Sunday, March 31, 2013

WLAN Empowers Productivity- In A Huge New Way

April 1, 2013                 trifecta

Too often, the human side of the enterprise is forgotten when we talk high-performance networking. But Etherbrilliance has created a simple "WLAN = High Staff Productivity" equation that is set to revolutionize unerdperforming organizations through their Wi-Fi environments. The days of wishing your staff could get more accomplished are over.


Miracles really do occur in the strangest of places. I recently took a briefing with Howard Hamilton, CTO of Etherbrilliance, and am pleasantly floored by the new line of Mid-span Performance Injector Modules (MPIM) that Etherbrilliance is rolling out through channel partners. All I can think is, my goodness- what took so long for something like this to come along?

The paradigm- you have employees that just aren't as productive as they should be. Or the synergies that you need driven deeper into the value chain aren't getting there. You expect collaborative excellence from your organization, yet it eludes you despite sending your best personnel to one pricey staff-development seminar after another. We've all been there, and it sucks. But those days are over- with Etherbrilliance, the solution lies in your WLAN.

That's right. Your business Wi-Fi network holds the key to your organizational productivity problems.

By simply inserting one or more MPIM modules inline between the closet switch and your deployed access points, you are creating a framework that not only provides network access to wireless clients, you are also broadcasting Productivity, Synergy, and Excellence into your environment via your Wi-Fi cells. Best of all, the solution is WLAN-vendor agnostic.

Hamilton explains the technology: "Using Transparent Gulian Capture Protonics, researchers at Etherbrilliance were able to harvest the very essence of several performance factors- including Productivity, Synergy, and Excellence- from the afterglow of a number of ITIL and Dale Carnegie conferences. We duplicate them in our labs in a manner that allows each to seep upstream (into the UTP wiring that provides the uplink to wireless access points) by inline insertion of one or more MPIM modules."

Enhanced productivity heatmaps will overlay exactly to your WLAN coverage (in both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz where dual-band access points are used). The MPIM modules have no hit on either the LAN or wireless network. Hamilton:

"Here's a typical deployment example- You pop a Synergy MPIM inline, the essence of synergy flows to the access point for broadcast transmission, and wireless users in the cell are bathed in an imperceptible synergistic cloud that is enabled by the transmitted RF.  The more antennas you have, the better it works. Managers then brief staff that it's a new day, synergy is in the air, and that they can either get on board or find their way to the exit. The modules are fool-proof, so any employee that doesn't turn his or her performance around when our mojo is in use can be considered unreachable, and you should find a new hire to take their place."

MPIMs can be daisy-chained for organizations that need improvement in multiple areas. Given the permutations available, you might choose to invoke individual performance factors targeted to address specific workgroup deficiencies. Or you might opt for combinations like Productive Excellence, Synergistic Productivity, or even Excellent Productive Synergies. Where a double-dose of a single performance factor is needed, you simply put two of the same modules inline to achieve Synergy Prime, Mega-Prod, or Hyper Excellence.

Etherbrilliance licenses each MPIM individually, and provides for free solar-recharging of the modules' patent-pending Passive Essence Dispersion Engines for customers with window-equipped facilities. And the initial offering is just the tip of an impressive iceberg. There is more coming from Etherbrilliance, as Hamilton expects strong demand.

"We're working on a tactical deployment model that can be delivered via a pen-like form factor. You'll be able to simply "write" the word Excellence on your uplink patch cable, and Excellence will flow through the Wi-Fi cell to your employees. This delivery stylus gives a half-power dose versus the MPIM, but is non-disruptive and can be deployed by even field supervisors with good penmanship."

Other MPIMs that are being developed for Q3 delivery include Common Sense, Attention Span, Critical Thinking, and Manners. Etherbrilliance is also working with a few Fortune 1700 companies on custom builds that include the absolute Golden Fleece of motivation- Aroma of Bacon. Expect news on this in Q4, along with an announcement on high-gain Moral Booster modules that are currently making their way through FCC type-certification.

Having both a large WLAN and staff performance concerns, I have only one word for Hamilton's new offering: Brilliance. Look for Etherbrilliance to set next year's Unwired Innovation Expo on fire.

Individual modules list at $190, with 10-packs available for $3250.

Friday, March 29, 2013

Learning a Bit About ZigBee, and Passing it On

I recently got involved with a project where ZigBee was a candidate solution, and had to sharpen what little I previously knew about it. Here's a short summary of what I picked up about the wireless technology with the cute name.

From my CWNA days, I knew that ZigBee:

  • is the the IEEE 802.15.4 standard

  • plays in the 2.4 GHz spectrum

  • uses narrow-band channels

  • is low-power, with batteries that last years

  • can use dynamic mesh topology for efficiency, interference avoidance

  • is typically associated with sensors, building controls


But that's where my knowledge ended.

What I recently learned about ZigBee:

  • The ZigBee Alliance is great resource for all things 802.15.4

  • Coexistence between ZigBee and WiFi tends to be a natural point of concern for environments that have big WLAN and might want to also use ZigBee. Here are excellent whitepapers on the topic from The Alliance and from Schneider Electric.

