Air Time: Wireless FUD--Alive and Well

Fear, uncertainty and doubt are emotions few of us revel in. So it should be no surprise that FUD sales tactics have always been effective. Historically, IBM is the company most closely associated with FUD. If its own offering was functionally deficient and overpriced, as it often was, the blue-suited sales pros used FUD to close deals. An aggressive IBM salesman once tried to convince my boss that the Ethernet system I was implementing was a poor strategic choice because simple laws of physics would forever constrain Ethernet to 10 Mbps while IBM's Token Ring would zoom into the future. That tactic didn't work, but similar strategies are employed every day, especially in the highly competitive wireless network market.

Fear

Wireless security provides an ideal context for using fear as a sales strategy. Specialized vendors have made a science out of it by publicizing security vulnerabilities, legitimate and dubious alike. They appeal to base instincts of IT managers, many of whom have lived through the pain of a major system failure. No prospect is worse than a serious information security breach

There's no denying the real issues surrounding wireless security. Poorly created standards, system vulnerabilities and poor implementations have all contributed to make security a critical concern for managers of wireless networks. Fortunately, the industry has responded, to the point where it is now possible to implement a wireless network that is more secure than legacy wired networks--at a reasonable cost. Still, in every reader survey, security rises to the top as the greatest obstacle to deploying wireless networks.Uncertainty

All businesses deal with uncertainty, but it is a particularly challenging prospect in the IT industry, where Moore's law provides a powerful force for change. This is an industry that lives and dies by innovation, so uncertainty is something you usually have to live with and plan for, recognizing that it increases in direct proportion to your planning horizon. That's one of the reasons many managers prefer to spend their time on tactical and operational rather than strategic issues.

When it comes to wireless networks, uncertainty is a powerful force. As technology improves and standards evolve, there's little certainty that investments made today won't turn into legacy headaches next year. Not surprising, uncertainty over future standards is seen by many readers as the second biggest obstacle to adoption or expansion of wireless networks. Be wary of how salespeople address the uncertainty issue, either by highlighting their own company's unique ability to provide investment protection or, in a more classic illustration of FUD, by pointing out the comparative inability of their competitors to do so.

Doubt

Doubt is most often manifested in questions about a competitor's ability to meet customer demands in the short and/ or long term. If you hear a salesperson say something like, "We prefer to focus on the strengths of our offerings..." you can bet there's a "but" coming, followed by an attack on the competition. Sometimes, those attacks implicitly or explicitly question a competitor's long-term market viability.Established vendors have the easiest time planting doubt. After all, there's less doubt about Cisco's long-term viability than that of smaller competitors. But even small companies plant doubt about their competitors--often as a preemptive move.

Taken together, fear, uncertainty and doubt tend to slow the pace of decision-making while increasing internal organizational conflict, especially where the vendor's strategy is clearly visible. While the laws of physics did not prevent Ethernet from turning Token Ring into a historical footnote, the laws of the market will likely make FUD something you'll need to be on guard against for years to come.

Dave Molta is a Network Computing senior technology editor. He is also assistant dean for technology at the School of Information Studies and director of the Center for Emerging Network Technologies at Syracuse University. Write to him at [email protected]