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Wireless From the June 2005 issue of Communications News |
Firm rests easy with WLAN Network administrators like Christian Wilson at Select Comfort face a number of concerns when they implement a wireless LAN (WLAN). There are potential problems, for example, with bandwidth capacity, access point inefficiency and new security vulnerabilities. Wilson, however, was able to resolve those frustrations by turning to his network analyzer. Select Comfort has more than 2,600 employees, 368 retail outlets and reported net sales of $458 million in 2003. Headquartered in Minneapolis, the company also has manufacturing plants in South Carolina and Utah. Select Comfort implemented a WLAN to support employees managing inventory. They wanted the convenience of walking freely around the warehouse to scan the inventory, making the company’s just-in-time process easier to follow. Then, corporate users demanded the convenience of wireless networking, allowing them to carry their laptops around the building without the hassle of cords. The boost in WLAN users made Wilson pay extra special attention to such factors as bandwidth utilization. “Every morning, I check the bandwidth utilization graph for inconsistencies,” Wilson says. “For example, if the network traffic suddenly shot up at 2 a.m., I know that is out of the ordinary and something I need to investigate. Network Instruments’ Observer helped me make a smooth transition from a strictly wired network to adding wireless.” When the network began slowing down, Wilson’s immediate assumption was capacity issues, but his analyzer showed this not to be the case. “With Observer’s reporting, I could see our WLAN traffic was slowing down,” he explains. “I thought the issue fell with our current capacity and we needed to upgrade our access points.” By digging a bit deeper with the analyzer, he discovered that a new application was causing the delay, not the access points he originally thought. “This application was internally developed and, by adjusting the program, we were able to get throughput back to normal–without having to purchase a thing,” Wilson says. Wilson did find, however, that the access points were a source of inefficiency and security vulnerabilities. “Observer’s wireless site survey showed me our access points were not positioned well,” he says. “Signals were bouncing back and bleed was out of control. We had to turn our access points down because the analyzer showed there was too much power going through the airwaves. Then I used the analyzer to find the most optimal location for the access points and ensure the antennas were positioned correctly.” While Wilson was running the wireless site survey, he also made an unexpected discovery–numerous rogue access points. “I only had six access points deployed, but Observer saw a lot more,” Wilson offers. “Employees were purchasing access points on their own and installing them below their desks. This was incredibly dangerous from a security point of view.” This discovery convinced Wilson to increase wireless security by implementing a stronger form of encryption. “We were using WEP for encryption, but with all this traffic flying through the air, it made me worry about how easy it could be for a would-be hacker with a wireless card in our parking lot to get access to our data,” he says. “We upgraded to IPSec, a much stronger encryption.” For more information from Network Instruments: |