There is dearth of wireless security expertise amongst SMBs

While most partners agree that Wi-Fi is secure, it has been observed
that standard practices of security and management prevalent are quite expensive
and cumbersome. Rahul Kulkarni points out that this can be a good opportu nity
for partners to develop skill set in this area

Now that 802.11n has been ratified, are customers upgrading their
networks?

As 802.11n is now official standard from IEEE, it has given great relief for
IT decision makers. In majority of Green­field deployments, customers are
considering 802.11n. Existing customers who have already deployed networks may
not shift entirely. In fact 802.11n can be deployed in 5.2 GHz band there by
customers' can parallel run b/g as well as n networks. Migration from b/g to
complete n will take place over period of time. Besides new 802.11n wireless
networking infrastructure customer must also have laptop clients supporting
802.11n

What is the overall markets size for wireless N in India?

At present N occupies just 20 percent of overall wireless LAN market. Again
primary contribution is coming from home/consumer wireless LAN routers for
internet access. On the client side, are OEM vendors shipping PCs with wireless
N integrated into them? Laptop vendors were pretty fast to embrace this
technology. Before IEEE ratification also laptop vendors have started selling
devices based on 'Draft N'. All the laptops sold today in the market already
have 802.11n as integrated radio. This will further drive penetration of N
networks.Though Wi-Fi is secure, it is still quite expensive and cumbersome.
Isn't this proving to be a deterrent for SMBs and solutions providers who then
need trained manpower to deploy firewall, IPS etc? This concern is true to a
large extent as there is dearth of wireless security expertise at SMBs. Partners
should be looking at this as an opportunity to offer services to these SMB
customers by building these skill set. Some vendors like Siemens offer a
professional service in this area and offers wireless security assessment and
planning services.

What are the direct and indirect opportunities for solutions providers in
Wi-Fi?

Wi-Fi solution providers have pretty vast field to play. They can offer simple
solutions like guest internet acces & billing solutions, Voice over WLAN
solutions, Video surve­illance over WLAN, real time location tracking in WLAN.
Solution providers can also look into vertical specific solutions like wireless
in retail industry for bar code scanning and inven­tory, solution for hospitals
for running wireless Voice & data services for doctors and hospital staff. SPs
can also offer profe­ssional services in the area of Wi-Fi planning, wireless
security assessment etc. Lot of customers are looking for managed services in
this area hence a solution provider can offer managed wireless and managed
wireless security services.

Can 3G offer an alternative to enter­prises for high speed data access?

3G is more suitable for a mobile worker who is continuously on the road. 3G
can offer bandwidth of max. 2Mbps per user while enterprise user sitting inside
often demands speeds like 100Mbps or more. So in reality enter­prises will
embrace both technologies 802.11n for high speed enterprise wireless and 3G for
road warriors

Given the massive investment in infrastructure required for WiMax, will it
ever work in India?

WiMax is definitely not dead. It is a competing technology in public
wireless networks. At present fixed WiMax (802.16) is positioned for high speed
last mile connectivity. This will be very much useful for rural connectivity.
Mobile WiMax (802.16e) will be competing against 3G technology. Each of this
technology has unique value proposition and my take is both of them will
co-exist. Are 3G routers offering high speeds of 3.1Mbps and becoming more
popular in enterprises and households? Higher speed connectivity is always
demanded by customers. Higher internet speeds also create new type of services
like Video on demand, e-learning, collaborative working etc. As service provider
starts offering higher speed wireless connectivity like 3.1Mbps and more at fair
price, consumers will go for such services.

As retail customers increasingly take to connectivity solutions, is home
networking the new vogue for vendors?

Home Networking is an emerging market after SMB and Enterprise customers.
Today technology flow is reversed. Consumers are first adopting technologies at
home (examples are HDTV, Desktop video conferencing and Social networking) and
then they start demanding these technologies at workplace also. Due to this
trend Home Networking has become a hot topic for all vendors. Various networking
and consumer IT vendors are introducing range of technologies like Terabyte
Storage, Wi-Fi enabled media players, TV channel recorders etc.

DQC News Bureau