  • ZigBee has recently announced IPv6 support, and will be deep in Smart Energy systems

  • This is an important slide for IP network-minded folk that need to know how ZigBee can interplay with IP


My specific project involved a company called Salto Systems, who builds their own protocol on ZigBee. I was looking at Salto's ZigBee-based door locks. I learned the following about the Salto topology, which is probably fairly typical of ZigBee systems:

  • There is a Control Server that keeps it all going, used for monitoring and config

  • The server talks to Gateways, which are powered by standard PoE and in many ways are just another endpoint on the LAN from the network perspective

  • Each Gateway can feed up to 6 Nodes, and by extension up to 96 wireless locks (Each Node wirelessly services up to 16 locks)

  • Gateways connect to Nodes via RS485 bus for data and power. These runs can be standard UTP, but because they are not home run to data closets, they do bring a new wiring paradigm where used

  • There are a number of topologies that can be arrived at between Gateways and Nodes, and lots of daisy-chaining is possible

  • Each Wireless Lock needs to be within 15 meters of a Node, with clear line of site between Locks and Nodes


That's pretty much it, although the Salto thing is just one ZigBee case study. It's pretty clear that there is much more to be learned about this fascinating technology that typically doesn't make it to my own wireless radar.

Here's a nice, basic video that contrasts Zigbee with WiFi, although it's a bit dated on it's 802.11 rates: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buV11ZPJ7MQ

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Great Resources on Muni Wi-Fi

Municipal wireless network initiatives have been proposed, attempted, shut down, celebrated, maligned, and utilized since Wi-Fi went mainstream back in the day. Each attempt at Muni WiFi is it's own case study of politics-meets-technology, and many have done OK while others have tanked hard. In the aggregate, this is an interesting space.

Through the last decade or so, I've written a number of pieces on municipal wireless for Network Computing Magazine (NWC), and the now defunct Cabling Business Magazine. As I was researching for a recent NWC blog on the new Ruckus Wireless/San Jose, CA Muni Wi-Fi initiative, I came across a number of resources that are dynamite for anyone interested in the whole municipal wireless thing. Again- it's politics, technology, different use cases, and people when it comes to Muni Wi-Fi, which also means it's pretty darn interesting.

Muniwireless.com is my new favorite place to follow goings on in this space, followed by the Community Broadband Networks web site. Going through each, I was floored to see just how contentious the topic of community wireless is at the state level in many states, usually where carriers lobby hard to eliminate perceived competition. Both of these sites get into the political foofa at the right depth, and are easy reads while giving a lot of information.

I really do hope that the San Jose network powered by Ruckus Wireless can end up as a good example of contemporary Muni Wi-Fi done right technically, with proper political handling. There's just so much potential for wireless to serve communities, and given that we all live in a wireless-minded culture that didn't exist during earlier unsuccessful attempts at community networks, it would be nice to see more in the muni win column.

The GovTech.com web site did a nice piece on San Jose's project.

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

The FCC's Equipment Authorization Search is Captivating (If You're Into That Sort Of Thing)

Being an amateur radio operator and paperwork originator for a few licensed point-to-point network links, I occasionally find myself in the FCC's Universal Licensing System (ULS). Trolling around in the ULS can be kinda fun (when you're really, really bored) if you want to get information on different kinds of valid and expired licenses for everything from public safety to TV stations to IT-related transmitters.

For those of us in the Wi-Fi world, there is another FCC resource that holds a treasure trove of information on every piece of gear ever certified for use in the US. The EAS (Equipment Authorization Search) is your gateway to RF testing reports, internal and external photos of a particular access point, wireless router, etc, and basically the whole "how it came to be" story for each device.

An example- the BlueSocket model 1800v2  access point.

1. Go to the EAS front door.

2. In "Applicant Name" field, enter BlueSocket. (I've not had much luck with any of the other fields, even when I have the absolute specific information that should go in them.) You may want to adjust the "show ___ records at a time" field from the default of 10, to something like 50 or 100.

3. Click "Start Search" at bottom of page.

4. You'll be presented with a table of fairly obvious values- some will be one page, and some will span dozens of pages depending on manufacturer. For BlueSocket, there are only 32 entries and finding my 1800v2 in FCC ID column is pretty easy.

NOTE- Each piece of equipment has Summary or Detail available. Being geeky, we want Detail, as that is where the good stuff is. If multiple entries for same device, pick most current date.

