LANS ON - Flash in the LAN

Wireless networking has come out of the niche cupboard and into the mainstream. Falling costs and simpler technology makes it an easier sell to even the most cautious UK IT manager.

Wireless technology is coming of age. The technology and standardse mainstream. Falling costs and simpler technology makes it an easier sell to even the most cautious UK IT manager. have improved greatly and it's finally looking as though wireless networking could be a mainstream reality rather than a quirky niche product. Despite the Home Office's astonishingly poor track record in releasing radio frequencies for use with wireless Lan technologies, the market for these specialised networking products is booming.

This is partly due to the extension of IEEE standards - specifically the 802.11 standard - to the world of wireless Lans, from the well-established wireline networking business. But it is also due to the availability of low power spread spectrum wavebands in the UK.

Spread spectrum technology uses relatively low power transmissions but, thanks to the miracle of fast frequency hopping, can avoid any signal problems to achieve quite respectable transmission speeds over relatively long distances, in office terms.

Despite the technical complexities, spread spectrum technology is relatively easy to install. In many cases, vendors have been almost able to supply the wireless Lan technology on a plug and play basis, making it suitable for less experienced IT managers to install in their office environments.

Spread spectrum's relative simplicity when it comes to installation has greatly assisted the channel in getting the product out of the niche cupboard and into the mainstream. It has also meant that even the so-called box-shifters have been able to handle wireless Lan technologies - even in situations in which wireline Lan hardware and software has not been suitable, because of the after-sales technical support required.

While most of the channel looks to the US market for ideas as to how the UK industry will progress, the whole area of Lan technologies in the UK is radically different from the US. Whereas resellers in the US are busy selling a variety of wideband wireless Lan technologies into SMEs and corporates, UK IT managers are taking a much more cautious approach.

In the US, IT managers are busy on the networking integration front.

Thanks to the arrival of voice over IP (VoIP) technology into the mainstream US market during the past year, integrating voice and data traffic across both wireline and wireless networks has become a relatively easy task.

But in the UK, integrating voice and data is still a relatively low priority, as confirmed by a recent IDC report, The European Wan Manager Survey.

It suggests that, despite industry hype, Wan managers are disinterested in integrating their voice and data communications network traffic.

The report claims that out of the 650 European Wan managers surveyed, only one-fifth said they integrate voice and data traffic on the Wan, as opposed to transporting voice and data on separate networks.

Eric Owen, programme manager of IDC's European telecommunications service, says the majority of intra-company voice traffic generated by the companies surveyed went over the public telephone network. 'Only 23 per cent of companies said they passed voice traffic over their private Wan, and a further 10 per cent said they subscribed to a voice virtual private network (VPN),' he adds.

According to Owen, the overall interest in the use of packetised voice and fax technology was significant, with almost a third of all respondents expressing an interest in fax and VoIP.

'A similar amount showed an interest in fax and voice over internet,' he says, adding that companies are attracted initially to the potential cost savings, particularly in relation to fax communications. 'Interest in value-added benefits of such systems will follow.'

The IDC report also shows that the overall interest from respondents in IP-based comms systems was strong as IP was the main transport protocol running over almost all the surveyed companies' networks. For this reason, the use of intranets and extranets was high as was the use of the internet for intra-company communications and applications based on e-commerce and customer services.

It also indicated that subscription to IP-VPN services is set to increase rapidly as companies find such services easy to integrate with existing IP-based Wans.

Interestingly, the IDC report also found that 78 per cent of European firms now use leased lines, with the largest number of users in Belgium and France. At the same time, 21 per cent of European companies expressed an interest in migrating away from leased line services and over to managed services, which include frame relay and IP networks.

The survey also indicated that intranets have already been implemented by 57 per cent of those companies surveyed, while a further 17 per cent plan to install one within one year.

One US company that recently entered the UK channel is Proxim. It has been in the wireless Lan market since the mid-90s when it brought out 2.4GHz frequency hopping wireless Lan technology, which was included in its RangeLan2 product family.

Catherine Pullan, UK channel sales manager at Proxim, says the vendor's Oxford arm was established in response to growing demand for wireless Lan systems. It aims to focus directly on channel sales, providing sales support to resellers and distributors.

Bernard Picot, European general manager of Proxim, says the UK office will work in tandem with the existing Paris offices, from which marketing, sales and technical support are centrally managed.

'With the growing demand for mobility and flexibility through wireless connectivity, we recognised that additional resource was needed to support channel partners and customer installations in the UK,' he adds.

But Proxim's plans for wireless Lan technology do not stop with the 2.4GHz frequency hopping RangeLan systems. Earlier this year, at Networld+Interop, it unveiled plans to ship what it claims is the fastest standards based wireless Lan system.

