July 2003
Wireless Challenges The Channel
BY DANIEL BEST
Several years ago I followed a vendor�s sales engineer as he breezed
through a large hotel surveying the locations to install the radio access
points for a cellular carrier�s in-building wireless trial. Requiring only a
couple of hours and no tools, the design process seemed extremely simple.
The complaints began soon after the service was launched, including one from
the hotel�s general manager who had no coverage outside his office door. At
the conclusion of the trial the local cellular sales office cancelled the
service, disappointing both the vendor and the customer. While equipment and
survey processes have since come a long way, this experience highlights some
of the challenges faced by 802.11 Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) vendors
and their channel partners in delivering wireless products and services to
the enterprise.
Customer premise wireless networks are delivered by a variety of
equipment distributors, resellers, system integrators and consultants often
new to wireless products. Their existing customers typically look first to
them for the necessary equipment and radio frequency (RF) design expertise
to prove the technology with pilot projects. These suppliers must not only
understand wireless, but feel comfortable that these products offer a viable
business proposition not undermined by excessive support costs and damaged
customer relationships. The onus is on wireless product manufacturers to
carefully target their markets and launch the most appropriate channel
partners with the necessary product features, training, and support.
THE BLACK ART OF RF DESIGN
The key technical attribute of WLANs -- mobility -- is both the key benefit
and source of challenges. Large distributed facilities or campuses with tall
buildings, underground structures, and thousands of users require
significant understanding of RF characteristics and design. The high
frequencies utilized by WLAN equipment are impacted by building materials,
vegetation, office furniture, and factory equipment. Jostling an antenna or
moving an object in the vicinity can impact the signal coverage. Other types
of unlicensed equipment such as cordless phones, microwave ovens and other
nearby WLAN systems are all potential sources of interference. Overdesigning
the network with unnecessary hardware and cabling can impact the cost and
competitiveness of the proposal. Under-designing the network with a strategy
of building out later can result in user complaints, increasing support
costs, and poor initial customer impression.
The procedure to identify the quantity and locations of access points and
antenna design is known as an RF Site Survey. It generally involves the
following basic steps:
� Careful assessment of user requirements including coverage areas,
number of users, usage patterns, key locations, types of applications, and
performance requirements.
� Review of facility blueprints and building materials, followed with a
walk-through to note user locations and identify challenging areas or
obstacles that may impact or interfere with radio propagation.
� Tests with specialized test equipment to detect the presence of
interfering signals. More thorough checks for interference would involve
scanning and logging data for a day or more, then repeating the procedure at
other key locations. Some identified sources of interference may be
eliminated, while others must be factored into the network design.
� Signal propagation tests to determine access point locations. This
involves setting up radios at key locations and using portable equipment to
test for signal strength and quality in the surrounding areas. With this
information access point locations can be mapped and antennas designed to
ensure continuous coverage.
� A post-installation survey to ensure complete coverage, sufficient signal
strength, and individual access point performance. Access points may need to
be moved or added, and antennas may need to be modified to direct the signal
coverage to the underserved areas.
� Ongoing periodic RF audits to confirm continued performance and check for
unauthorized systems and security breeches.
MANUFACTURERS RESPOND
Interviews with major WLAN equipment manufacturers show that they are
responding to the challenges with product design features, and support from
internal and third-party resources.
Product ease-of-use and built-in security features are especially
important for wireless products purchased directly through retail or
distributor channels. According to David Cohen, Director of Wireless Product
Management at Actiontec Electronics, �it was important to design features
into our products to make it easy for end users without technical wireless
backgrounds to install and operate.� One ease-of-use feature is a special
client software manager that automatically identifies the network ID and
attaches the client without special action on part of the user. For areas
that may be covered by multiple networks, it automatically detects and lists
the wireless networks operating in the area, allowing the user to scroll
down and make the appropriate selection. Simple graphical displays provide
the user live feedback on the connection quality and data rates.
Wireless veteran Symbol Technologies offers training at its Symbol
University and support programs to drive its large market share in wireless
equipment sales. They emphasize the product design of their new Mobius
Wireless System and its centralized switching architecture as integral to
their efforts to lower costs and simplify wireless deployment for their
partners.
Symbol�s Network Business Vice President and General Manager Ray Martino
discusses how the new architecture reduces design complexity, �By
centralizing the intelligence of the access points and providing features
such as Ethernet-based power, what goes into the ceiling is much less
expensive than a typical access point. A network planner can be less
concerned about the the end-point equipment and power cabling costs and
design a more conservative network with more thorough coverage, while
engineering up-front for future environmental changes and user growth.
Configuring access point parameters and conducting other adminstration
functions from the switch also makes it easier for our partners to provide
ongoing support to the systems.� Along with the other vendors interviewed,
Symbol�s access points have an automatic channel selection feature, which
allow them to scan the immediate environment and utilize the least congested
channels, simplifying frequency planning.
