Scope in WiFi

The WiFi or the wireless fidelity is not only an advantage in the direction of making all fidelities connected wirelessly, but our life on the road has just got a lot easier. You no longer need to cross your fingers as you wait for your notebook to boot up. Just press a button and get all your office data in your notepad. Not only can a notepad, every thing that you use in office connecting wire that you can access from any place inside the hotspot. It may be railway station, airport. As it connects fidelities, so it has a great scope. Though it has not reached to major parts of the society, still it is emerging. People prefer their fidelities to be wire-free. WiFi Net Connections in Parks, hotels The San Francisco state last week announced a deal with SBC communication to provide wireless internet access points in 85 state parks. Now park visitors can take laptop computers and other portable devices to connect to the internet from areas known as "wilderness". Internet access, provided through WiFi technology, will be available mostly in central spots in parks; the first access point became operational in a state park in San Diego last week: the other access points will be in place by May, in time for the summer camping, hiking and e-mailing season. With increasd demand of VoIP, most PSTN users swith to VoIP. Those countries have legalised the VoIP, are trying to regulating VoIP services as PSTN services are regulated. Today, the Federal Communications Commission of U.S. has ordered all VoIP service providers to attach a sticker warning that traditional 911 services aren't available, those who do not provide 911 services. It also recently required VoIP operators to support CALEA wiretap functionality. If you wanted to, you could file your taxes from the beach. It is not recommended suggested by some people. Under the deal, SBC will give park visitors free internet access to California state government web pages like those giving road closure information. It is hoped the park visitors would use the free connections to learn about camp grounds and safety information. But using websites other than government site have to pay for.

WiFi stands for wireless fidelity and is a popular technology being used by homes, workplaces, mobiles and computer systems world-wide.

The unique feature of WiFi is that it uses two technologies simultaneously:

Single carrier direct-sequence spread spectrum radio technology Multi-carrier OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) radio technology

Why do We Need WiFi?

To facilitate convenient access to information To eliminate the need for wires and cables in order to access data and media. To aid compatibility and connectivity between different systems in the network To eliminate the need for other paraphernalia like switchboards, adapters and plugs that clutter up the work station.

What can WiFi do?

Access to internet is possible with any WiFi (wireless fidelity) enabled device such as:

Personal Computer Laptop Cellular Phone PDA Game Console MP3 Player

Hot Spots or wireless access points may be:

Limited to a single small area Cover a large area as a mesh network made up of several overlapping access points Provide free internet access Require a paid membership

Where can WiFi (wireless fidelity) be used?

WiFi Hot Spots can be made available in the following set-ups:

Home Office Airports Hotels Railway stations Restaurants

Benefits of WiFi (wireless fidelity) :

In wireless ad-hoc network mode, devices like consumer electronics and gaming applications can directly connect and exchange data with each other. Digital images can be transferred wirelessly from cameras and other devices. All connected devices within the range have access to internet and inter-networking. Wi-Fi (wireless fidelity) enables wireless voice-applications (VoWLAN or WVOIP) WiFi provides a secure computer networking gateway, firewall, DHCP server and an intrusion detection system among many other features. Cost of cabling and network deployment of Local Area Networks is significantly reduced. Can be used at placed where wiring and cable lay-out is not feasible. Due to its cost effective nature, it can be used widely in corporate set-ups and university campuses. A standard WiFi (wireless fidelity)device can function in any geographical location. Latest service protocols like WPA2 encryption and WMM enhance the security parameters and make WiFi more adaptable to latency-sensitive applications. WMM also enhances the battery efficiency and optimizes power consumption.

Limitations:
Like any othet piece of technology, WiFi (wireless fidelity) too has its set of drawbacks that are listed as follows:

Global inconsistency of spectrum assignments and operational limitations. Overlapping of channels. Limited range of Equivalent Isotropically radiated power in some areas. Greater power consumption compared to lower bandwidth standards. Limited battery life due to range and reach requirements. WiFi network range is also limited. At constant radiation levels, the signal strength decreases with range expansion.

Security and Privacy:

WiFi (wireless fidelity) networks are typically open or un-encrypted as a default setting. In order to secure a WiFi (wireless fidelity), network, the device must be configured using a Graphical User Interface or GUI. Un-encrypted networks are freely accessible and any data can be accessed through these.

Parts of a Standard WiFi device:

Wireless access points: establishes a link between wireless devices and LAN and facilitates relaying of information. Wireless adapters allow devices to connect to a wireless network mediums like PCI, miniPCI, USB, ExpressCard, Cardbus and PC card. They may be external or internal.. Wireless routers establish a connection between wired and wireless ethernet LAN and a WAN device such as cable modem or DSL modem. Wireless network bridges connect a wired network to a wireless network or use a wireless link to connect two wired networks. Wireless range extenders or wireless repeaters enhance the range of an existing wireless network by expanding a signal area or maneuvering signals around physical obstacles.

Scope of WiFi (wireless fidelity):

Can be implemented in remote monitoring systems like telemedicine and security systems. Latest embedded WiFi (wireless fidelity)models are equipped with real time operating systems that enable communication via serial ports. Facilitates transfer of real time data over the internet to anywhere in the world- a facility that can have a vast utility in the medical and research field. Simplicity of design make the devices user-friendly
Scope of Wi-Fi Technology

We have seen that businesses are using Wi-Fi technology to provide mobile access to the Internet. This allows users to acess Internet from anywhere whether they are at the hotels, in the plane , or at the airport lounge. Mobile Technology is on the rise these days. Businesses see lot of benefits from sophisticated wireless computing infrastructure. In 2004, Meta Group had found that with the use of mobile technology, companies gained an average of 6 hours a week of additional useful work per employee, when they switched from desktop PCs to notebook computers. Meta Group also reported that most of the companies used wireless notebooks. This was the strategic business decision to achieve payback in staff productivity, and business efficiency. These productivity and cost benefits were not achieved because employees were working any harder or longer. It was because employees were working more flexibly and intelligently instead. The primary reason for this progress was that the industry laptop PCs had longer battery life with integrated wireless Lan capabillity and high mobile performance. In the last two years, there has been lot of improvement in wireless internet connectivity. Hotspots have helped business users becoming more productive. We had seen in the discussion when SMcCrory posted about "Digital Hospital," and how they can save lives and money at Hackensack Medical Center. Doctors could examine x-rays or any report that was located at the hospital's web site from any where. With on-line drug system, medicine could be ordered from anywhere and the results of this change was astounding. Patients mortality rate was down and the quality of care was up. Whether it is manufacturing or service industry, everyone is realizing a significant gains with the improvement in wireless interenet

connectivity. From the financial point of view, return of investment has increased from adopting a mobile working strategy