Reality IT: Wired or Wireless: Reader Insights

In my September 28 column, I invited you to join ACME's debate over setting up a wireless satellite office for about 40 sales employees. We also were considering VoIP softphones, a metro fiber provider for 100-Mbps Internet connectivity at the site, and desktop VPN client access to the main office or a site-to-site VPN through the Internet link--all with locked-down access and authentication at the APs. I received many e-mails from you--here are some of the suggestions and experiences you shared.

» TOTALLY WIRELESS. Some of you have built wholly wireless offices, and most comments were similar to those from an infrastructure engineer who said "I'd go with wireless for sure." One reason is that the wireless solution will save money. You pointed to potential savings, such as lower costs for reconfiguration, re-wiring and moves--savings that we at ACME hadn't included in our own calculations. We also got good advice on a potential pitfall of connecting printers over bridges: lower cost bridges don't always work with some vendors' printers--you must buy their gear.

» A VS. G. Several of you recommended 802.11a over 802.11g for our infrastructure. One reader explained that though "802.11g and 802.11a offer the same performance on paper, you will have far fewer interference issues in the higher frequency band." For ACME, a higher quantity of usable channels means we can more heavily saturate our new office. There was also some discussion of the forthcoming 802.11n standard. It looks promising but is still under development.

» CONTROLLER. A controller-based architecture was strongly recommended as it would help with security, management and interference issues. The APs at the satellite office would be managed and monitored by the controllers--allowing for a centralized wireless deployment versus distributed and isolated management. You also suggested load-balancing controllers for redundancy.

» VOIP. I had noted that we intended to use our VoIP softphones for our sales force at this satellite office. Several dissenting readers thought we may have QoS problems on calls and were wary, especially because, as one of you put it, "Sales and marketing guys live on the phone." However, another contributor with a totally wireless environment said that for his installation, "VoIP and video bandwidth hasn't been a real issue."» LINE OF SIGHT. A few of you suggested a line-of-sight wireless link rather than the metro fiber connection. Several IT managers talked about their experiences with setups that provide 1.25 Gbps for short distances, and other products that can go 20 miles with some obstructions at up to 300 Mbps. An account executive at a networking equipment supplier told me that these solutions offer up to five nines of uptime. He said, "Many people don't realize you can legitimately replace or back up fiber via wireless these days" with point-to-point Gigabit Ethernet wireless. However, this option was a no-go for ACME because we don't have line-of-sight between the satellite office and headquarters.

Overall, there were a few dissenting opinions about our approach for a totally wireless office, but most of you agreed with our business case. In the end, our network planners decided to move ahead with about six to eight APs at the satellite site, using a well-known set of vendor gear, a centralized controller-based architecture, 802.11a, and a site-to-site VPN using appliances. We may also bring in consultants from one of several local firms that install wireless networks so we can avoid common pitfalls and ensure a smooth deployment. Thanks to everyone who took the time to send insights and suggestions.

Hunter Metatek is an enterprise IT director with 15 years' experience in network engineering and management. The events chronicled in this column are based in fact--only the names are fiction. Write to the author at [email protected].