wifi technology

October 4-7, 2004 • Los Angeles, CA • www.itexpo.com1

WiFi Technology

WiFi Times Five: How 802.11g Changes the Mobility Picture

William BeydaVice President, Product DevelopmentSiemens Enterprise Networks


Overview• Wireless LAN Technology Landscape

– Standards Evolution– WiFi Hot Spots– Wireless LAN Security– Where is WiFi?– Does speed matter?

• The New Mobility– What are the new “killer apps”?


Wireless LAN Standards Evolution

• WiFi stands for: Wireless Fidelity, defined by the IEEE

• Standards:– 1999: IEEE 802.11a and 802.11b– 1999: Dual Band IEEE 802.11a&b– 2003: IEEE 802.11g


802.11a• 54 Mbps maximum

• 8 channels, 64 users per access point

• Operating in the unregulated 5 GHz range– Shorter range than 2.4 GHz but less

interference, up to 150 feet

• Security: Strong 152 bits WEP encryption


802.11b• 11 Mbps maximum

• 3 channels,32 users per access point

• Operating in the 2.4 GHz range– 300 foot range (interference an issue)

• Security: 48, 64 and 128 bits WEP encryption

• The most widely deployed


802.11g• 54 Mbps maximum

– Proprietary solutions up to 108 Mbps• 3 channels, 32 users per access point• Operating in the 2.4 GHz range

– 300 foot range (interference an issue)• Security: same as 802.11b - 48, 64 and 128 bits

WEP encryption• Backward compatible with all 802.11b but not with

802.11a• Fast becoming the accepted solution, since cost is

similar to 802.11b equipment


Dual Band (802.11a & b) Equipment

• 54 Mbps & 11 Mbps

• 8+3 channels, 64 users per access point

• Operating in both 2.4 and 5 GHz ranges

• Security: 152 bits WEP encryption

• Does not support 802.11g (thus does not have high bit rate in long distances)


Wireless LAN Security• WEP (Wired Equivalent Security)

– 48, 64, 128 for 802.11b,g and 152-bit key for 802.11a

– Supports • Confidentiality – prevents casual eavesdropping• Access Control – Authentication of users• Data Integrity – prevents tampering with the messages

– Limitation: does not support key management


Wireless LAN Security(continued)

• WPA (WiFi Protected Access) – A subset of 802.11i and forward compatible with

802.11i – EAP (Extensible Authentication Protocol)

Authentication based on 802.1X– Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP)

encryption


Wireless LAN Security (continued)

• 802.11i Robust Security Network (RSN) is being developed. – Uses TKIP and AES for stronger encryption.– In design phase, expected in 2005


Wireless LAN Security (continued)

• VPN to create a private network over Wireless LAN – Creates a virtual tunnel – Encrypts data at the sending end and decrypt at

the receiving end– Uses IPSec, L2TP and PPTP for tunneling, and

3DES and AES for encryption


Where is WiFi?• At work, providing connectivity for those who

spend their time in meeting rooms– Laptops and most PDAs have WiFi built in– Next generation cell phones will be dual mode, GPRS

and WiFi • At home, where wiring can be expensive and

unattractive– Flexibility, anywhere in the house, even the backyard– In home appliances, allowing control and data transfer

• Internet connected refrigerator• Home entertainment center

• Hot spots


How Many Hot Spots?• Over 30,000 commercial Access Points

(AP) are available today. Reaching 100,000 by end of 2004

• Over 4 Million Access Points already sold • An organic phenomenon….they are

sprouting up everywhere


Where are the WiFi Hot Spots?• Many airports and hotels• Most Starbucks coffee shops• Most McDonalds restaurants• Throughout the streets of Manhattan, San

Jose, and numerous other cities• Most campuses and academic institutes• At base camp on Mount Everest!


Does speed matter?• 802.11b offers a nominal 11 Mbps, but in

places with poor coverage, users might achieve speeds of only a few Mbps in certain areas

• This few Mbps would be shared among all users

• Short emails, normal VOIP conversations could succeed with these speeds


Does speed matter?• Collaboration on large documents,

presentations, exchanging video clips, etc. is frustrating at low speeds

• 802.11g, with it’s nominal 54 Mbps, should ensure that even in the edges of the coverage area, bandwidth exceeds 10 Mbps, providing more than enough for serious video applications


The New Mobility – Presence & Availability

• Presence & Availability change the way business communications is conducted

• Allows a caller to view the destination’s availability before making the call

• Allows users to decide who get to see their presence

• Telephony features such as repeat dialing and camp-on become obsolete

• Next generation communication products have presence-based call routing


Wireless Makes Presence and Availability Ubiquitous

• Wireless LAN technology mobilize these new features allowing Mobile Presence to span conference rooms, meetings, hot-desking and teleworking

