Weigh and mitigate wireless risks

Wireless is a smart bet that is gaining corporate momentum, but the security concerns have put corporate spend in a holding pattern. "Security is certainly a big issue but standards are rapidly being ratified and the picture is becoming clear," says Mark Lilje, MD of RangeGate. "There are several layers of security that can be implemented to safeguard sensitive data. It just takes some common sense.
"We have been in this market for 14 years, and we know of hundreds of wireless networks running in SA, many of them in the warehousing and distribution arenas - and we have implemented many of them. The focus is now shifting to the office environment, but companies wary of adoption are losing the opportunity to invest in architecture that could be of enormous benefit. The solution is to implement with caution, remaining aware of, and mitigating security risks according to the sensitivity of data with the technologies at hand.

"In three years' time we'll have seamless roaming between WLANs and cellular networks and, according to researchers, in 15 years there will be more data travelling over WLANs than over cell networks. Locally, the wireless infrastructure market is expected to be worth R1 billion in revenues by 2005... and this excludes access and client device revenues," says Dave Scruse, account manager: wireless networking at RangeGate

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