Wireless technology is quickly becoming one of the business world’s most rapidly growing trends. It is estimated that over 420 million Internet users will use wireless technology by 2004. To fully benefit from this trend, organizations must determine how mobile and wireless technology will impact their existing systems. It is also important to understand the risks associated with the implementation of wireless technology, and how they can be mitigated and managed. Organizations contemplating a wireless solution need to also be aware of the industry standards, trends, design patterns, and best practices of wireless technology. Based on Avid Solutions' knowledge and experience in the architecture and integration of wireless technology, this white paper addresses these issues and provides a technology overview of wireless devices, networks, protocols, service providers, and development tools. For successful wireless technology integration, we recommend following an incremental approach, addressing wireless security issues, establishing guidelines and standards, and implementing device management.

Today, there are three different types of wireless data networks – personal area networks (PANs), wireless local area networks (WLANs), and wireless wide area networks (WWANs).

Personal Area Networks
Personal area networks (PANs) are networks that follow short-range protocol (10 meters) and operate at 1 Mbps. This cable replacement technology serves as a frequency-hopping radio link between wireless devices. Bluetooth wireless technology is coming forth as a PAN standard. In the near future, cell phones with wired headsets will become a thing of the past. Some cell phones and headsets are already being fitted with a Bluetooth interface for wire-free communication.

Wireless Local Area Networks
Wireless local area networks (WLANs) are a popular alternative to wired LAN. They possess an operating range in the hundreds of meters. There are many IEEE 802.11 specifications for WLANs. The 802.11b standard is the most widely used, and has data rates of up to 11Mbps. However, this frequency allows for potential interference from cordless phones, microwaves, etc. The 802.11a standard provides a faster data rate of up to 54 Mbps, but requires a hardware upgrade since it operates on a different frequency band (5Ghz) than that of 802.11b (2.4Ghz). The 802.11g standard operates at up to 54 Mbps in the same frequency band as 802.11b. In the future, expect tri-mode (a+g+b) products to be the most popular.

Wireless Wide Area Networks
Cellular technology is a good example of wireless wide area networks (WWANs). WWANs span a relatively large geographical area and operate on many different networks at many different speeds. They can support a wide variety of communication modes – from Nextel Two-way to RIM BlackBerry to Palm.Net, etc. The majority of WWAN data rate ranges vary anywhere from 9.6 Kbps to 2 Mbps. Some proprietary networks offer speeds.