Half Of Enterprises To Be Wireless By 2006: Study

About thirty percent of all enterprises will have wireless LANs in full production by the end of this year, according to a research report released Tuesday by META Group. In addition, the report indicated that number will increase to 50 percent of enterprises by 2006.

That represents a significant increase in enterprise deployments and it is due to the wide availability of new WLAN security capabilities such as enhanced Wi-Fi Protected Access, the report said.

"WPA has dramatically weakened the best argument against Wi-Fi use and has given the upper hand to mobs of impatient enterprise users," Peter Firstbrook, a META Group senior research analyst, said in a statement. "However, while WPA will improve authentication and encryption concerns, it is not a security silver bullet."

Specifically, Firstbrook said that constant monitoring also is a key component of WLAN security. Such monitoring can find and neutralize rogue access points and other unauthorized access, he said.

Besides intrusion detection, Firstbrook also said enterprises must focus on securing client devices, ongoing security monitoring and determining the role firewalls and other existing security technologies plan in securing WLANs."CIOs need to create a comprehensive plan that addresses the many different layers of security necessary to limit organizational risk," Firstbrook said. "They will also need a corresponding budget to make that plan effective."