How to select and use 802.11n networks more effectively

It is expected that the 802.11n network technology will be widely adopted in the next few years. Here, we will show you how to select and implement this network technology more effectively.

If your company has employees who need frequent business trips, need high-bandwidth, high-speed network applications, or just to keep up with the pace of technological advances, you may need to upgrade the network to a network based on the 802.11n wireless network architecture. If it is not the entire architecture, it should at least be the network perimeter.

Experts say this is the general trend, and a large number of facts prove this. ABI Research, a market Research company in Oyster Bay, New York, said the current speed of 802.11n development in the North American market is only 2.3%, but this growth rate will increase exponentially, it will reach 19% next year. Stan Schatt, Vice President and Research Director of wireless connectivity at ABI Research, believes that the 802.11n technology is mature, the cost has been reduced, and it has the flexibility that is unmatched by other wireless technologies, this technology will surely be widely used.

Although the 802.11n standard has not yet been fully certified-it is expected that it will be completed by the third quarter of next year, but most vendors can't wait to prepare products for the market.

For companies that already have related products and urgently need the throughput and flexibility provided by 802.11n, the rest is how to effectively select and implement these technologies.

The first step is to conduct a detailed site selection survey to evaluate the current technical architecture and future needs.

"It's time to spend money and time to carefully consider your needs," said Lisa A. Phifer, network and security consultant at Core Competence. "You now have the opportunity to start using brand new products, which is just right. In the long run, this cost is less ."

Once you know what you need, the next step is to select a product and vendor. This problem is much more difficult than it seems. Different products vary greatly in robustness, capacity, flexibility, and manageability.

"You must consider everything. For example, what if a problem occurs with your controller? Some Access Points can enter the independent mode, while others cannot, "Schatt said. "Moreover, there are significant differences in antenna technology. companies like Motorola and Ruckus have invested a lot of energy in the antenna field to make full use of the advantages of MIMO technology, some other companies did not."

Don't be afraid to ask the Vendor Specific questions, especially some very important features that are not fully introduced on the website. Michael Finneran, head of the dBrn joint consulting company in Hewlett Neck, New York, added.

For example, few companies mention the transmission chains that their products can provide. This problem is very important because 802.11n provides the ability to send multiple signals in the same frequency band at the same time, this means that the two chains provide twice the transmission capability compared to one chain. "They won't take the initiative to tell you these things. You must ask them to know," Finneran said.

Another important problem is the maximum transmission rate. Although all vendors claim that they can reach the maximum rate, they do not specify the 20 MHz or 40 MHz band. This is an important factor, Finneran adds, because it determines the bandwidth and the number of available channels.

Another important difference is that different vendors provide different types of management software. You can make appropriate choices based on your own needs.

"Some of them have very good address survey tools and planning tools, and others have very good interfaces for interacting with external management tools. Others can manage environments of multiple vendors or geographically distributed environments, "said Craig Mathias, head of the Farpoint Group.

Sometimes the management tools provided by the system may not be enough, while other products may meet your needs. If so, you can consider using third-party tools, such as AirMagnet and AeroPeak Wireless LAN security tools. These tools can ensure that the network runs as expected. Mathias recommends that you. Third-party tools are also recommended for intrusion detection of wireless networks.

Implementing the 802.11n network also means you need to reinforce your security architecture. For example, there are very few wireless detection systems that can detect 802.11n networks, because these systems are used in 802.11a, B, and G networks. This means that companies that have installed 802.11n networks have to upgrade their systems to detect N-based networks to monitor illegal access points and ad hoc networks.

The next step is to enable your existing wired network to work with the 802.11n network. Taking the power supply into consideration, Finneran said, because most 11n access points do not, although other network access points use PoE to save money. This is changing. Siemens now has N Access Points that can run on the standard PoE, and some other vendors are working hard. However, check carefully.

You also need to consider the capacity issue. Currently, most access points are connected to MB Ethernet connections, but 802.11n is faster than this, which means that your current access point may have to be upgraded to 802.11g Ethernet connections. There is no doubt that in some cases, you may need to upgrade some of your networks to Gigabit Ethernet or even 2G Ethernet, Schatt said.

Don't forget your laptop when it comes to your migration policy.

"Part of the driving force of network development in 802.11 is how fast the company will upgrade their laptops and when they will not make N automatically installed on their laptops, "Schatt said. "This means they also need to purchase some external adapters, which the company CIOs hate because they are hard to track and are vulnerable to damage ."

If problems such as reliability and speed exist in your current network, or you have problems with GHZ interference, upgrading your network to 802.11n is worthwhile. Similarly, if your network runs high-yield applications and you have enough bandwidth, or your architecture changes are costly, you 'd better wait. Technology will only become better and cheaper, schatt said.

A reasonable method is to gradually upgrade to the 802.11n network. In fact, this is usually the best upgrade method.

"If you can determine which part of the network requires the functions provided by the 802.11n network, such as bandwidth-sensitive video applications, you can only upgrade this part now," Schatt said. "In terms of economics and business, this approach is wise ."

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