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Networking unplugged: wireless wows, woes by George Spain CCIT Technical Publisher Wireless technology seems to promise freedom of movement, low cost networking, and ease of setup, all items in hot demand by department heads and network administrators. But before you open that door, better look through the peephole first. When MUSC President Raymond S. Greenberg, M.D., Ph.D., signed a new wireless policy on April 14, it was the one recommended to him by the Information Management Council a few weeks ago. The policy declares wireless must be centrally managed and that no hub (access point) may be connected unless the Network Systems Team (NST) of CCIT authorizes it. Visit its Web site at http://www.musc.edu/ccit/policy/wireless.html. This action codifies how wireless technology is to be adopted. The question of whether or not to adopt it, however, is entirely another matter. Michael Haschker, Network Systems manager for CCIT warns, ”Don’t think of wireless as a replacement for wired networks. It is not. It can create security problems and generally allow lower throughput speed. To make matters worse, the number of users on each access point slows the throughput. Other factors such as wall construction and distance can also slow throughput.”  “In other words,” said Richard Gadsden, security advisor, “all the users on an access point share the access point’s bandwidth. For example, with an 802.11b access point, the users don’t each get 11mb/s; they share a total of 11mb/s. Despite these warning, he says there are roughly 10 approved wireless installations on campus. “There’re also a large number of self-installed, unofficial sites— store bought, off-the-shelf…and incorrectly installed.” It’s the do-it-yourself stuff that network administrators like Haschker and Gadsden working with the IT Lab to draft the recently approved policy on wireless nets on campus. He said that unauthorized units, in addition to being a security risk, might be purchased “without commercial grade feature sets required for a large campus network —items such as diversity antennas, non-broadcast SSID, and antenna power adjustments.” “There was no overall authority for the [wireless] technology. With this policy, MUSC has decided to create a centralized model,” Haschker said. He added that his NST department, which is part of Infrastructure Services, would install for free properly secured, wireless devices for those that purchased the hardware.  Haschker said the cost of one commercial grade access point is $550 plus a circuit installation charge. This setup gives about 300 feet of wireless connectivity. There are other factors to consider before adopting wireless; one has to do with portability, the other with security.  The first problem is “roaming.” A typical wireless setup allows for about 300 feet of connectivity. What happens when a notebook computer moves out of range? Should the user’s signal get handed off to another access point that keeps track of the user’s preferences? It’s tricky, but possible by chaining the access points together to allow roaming.  One of the most popular devices, the handheld computer or PDA, is also one of the most difficult to securely connect to a wireless network. “At this time, only Windows CE devices are compatible with existing wireless installs…Security clients are the limiting factor in handheld support,” Haschker said. He said they were likely to adopt the 802.1x protocol as the MUSC standard. So far, not a rosy picture. However wireless does have its benefits and has been adopted in sites around the campus. Wireless offers some nifty solutions to tricky problems posed by wired networks—cost and construction associated with drilling and digging. Early Adopter One person who looked into wireless and liked what he saw is Jim Moore, College of Health Professions IT coordinator. He recently set up a wireless network that currently serves about 30 students. Plans call for doubling the number of students this year and adding 20 or so faculty and staff connections. “Our Residential Masters of Health Administration program wanted to give its faculty, staff, and students the ability to move freely around the office and still use a computer to access the network,” Moore said. He said that with CCIT’s helped with the installation of the 802.11b network at Harborview Towers. The Cisco access points at the heart of the system cost about $1,500.  Moore faced no physical limitations to his network. “Our choice for wireless was about flexibility, even though a wired connection for our 30 laptops would have cost us $6,000.  So now if we decide to move our classrooms around, the cost to change connections is zero.” Moore said that the current security method was “cumbersome” for users, but “we have been working with Steve Caporossi in CCIT to another encryption standard which will make our security transparent to users.”       Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. 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