The RangeLan5 series will use the HiperLan wireless Lan standard to deliver data speeds of up to 24Mbps on a wireless basis - some 12 times faster than can be found on the existing range. HiperLan-based products operate in the 5GHz band and are claimed not to interfere with installed 2.4GHz wireless Lans, so eliminating the possibility of downtime or reduced throughput of existing systems.

According to Brian Button, sales and marketing vice president of Proxim, the HiperLan standard specifies support for isochronous services, offering better performance for demanding multimedia applications, video distribution, and voice communications.

'HiperLan was designed from the ground up for high-speed, high-capacity wireless networking with true multimedia support,' he claims, adding that it is the only internationally certified standard that takes advantage of the large capacity of the 5GHz waveband.

There are plans for the RangeLan5 line to be available to the UK channel early next year. The first products will include PCMCIA and PCI cards, access points, OEM design-in modules, and repeaters. Despite the quantum leap in speeds, Proxim claims the product's pricing will be comparable to today's prices on 1 and 2Mbps wireless Lan hardware and software.

The opening of Proxim's Oxford offices has not gone unnoticed by another wireless Lan specialist, BreezeCom. According to Paul Munnery, marketing director of BreezeCom, wireless Lan technology has prospered because of its inherent flexibility and the removal of the need for office wiring.

But despite the ease of installation, Munnery says he does not view wireless Lan systems as a mass market technology just yet. 'We use a distributor/dealer model because we know it works,' he says, adding that he values the systems integrator side of the channel.

'Systems integrators know what they are doing when it comes to wireless Lans,' Munnery says, adding there is still a strong need for after-sales support with wireless Lan technologies in general.

BreezeCom's channel splits neatly into two categories of reseller - those handling wireless data applications, and those handling wireless voice technologies. 'The real beauty of wireless Lan is that it is a licence-free technology, and has been since the technology first arrived in the UK in the mid-90s,' Munnery points out.

In preparation for the Networks telecom '99 show taking place in Birmingham today, BreezeCom took the wraps off BreezeNET DS.11 wireless network line, its IEEE 802.11-compliant range of direct sequence wireless networking products which operate in the 2.4GHz frequency band. It delivers data transmission speeds of up to 11Mbps, propelling the wireless Lan technology firmly into the same speed category as conventional wireline Lans.

According to BreezeCom, the DS.11 series was designed for businesses, campuses, point-to-point and point-to-multipoint applications where no more than three channels are required. Munnery adds that it works with the standard hardware and software, including Windows 95, 98 and NT operating systems, and SNMP system management protocol.

One of the advantages to dealers and users using wireless technology, according to BreezeCom, is that it can be up and running in a fraction of the time it takes to cable and install traditional Ethernet networks, and at a fraction of the cost needed to wire a home or office.

Private wireless Lan technology is only one part of the wireless equation, however. The past 12 months have seen the arrival of public wireless Lan systems, including the Tele2 UK system.

According to Paul Humphries, chief executive of Tele2 UK, its dealer programme forms part of the second phase of its plan to make the public network reach 60 per cent of the UK population by 2003.

'We recognised the potential of working with third-party resellers to aid the Tele2 service,' he says. The programme also gives the firm additional channels to market. 'It enables us to respond to demand more rapidly, while giving partners a valuable enhancement to their existing portfolio.'

Humphries adds that resellers that have already committed to the programme include Prodec Computing and Computer Care South (CCS). Russell Barket, managing director of Prodec, says public wireless networking is appealing because many businesses want fast, permanent connections to the Net.

'That number will increase dramatically. As a network systems integrator, we realised we needed to be able to offer such a service to our clients.

Tele2 offers internet access at up to six times the speed of ISDN at considerably less cost,' he claims. 'We like it so much that we use it ourselves.'

Will Ware, technical manager at CCS, adds that customer feedback, mainly from SMEs, is that they want a faster, more accurate and easy-to-manage internet service than a standard dial-up connection can provide.

Whatever the route to wireless networking, the technology is easier to install and sell. But until wireless technology can boost its transmission speeds significantly it will remain in Ethernet's shadow.

PROSPECTS FOR A WIRE-FREE FUTURE

A report due out next month from Analysys suggests the UK is in for a boom time in the next few years in the wireless sector.

According to the report, Will Wireless Win?, the strengths of the technologies available at the moment is such that there is a massive potential for wireless services in both the business and home markets.

David Wilkins, co-author of the report, says the ability of wireless, and in particular cellular operators, to substitute wired telecoms services will be an important driver in maintaining high growth rates.

'Success will depend not only on their ability to compete with wired operators on price, quality and coverage but also on the range of internet services that they can offer,' he adds.