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Before installing a wireless network, you will need to answer some very basic questions. The following sections look at your planning issues one at a time.
What is my environment?
Is your network indoors or outdoors? The answer to this question might drive all the other decisions. What was used to construct your building? Cement? Metal framing? Is it an office environment? Is it a shop environment with electric motors? Is it a medical environment? Do you have a cafeteria with a microwave? Do you have an elevator? Do you have wireless mice or keyboards? Do you have a "cube farm"? Do you have office doors? Are they made of metal? Do you have long hallways? A "yes" answer to any one of these questions may cause you problems. For instance, metal walls can diffract signals.
Basically, obstacles cause reflections resulting in multiple paths from the source to the receiver, which can have an adverse effect on your wireless network. Wire-mesh is one of the most deadly obstacles; it can scatter almost all your wireless signals. Surfaces such as metal roofs, metal blinds, and metal doors can cause severe reflection and hence multipathing.
What is my budget?
Chances are you don't have an unlimited budget, but the good news is that the price of wireless has dropped remarkably in the last few years. Still, plan on spending a fair amount of money when building a network for your organization. While you should buy equipment that you can upgrade, keep in mind that not all features are for everyone. If you don't need 802.1X integration, don't pay for it. If you see your solution as having a short payback, you don't necessarily need an upgradeable solution when what you have meets your needs today.
As long as a wireless PC Card is Wi-Fi compliant, it should work with any Wi-Fi compliant access point. However, should you want to use the proprietary features such as EAP or longer encryption key lengths offered by a vendor, you may have to buy everything from that one manufacturer. Look around; this marketplace is very competitive.
How many clients do I expect?
Obviously, you want to build your network to support the demand within your organization. But does everyone need access today or can you wait and expand it later after you have some experience with radio frequency (RF) technology? Only you or someone in your organization can answer that question. Just don't forget the outsiders.
A fundamental axiom of networks is that they grow. So no matter how much you put in your plan, add some more. Many are working in companies that are prospering and growing (while others are going through rightsizing — or is it capsizing?). You need to figure out how many clients you will have today as well as next year at this time.
Where will they want to access the network?
If your clients want to use the wireless network only from their desktops, you need only worry about finding a PCI or USB solution. But what if your clients prefer laptops, and they want to access the Internet while having coffee in the cafeteria? What if they want to move from one meeting on the first floor to another meeting on the 22nd floor? This necessitates a PC Card or USB solution but also may involve multiple access points that support roaming. Finally, what if your clients consider wireless networking as the ability to access the organization's e-mail system while waiting for an airplane? Now you need to start thinking about how to accomplish that. Will you use WWAN (Wireless Wide Area Network) and Smart Digital, Compact Flash, PC Cards, or other formats? You should probably give thought to protecting the confidentiality of the data, as well. So it is important to know from where your clients want to access the wireless network.
What does the data look like?
Are people using your wireless network to download Web pages from the Internet? Are they sending graphics? Or are they sending video? Do they want to use or are they currently using VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol)? Understanding the data will help you understand the potential load on your wireless networks.
Do I need to protect the data?
Of course you need to protect your data. You should have some knowledge of the type of data you have and its use. How much you spend on protecting the data depends on the data's value. A big problem in most wireless implementations is that people don't use the features built into the products they buy. By some estimates, about half the wireless networks out there do not use encryption. To make matters worse, around half of them used the default network name as well. This is surprising when you consider all the press about the security (or lack thereof) of wireless networks. So ask yourself this: Do you really want people who drive past your home or office to be able to connect to your network?
What coverage do I need?
Are you trying to provide coverage to a particular location exclusively, such as the boardroom? Or do you have clients who intend to use the wireless network anywhere and everywhere? Do you want to provide coverage outside? Do you need to cover offices with a long common hallway? The answers to these questions affect the number of access points, the power level of the access points, the length of cables, and the type of antennae you use.
If you decide after examining the points covered thus far in this article that networking is a fit and you want to do some further investigation, you need to do a site survey.
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