Wireless technology has been slow to catch up to businesses
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Wireless technology has been slow to catch up to businesses because until recently, it was unreliable, extremely slow, more expensive, and a huge security hazard. However, the technology has come a long way in just the last few years. The original 802.11 wireless standard from 1997 had only 2 Mbps speeds, but the new 802.11ac standard will use 5.0GHz at 1300 Mbps and 2.4GHz at 450 Mbps (Mitchell). This is faster than most wired networks. The original 802.11 also only had a range of 20 feet indoors, so it required many repeaters to extend it’s range to an entire building, making it much more expensive than a little bit of copper cable. The commonly used 802.11g has a range of 150 feet indoors. This can be effected by the thickness of walls and other things like microwaves interfering with the signal, but even this interference is far less now than what it used to be.
So wireless is now just as fast as wired technology for the most part, cheaper in most cases, and obviously much more convenient since you don’t have to run wires and worry about wire management. However, one thing that wireless still cannot shake is it’s highly exploitable. With Kali Linux and a wireless adaptor, I could tech a child to break into any WPA2 wireless network, no matter what type of password you have. MAC filtering and SSID hiding are also myths, they help against an average person maybe but anybody that has worked with Kali at all knows how to find a hidden SSID quickly and you can steal the MAC of someone who is actually authenticated on the network since it’s being sent through the air for anybody to grab.
Mitchell, Bradley, “Wireless Standards 802.11a, 802.11b/g/n, and 802.11ac”, 23 Feb 2017, https://www.lifewire.com/
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Wireless technology is growing tremendously, many of us use it to access the internet via cell phones, personal notebooks, tablet, or desktop computer. Wireless access points are found virtually everywhere, in homes, at Airports, Hotels, Coffee shops, and Gyms. However, many corporate businesses have yet to take advantage of the new fast growing technology, refusing to implement wireless internet access due to several concerns. The top three reasons why businesses are hesitant is due to Security, Capacity, and Reliability issues.
Security- According to Adrienne Lutovsky, Staff Writer, ProSoft Technology, Security is the first topic to arise when discussing wireless in a plant network and the decision to deploy is often not one made in isolation. Plant engineers want to ensure uninterrupted production, and that security measures are in place to protect their process and plant floor equipment. IT engineers want to ensure that systems deployed in the plant co-exist well with networks in the rest of the organization and that nothing compromises the security of corporate information.
Capacity- Large companies who have a significant amount of traffic on their network fear that wireless systems may not have the required amount of bandwidth needed to operate daily. Not having the necessary bandwidth could be catastrophic to a company, resulting in lower production, which in turn, results in money lost.
Reliability- Question regarding Wireless systems reliability are often a concern. Many businesses owner believe that wired systems are more stable than wireless systems. Wireless interference can be an issue, however, if installed correctly this could be eliminated completely.
Lutovsky, A. (Aug 2011). How To Overcome Barriers To Wireless Adoption. Prosoft Technology. Retrieved from http://www.manufacturing.net/
Answer preview Wireless technology has been slow to catch up to businesses
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