Two thousand users with wireless network access cards installed in
their laptops are now connected on Novell's new wireless local area
network (LAN) at the company's headquarters.
The LAN has 100 access points deployed in seven buildings on
Novell's new base in Utah, said Tracy Young, the company's global
network architect.
A point-to-point wireless link between the headquarters and
Novell's private terminal at Provo Airport - and two access points
at the airport - allows employees waiting for flights and staff
that maintain company aircraft to connect wirelessly to the
network, Young said.
The LAN is based on 802.11b technology, the default 11Mbps standard
for wireless Ethernet networks, Young said. The wireless network
interface cards and the access points installed at Novell are made
by Avaya.
A single wireless LAN running outside Novell's corporate firewalls
gives staff easy wireless Internet access without the need for
complex security manoeuvres, said Young. At the same time, Novell's
wired corporate network is protected from unauthorised wireless
access by hackers.
To get through the Novell firewall to their data and applications
wirelessly, Novell employees enter the open wireless network and
then log on to a virtual private network (VPN) that establishes a
secure tunnel to the corporate network, Young explained.
Stan Schatt, an analyst at Giga Information Group, said: "There are
a lot of security issues with wireless. Setting up the network
outside the firewall [and using a VPN] is a smart thing to do."
Young's approach means that network managers would not have to
contend with wired equivalent privacy (WEP) encryption, an approach
to securing wireless networks that has been deemed inadequate by
some security experts, said Jason Smolek, an analyst at IDC.
But VPNs can slow network throughput, warned Smolek.
Young acknowledged that as wireless LAN technologies become faster,
VPNs could eventually crimp performance, but said: "There's a
second or two to establish a VPN connection, but once you have the
connection, there's no degradation."
Novell's wireless network was implemented in 30 days, according to
Sniffer Technologies, whose Sniffer Wireless tools were used to
facilitate setup and ongoing management of the network
Young said companies thinking about setting up a large wireless
network needed a troubleshooting tool.
"We're developers [at Novell]; people here do everything they can
to break the network," Young said. "When that happens, we use
Sniffer to track down the user or machine and fix the problem."
Sniffer's wireless tool includes a data recorder for tracking
network traffic by user and access point. Users of WEP-enabled
wireless networks can also use Sniffer to detect intrusion attempts
by unauthorised users.