While the current 11n protocol may prove quite an obstacle for wide-scale deployment in corporate environments, most notably because of the prohibitive costs associated with purchasing gigabit switches and 10-gigabit uplinks, as well as due to the problems currently present in the 11n protocol, those very same issues can provide a robust Environment for a casual, working neo-nomad. [fg]->tj!

In a home/cafe/neighborhood environment, 11n access points can be a heaven in disguise. Usually strong enough to not have to rely on Power over Ethernet (POE) circuitry (which currently at 15.4 watts is often not strong enough for 11n devices), they also operate in the 5 Ghz Band, which is vastly preferable in places where the 2.4 GHz band is already crowded with other consumer electronics that contribute to the interference we have all seen in homes where sometimes even in the same room as the Wireless A/P, the Signal-to-Noise ratio makes regular WiFi almost unusable. And in most cafes, currently covered by 1-3 11g routers, one 11n A/P will be more than sufficient – thanks to its increased speed and range.

In remote environments, having an access to an 11n A/P with a decent 11n adapter makes all the difference in the world. Two weeks ago, I was on a boat a few miles off the coast of Sunderland, UK, and as I fired up Sony Vegas Video to work on a few frames in complete peace, I was almost mesmerized to pick up the wireless signal from my room, situated about half a mile away from the coast. No parabolic antennae, noting mounted on a roof, not even a direct line of sight (but pretty close since the building itself is not shielded from the sea in any way). Imagine the possibilities at mounting such 11n A/Ps, rugged sufficiently to survive in an outdoor environment, at various campsites, parks; using them during expeditions to provide effortless contact with the base camp (thereby reducing the costs of having to carry multiple sat-phones). Of course, there is also a somewhat unethical bonus to 11n devices – they can oftentimes completely crash 11g networks, thereby reducing outside interference even further.

The problem with using Wireless Lans, be it from a neo-nomad’s perspective or that of a corporate ITS department is, of course, security. A lot of people use completely open connections, where stealing passwords and other sensitive data is literally a piece of cake. Others use ancient protocols that take about five minutes to break. Only a select few bother to check that they use a 256-bit AES encryption over WAP (specifically WPA2-PSK). Separate from that layer of information is the actual data transmission, which too, should be encrypted. If you have your own MS Server 2000 (or better) – very handy for neo-nomads, it takes about 2-5 minutes to setup a VPN tunnel. Have a unix/linux account – even easier – use SSL (via Putty). And if you have neither, but have a few bucks to spare, use one of the new web companies that offer a VPN-out-of-the-box packages (about $5-$10 a month). Don’t weigh it, don’t look for shortcuts, just implement is as a standard practice and put it under recurring operational expenses.

Wifi-based telephony also becomes a bit more realistic under 11n specifications. Quality of Service gets better implementation (no more drops when downloading songs through iTunes). Roaming between A/Ps no longer causes 0.5 – 10 sec drops, which both disconnect Skype and SIP-initiated VoIP calls. With sufficient uplink, a DYI neighborhood LAN/VoIP exchange would take only a few A/Ps. Convergence between 11n and IP PBX devices is also more likely, resulting in such phenomenal gadgets as the new Nokia E61i, which switches to cellular network only if WiFi connectivity is not available (granted, it’s a pilot project run by Cisco that has very peculiar requirements for now, but it’s still a move in the right direction).

Finally, while places such as Movero Tech are responding to the fluctuation in the field which wants to see more mobility than just Exchange-synched e-mail, by providing enterprise-level mobile solutions covering all aspects of modern company – supply chain management, ERP, CRM, etc., no players have attempted to dominate the professional consumer sector by providing this functionality using a monthly fee to end-users. Such platforms can be built using some of the most recent web 2.0 startups, but still not for mobile platforms. While enterprises try to conceal the Total Cost of Ownership when it comes to deploying non-standard mobile technology, small and medium sized companies know well that investing in a centralized, standardized platform decreases TOS by as much as 30%. If the platform happens to offer a plug-in system / SDK / open-source following, all the better.

Of course, DoS attacks remain an issue, on at least two layers. Drivers can be overloaded and corrupted; radio waves can be intercepted and jammed. Either way, there is still little that can be done and while these issues occur quite rarely, we will have to wait for the protocol itself to be fixed before any headway can be made here.

All in all, exciting changes – for neo-nomads, virtual employees, neighborhood ISPs and VoIP providers. If you haven’t grabbed a pre-N device, now is the time, provided it can be flashed to the latest firmware when (or if) it comes out.