• The high bandwidth of Wireless LAN is the enabling technology, because of frequent presence status changes across all users


The New Mobility – Instant Messaging

• Instant Messaging is a real-time text based communication which is less obtrusive than voice calls

• Allows multiple-IM sessions in parallel• Allows multiple-user IM sessions• Allows urgent communications during

meetings without the disruptive nature of cell phone communication


The New Mobility – Instant Messaging

• Highly accessible through firewalls and corporate boundaries

• Combines internal / external users (using generic IM servers such as MS Passport)

• Wireless LAN technology enables these new capabilities allowing mobile users and Teleworkers to exchange IMs while in a meeting, on a business trip, and on the go connecting from a hot-spot


The New Mobility – Video Conferencing

• Video Conferencing was expensive requiring dedicated video conferencing rooms– Per conference room cost of $10- $50K and include the TV

sets, video conferencing controller, one or two cameras, foils scanner, ISDN equipment, etc.

– The bandwidth of such configuration was up to 3 ISDN lines, i.e., 384 Kbps



• The new trend is Personal Video Conferencing– Low cost USB camera, SW (like MSN Messenger) and IP

communications– MCU-based or direct peer-to-peer connectivity– Costs less than $100 per user



• Wireless LAN technology enables mobile video conferencing using a laptop or PDA from a hot spot

• The high bandwidth allows multiple users to share the bandwidth and still have a high quality conferencing experience


The New Mobility – Data Collaboration

• Data Collaboration is the fastest growing communication paradigm– WebEx, LiveMeeting, WorkPlace

• Enables users to share their work across the network

• Saves travel time and money• Data Sharing• Application Sharing


The New Mobility – Data Collaboration

• Web-based or using proprietary dedicated clients (like Microsoft NetMeeting)

• Usually combined with voice or video conferencing• High-bandwidth wireless LAN technology provides

enough bandwidth to allow multiple users to fully participate in a virtual personal video conferencing and data collaboration session!


OpenScape – An example of the new breed of communications

OpenScape creates intelligent relationships among all enterprise communication resources increasing the productivity of both workers and communication services by facilitating rich,

successful communications on the first attempt

Key Features: One-and-done communications

Give the users intelligent control of communications Eliminates unproductive communication steps Eliminates unwelcome communication intrusions

Presence aware workgroup collaborations More efficient set-up of group communications Provides a common interaction model for individuals and teams One touch multi-media conferencing at any time Managed coordination of participants and documents

Elevate productivity while containing communication costs Provide a powerful SDK

Allows ISV’s and SI’s to customize for vertical markets Web service integrations allows partner to deliver unique add to the customer

Media Independent

Device Independent

Application Independent

PBX Independence

Multi-Platform Access


Examples of Identity Context Values

• Individual– In Office– Working Remotely– Be Right Back– In Meeting– On Business Trip– Out Of Office– On Vacation– No Interruptions– Unknown

• Workgroup– Active– Inactive


Scenario: Changing planes at O'Hare, one

hour to spare• User enters airline lounge, turns on

laptop, connects to corporate OpenScape server through WiFi connection using a VPN

• User reviews presence of some individuals, decides to launch an ad-hoc workgroup collaboration session


Scenario: Changing planes at O'Hare, one

hour to spare• User can select headset on PC, or cell

phone, based on OpenScape audio rules or current preference

• Voice conference launched first, more users added on the fly

• Webex launched mid-session

• Video can be added as well using camera on laptop


OpenScape “My Contacts” Portlet

Identity Contexts Aggregated Media Contexts

Contacts


OpenScape Web Portal


OpenScape Workgroup Portal


OpenScape Outlook Access


Example: WebEx Web Collaboration


Other devices make it even easier!

• A smart cell phone • Standard PDAs,

can handle this task, so a laptop is not even needed

• Smart phones with PDA features are another option


Your mobility advantage

• Users finally have access to a full-suite of collaboration tools almost everywhere

• Ubiquitous WiFi assures you a high-bandwidth connection almost anywhere

• A simple cell phone will be looked upon as a primitive device used only for one-to-one voice communications


The future of mobility

• A PDA/smart cell-phone with PDA features, or a laptop with headset, will become the preferred device for entering and launching conference calls for mobile workers, teleworkers and travelers

• WiFi on airplanes extends this phenomenon to the sky (e.g. Connexion by Boeing )


The future of mobility

• A new breed of mobile worker is born!

• Always connected, with no penalty for being mobile.

• Presence and availability apps make the real difference for mobility.

• The killer apps are here, and there’s no turning back.

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