Maureen Smith, Solutions Marketing Manager at Sunnyvale-based Proxim
Corporation stresses the need for comprehensive reseller education and field
support. �The wireless technology environment is dynamic and changing, so
resellers need to look to their suppliers to provide them ongoing training
and structured support programs.� Proxim offers extensive classroom
training, which includes site survey design principles, as well as webinars
and a partner extranet that provides updated product and technical
information. It also provides its distributors training so that they in turn
can provide training to the local VARs they support. Proxim even offers its
resellers technical training materials they can use to train their end-user
customers.
Proxim provides several levels of regional field support including sales,
inside sales, and sales engineers available to provide advisory consulting
services. The company has also recruited certified installers, which offer
site surveys and installation services to both customers and channel
partners.
WLAN vendor Aironet was acquired by Cisco in 1999 and quickly gained a
large channel partner community. According to Ron Seide, Cisco�s Product
Line Manager in the Wireless Networking Business Unit, � Prior to the Cisco
acquisition, Aironet worked with a smaller number of wireless-savvy
partners. The acquisition brought about the challenge of working with a huge
base of Cisco resellers who wanted to include wireless products in their
portfolios.�
Cisco has implemented a two-pronged approach of raising the education
level of its internal support organizations and the partners, while adding
features to the wireless product line to make it more familiar to the Cisco
technical community. Enlisting the support of third-party education partners
such as Giga-Wave Technologies, they are able to offer additional training
services opportunities to these partners while more effectively handling the
education demands of their resellers. For resellers and customers needing
additional technical field support, Cisco also has aligned with several
third-party services organizations that offer wireless site survey design
and equipment installation services.
Cisco�s main product strategy has been to migrate the products to the
company�s Internet Operating System (IOS) and to add support for Cisco
Discovery Protocol (CDP) so that the same command line interfaces, scripts,
and network management scheme already familiar to Cisco technical installers
apply to the wireless products as well. This provides ease of integration
and unified management, and facilitates the training of Cisco network
partners.
THE ADVANCE OF TESTING TOOLS
Given the unique topologies of buildings and the potential for interference
in an unlicensed spectrum band, it is extremely difficult to design and
optimize an enterprise wireless network without the use of specialized test
equipment. For simple installations the most basic tools are laptop software
packages supplied by most manufacturers that provide basic signal strength
measurements. For more complex installations equipment that thoroughly
analyzes the spectrum and provides detailed information is required. The
good news is that several companies such as AirMagnet, Berkeley Varitronics,
Network Associates, Wildpacket, and Wireless Valley now offer such products
that operate on small pocket PC platforms such as the HP Jornada and Palm,
making them easy to carry around the facilities to collect data for export
to PCs for evaluation and archiving. Each have various specialties and
strengths, but all provide for thorough network surveys.
ON THE FRONT LINE
Derek Hardwick at Fremont, California-based IT consulting, training, and
services provider Unitek Information Systems expresses overall satisfaction
with the support and training offered by the WLAN vendors. He comments that
the technical information provided on the partner Web sites is especially
useful when configuration questions arise during projects. He strongly feels
that security by far remains the largest WLAN challenge, and it�s one
manufacturers need to focus the most effort on improving. Standard security
mechanisms are lacking and he isn�t encouraged to see vendors incorporating
proprietary solutions to compensate. His request to the manufacturers is for
�open effective wireless security standards, devices that use standard IPSec
security mechanisms as with wired networks, and ultimately cross-platform
VPN security solutions that operate across 3G, WLAN, and wired access
topologies.�
Hardwick also counsels clients on the the need for effective IT policies
to manage and control the use of the network, �In these days of reduced IT
budget and headcount, it is easy for an administrator to quickly distribute
access points around a facility that are not properly secured or managed.�
In terms of ongoing support, customers also need to understand that
scheduled RF audits are necessary to capture situations where the number of
users have greatly expanded beyond initial estimates and to reveal problems
with unauthorized systems and access.
CONCLUSION
To attract the best channel partners and grow their markets with reference
accounts, it is encumbent on the manufacturers to offer strong partner
programs with effective training and support. Product design and features
are migrating into products that simplify installation and ease integration,
but RF design for the most part is a matter of training, survey tools, and
experience. Manufacturers should consider aligning more closely with
third-party test equipment companies and incorporate these tools into their
training agendas. Channel partners must commit to the investments in
training and tools, or be prepared to outsource certain functions to
qualified service companies. Together these partnerships can accelerate the
growth of the industry with enterprise wireless solutions that meet and
exceed their customers� expectations.
Daniel Best is founder of PartnerLaunch Wireless, a consultancy that
develops alliances and channels for the wireless industry. For more
information visit the company�s Web site at
www.partnerlaunch.com.
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