If anyone thinks the jury is out on 802.11n, check out last week’s AirWave panel on the pros and cons of 802.11n in higher ed for a different perspective.

It’s not a matter of “if”; now it’s a matter of how.

Click here to view the 802.11n in Higher Education Webcast

Our three panelists – Chris Murphy from MIT, Steve Lee from Virginia Tech, and Dan Eklund from Wayne State – were peppered with a non-stop stream of questions about implementation and deployment – concerning multiple radio frequencies, deployment, spacing, transition, capacity planning and more. Chris and Dan are deploying 802.11n now; Steve is holding off for the moment, which provided an interesting counterpoint to discussions.

And while the discussion was solely focused on the campus environment, I think anyone looking to deploy 802.11n in the near future will find this a useful discussion to listen in on, since most of the issues addressed are the same, whether your network serves a college, a company, a school or a government agency.

Feedback was very positive. Over 300 people attended. More are downloading it daily. Sample feedback: “I found this especially interesting and helpful since you featured multiple universities using different wireless vendors.”

Not for the first time, our panelists came across as three tough and experienced customers, who have high standards for their vendors and suppliers and a clear understanding of how to make technology fit the needs and goals of their employers. We’re grateful for their time and efforts.

And for their willingness to answer the tough ones. To me, toughness peaked towards the end of the event, when they were asked the big “What If” question overlying all discussions of 802.11n today: What if the final 802.11n standard differs so much from the current interim standard that you find you have to change hardware?

You could hear a pin drop at that moment. Or at least, I could. Their answers were great, but I don’t have space to report it, so you’re going to have to listen to the recording to hear them.

 

 AirWave Podcast with Denver International Airport: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

There has been a lot of press recently around Denver International Airport moving from a “paid” wifi service to a “free” service. I had the opportunity to speak with Mikael Rasmussen who is the WiFi Manager for Qwest Government Services and has the actual responsibility for running and maintaining all of the wireless LAN services at DIA. The free network is getting most of the publicity today but Mikael also has the responsibility for other wireless LAN services that the airlines and the airport use for things like baggage handling and security. Mikael inherited the AirWave Wireless Management Suite when Qwest took over responsibility for the network but has quickly become a convert as he’s had to deal with legacy networks and multiple vendors. Take a listen and feel free to post questions on our forum.

We recently hosted a webinar (click to view) with Craig Mathias on wireless trends for the upcoming year. Craig, as always, did a very interesting job of talking about both WWAN and WLAN technologies as well as the impact on devices and users. By far the topic that is generating the most interest is 802.11n. Most questions centered around the additional speed and coverage that “n” brings but also a lot of questions about how “n” will co-exist with existing a/b/g networks. One of Craig’s main points was the “n” shouldn’t be considered a replacement for “g” and should be used to augment existing networks. He also stressed using “n” in the 5GHz range (same as 802.11a) to avoid interference with existing “g” networks.

Craig was able to answer quite a few questions and if you have some of your own feel free to post them on our forum.

Senior AirWave engineer Jeremy Haltom discusses what he is advising actual customers in the field interested in 802.11n to do to prepare their networks for this high-speed wireless:

• how to baseline the WLAN
• The implications of 802.11n’s higher speed and wider coverage
• Impact on client devices
• Infrastructure life cycles and replacement schedule (and their cost implications)

Click to view the “Capacity Planning WLANs: How to Get Ready for 802.11n” webcast

Congratulations. You did it. You just went out and bought a bunch of the most high-tech WiFi access points on the market. Too bad they will be obsolete in a year or two.

It is inevitable.

With the advent of every “latest & greatest” WLAN infrastructure purchase (see: 802.11n, WiMAX, mesh, “thin APs,” etc.), comes the question that has network engineers everywhere scratching their heads:

Now what?

Now what do I do with my legacy gear? Now what do I do to prevent downtime as we migrate? Now what areas need to be migrated first? Now what does my vendor have to help me manage my multi-vendor, (possibly) multi-architecture network?

These can be daunting challenges and I have to assume that nearly everyone purchasing enterprise wireless APs is going through this same line of questioning right now.

Our featured keynote speaker Craig Mathias helped to allay some of the fear created by WLAN migration:

Click to view the “Managing Wireless Migrations and Upgrades” webcast

This is the AirWaves webcast (visit AirWave Webcast Library for more) to have, as we shattered our previous registration and attendance records featuring Craig Mathias’ presentation on everyone’s hot topic in the wireless space: 802.11n.

When will the first enterprise units ship? What will this mean for my legacy gear? Will my users be able to connect to .11n APs? Will my users with .11n cards be able to connect to my old B or G equipment?

Find out here:

Click here to view the “What’s New with 802.11n & Beyond” webcast

MIMO? Unified Architectures? Dense WLAN deployments? Management & assurance? VoFi/Convergence? Location/Tracking? Scalability?

These are some of the trends that will define 2007.

But how?

Find out with guest speaker Craig Mathias:

Click here to view the Wireless Trends for 2007 webcast