5. You'll be rewarded with a table of contents like this:






OET Exhibits List

14 Matches found for FCC ID TIH-BSAP1800V2






























































































































View AttachmentExhibit TypeDate Submitted to FCCDisplay TypeDate Available
Ad Hoc letterCover Letter(s)03/17/2010pdf03/17/2010
Request for ConfidentialityCover Letter(s)03/17/2010pdf03/17/2010
PoACover Letter(s)03/17/2010pdf03/17/2010
External PhotosExternal Photos03/17/2010pdf03/17/2010
Label Location InfoID Label/Location Info03/17/2010pdf03/17/2010
Internal PhotosInternal Photos03/17/2010pdf03/17/2010
Monopole MPE 11anRF Exposure Info03/17/2010pdf03/17/2010
MPE PIFA 11anRF Exposure Info03/17/2010pdf03/17/2010
Monopole Test ReportTest Report03/17/2010pdf03/17/2010
Monopole Test Report 11anTest Report03/17/2010pdf03/17/2010
PIFA Test ReportTest Report03/17/2010pdf03/17/2010
Monopole Test Setup PhotosTest Setup Photos03/17/2010pdf03/17/2010
PIFA TEst Setup PhotosTest Setup Photos03/17/2010pdf03/17/2010
USer ManualUsers Manual03/17/2010pdf03/17/2010

And from there, you can see more than you ever imagined you could care about a wireless device. The Internal Photos and Test Setup Photos tend to be the most interesting, at least to me. Enjoy!

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

I Friggin' LOVE You, Ruckus ZoneFlex 7055

Image

Why aren't the other WLAN makers doing this? Why isn't MY wireless vendor doing this?

I have ran an awful lot of UTP in my day. Those of us who grew up installing UTP before wireless came along know that network wiring isn't just copper in the wall. When properly installed by trained professionals, premise wiring is as much a component as anything else in the enterprise network environment.

Where solid, well-provisioned cabling systems are getting less used because wireless is fundamentally changing our access habits, we have an easily overlooked investment at the ready. So why do we have to run more wire for wireless access points when we're often just a few yards away from perpetually unused UTP runs in the wall?

I get that ceiling-mount APs are the preferred methodology where possible. But holy smackers, sometimes getting there takes huge money, new pathway, hazardous materials abatement, and dancing with a labor union or two. In the right setting, an AP designed to leverage existing wall-plate network jacks would be the cat's ass, baby.

Ruckus gets it, and just announced their sweet new ZoneFlex 7055 access point.

With dual-band 11n, 2x2 MIMO, support for 16 SSIDs, a Gigabit uplink port and four Fast Ethernet ports all powered by 802.3af PoE, the 7055 brings a lot of capability at a list price of $369. Yes- three hundred and sixty-nine dollars... Shut up!

The ZoneFlex 7055 will also power an IP phone, and mesh other locally-powered 7055s that just can't be located where cable exists, which amounts to a pretty empowering feature set.

You already own the wire, you might as well use it.

And with that, Ruckus hits one of my top-three requests for WLAN makers!

Friday, March 1, 2013

Hey Printer Makers- You Realize That It's 2013, Right?

printer My latest annual trip into the wireless printer space has been as frustrating as the many that have come before it... *sigh*.

The world is going wireless, isn't it? Wireless networks are bulking up in size, capacity, and feature sets as Ethernet is getting pushed farther toward the margins for general access. Workstations do nicely on good wireless, and those using them aren't missing being tethered to a jack in the wall. And wireless lets you have amazing flexibility in configuring office spaces by eliminating the need to only put desks next to wall jacks. Good times, yes?

Except for the sorry, sucky, stagnant, stinky state of enterprise printers that don't support business-class wireless networks.


What's really crazy is that printers are amazing machines, and other than their networking capabilities, have evolved right along with everything else in the office environment. Printers have gotten ever more sleek, energy efficient, feature rich, and cost-effective. Given that printers are living in the same atmosphere as the rest of the business environment, I just don't get why their networking abilities are frozen somewhere around 1992.

My latest adventure, which is deja vu all over again from previous attempts to see if printer manufacturers yet "get it":

I invited every printer rep I have access to (via the clients I support) to update me on their ability to provide a printer that functions as a wireless network client in a secure, standards-based business wireless environment. The general low-level discussion reflected that most printer sales people still really have no idea what this even means, but one came forward and thought he had a good solution.

I won't throw rocks at the salesguy or SE that tried to work with me, as they sincerely thought they could fill the bill based on the simple needs: support WPA2-AES encryption, with MS-CHAPv2/PEAP authentication and not just work in a pre-share mode. These gents read through specs and thought they had a winner, despite not really understanding what the words meant, and in good faith got me a trial unit.

The skinny? Indeed, all the right words were there in the interface. In fact, the interface looked like someone opened up a Newton's Telecom Dictionary and dumped every protocol they could find even remotely related to networking onto the pages.

Yeah- 802.1x was there- but it was for the printer's wired Ethernet adapter, I realized after several attempts to make sense of the UI. You could instruct the wireless config that you wanted WPA or WPA2 (and not the PSK version), but these setting don't "map" to the 802.1x settings in any way. So close...

This has been my experience time and again with top-end printers that claim wireless capabilities in business settings. You wade through a sea of obsolete protocols in the config pages, get your hopes up if you see the right EAP types and similar mentioned, but can never quite stitch it together in a way that works. I have yet to see a clear, single-view menu that lets you build a wireless profile like you would on other wireless client devices, and it is maddening.

Ah well, time to box this one up, send it back, and hope for better from the printer industry in 2014.

 

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