WLANs are Hot, But Security is Hotter

Stamford, Conn.-based research firm META Group, Inc. recently completed a study
of the enterprise wireless local area network (WLAN) market. Based on its
findings, META Group expects the WLAN market to grow at a compound rate of 30
percent annually. The study evaluates vendors that focus on providing
comprehensive wireless solutions based on the IEEE 802.11 standard to enterprise
customers.


Chris Kozup, META Group senior research analyst, said he expects to see the
WLAN market diverge into three distinct segments.

“We expect a clear distinction among products that will emerge in the next
12-18 months to meet the specific needs of the enterprise, consumer, and public
market segments,” Kozup said. “Vendors seeking success in all markets must
strike an effective balance between the richness of features required by
enterprises and the low cost needed for consumer and public deployments.”

WLAN products targeting the enterprise market must include advanced features
for robust security, management and reliability. According to META Group, to be
players in this market, WLAN vendors must not only demonstrate a clear
commitment to advanced features beyond Wi-Fi systems, but also control the
manufacturing of at least one part of the entire solution, such as access points
or client adapters.

The report, titled Enterprise Wireless LANs METAspectrum, evaluates
the top five vendors in this market. Numerous WLAN vendors did not meet the
criteria of this studytypically lacking either the advanced features required
for enterprise deployments or a focus on enabling mobile applications. Key
findings include:


  • Vendor success depends on a mixture of performance and market presence.
  • The market has transitioned from emerging status to full growth, with core
    WLAN technology quickly becoming commoditized.
  • Advance features and services required by enterprise customers remain
    largely proprietary and can vary greatly among manufacturers.
  • Selecting a strategic partner for WLAN initiatives is critical, due to
    proprietary features such as security, which can make customers wary of jumping
    from one vendor to another.
  • Best-practice organizations are proactively developing wireless LAN
    policies, in response to grassroots demand for adoption of the technology and to
    mitigate risk of rogue wireless networks.

By 2004, META Group expects market presence to increase in importance
relative to performance, as the technology matures and users place greater value
on market penetration and vendor viability.

Security is relative

Meanwhile, Scottsdale, Ariz.-based research firm In-Stat/MDR
reports that remote access to corporate LANs continued to be hindered by security
concernsbe they wired or wireless. But security is not hindering demand for
remote access among the working wired.

With the advancement of Internet use in the workplace, the proliferation of
laptops and the emergence of wireless access, the definition of the workforce
has expanded to include remote work environments. On average, companies are
fairly evenly split between those that allow remote access to the corporate LAN
and those that do not, with larger companies more likely to allow remote access
compared to smaller ones. The principal reasons stated for not allowing any
remote access, whether from home or public locations, were lack of need and
security concerns.

Amy Cravens, In-Stat/MDR analyst, said security fears are limited to remote
access options.

“As is evident in the low adoption rates for public access, providers in this
space have several challenges that they must address in order to develop the
market,” Cravens said. “The biggest challenge is to appease security concerns
among corporations as well as develop a broader base of individual subscribers
to demonstrate demand for this type of access.”

While the public access market, until this point, has largely been supported
by individual pay-per-use access, the corporate relationship is critical in this
marketit is a more efficient method to gain high usage levels for fewer
marketing dollars and it is a more stable relationship than even individual
subscriptionsand consequently catering to business concerns should be top
priority for these providers.

Key findings of In-Stat/MDR’s report, titled Managing a Mobile Workforce:
Broadband Access Policies for Remote Workers
, include:


  • Security is a major concern with 38.1 percent of those that do not allow
    remote access.
  • Among those select few companies that allow public broadband access, hotels
    are the most popular venues. Airports were the next most popular location.

The report provides detailed information, gathered in an independent In-Stat/MDR
primary research survey, on the expectations and inclinations of IT administrators
in regards to broadband remote access services. Subjects discussed include present
and future implementations, and home corporate LANs allow business travelers
to access networks via remote broadband access.


Reprinted from ISP-Planet.

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