors quite fast enough.

Wireless security vendor Fortress Technologies has acquired technology and assets from moribund wireless LAN switch start-up Legra Systems.