InformationWeek

Before traders could begin clamoring about the data-rate meltdown, Dolce informed them that the problem was already corrected. A server at a member firm was spewing data, hogging all available bandwidth to the floor. Exchange staff immediately disconnected the router until the renegade server could be fixed.

Dolce, director of the exchange's trading-floor systems operations in New York, credits the ability to quickly douse the fires of trader discontent to his wireless network management system. The SpectrumSoft Wireless Network Management System from Symbol Technologies Inc., integrated with HP OpenView from Hewlett-Packard, quickly identified the network bottleneck, letting the IT staff solve the problem before it became more than a minor annoyance to traders.

Network-management tools have advanced enough so that IT managers worldwide can harness wired local and wide area networks. Now, they must look ahead to riding herd on an unruly collection of wireless devices, ranging from cell phones to on-the-go notebook PCs and even remote point-of-sale terminals. Wireless network-management tools let companies monitor traffic levels, ensure security, assist capacity planning, and provide an overall picture of network health.

The first tsunami of wireless devices is hitting beachheads as executives ditch their Day-Timers for Palm Pilots and abandon long-distance calling cards for cell phones. Forrester Research estimates that more than 25 million Internet-ready handheld devices will be in the grasp of Americans in the next three years. This tracks with the prediction of the Strategis Group, which estimates that 25 million users will access wireless portals in the next five years.

Companies must come to grips with integrating these devices into the corporate networking hierarchy for two reasons: The devices often carry valuable data with little control, and, more strategically, they represent a new option for collaborating internally and along the supply chain.

In fact, Craig Mathias, director at the mobile computing and data communications consulting firm Mobile Insights, says IT managers should look beyond traditional reasons for giving wireless devices to mobile sales and other executives. As the Internet reduces the need for face-to-face transactions, companies may equip customers with wireless devices for collaborative communications.

A new crop of technology is turning wireless wish lists into to-do lists. IP, the undisputed king of networking, simplifies connectivity between wired and wireless networks. Also, a high-speed, low-power wireless-technology standard known as Bluetooth--created by a consortium of mobile phone, portable computer, and chip companies--promises instant connectivity within 30 feet among computers, personal digital assistants, and a host of lesser devices within about 30 feet. The Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) is emerging as the standard to transmit data to and from handheld devices. The worldwide IEEE 802.11b standard, which uses the 2.4-GHz-to-2.48-GHz frequency band to transmit data wirelessly, can handle speeds up to 11 Mbps.

Once international jousting over standards has finished, third-generation wireless technology will increase wireless-data rates from the current 9.6 Kbps up to 2 Mbps, allowing new levels of functionality such as fast Web access and even videoconferencing in Internet access devices. In years ahead, wireless networks could transmit in the wide-open spaces of the 5-GHz band, allowing eye-popping data transmission speeds of up to 54 Mbps.

Ultimately, all these technologies will have to be managed and integrated into existing networks, especially if pervasive computing is to become a reality. Already, the technologies exist to let Tom O'Connor, head of knowledge-management systems at natural gas company BG Group plc, formerly British Gas, in Reading, England, use his Palm V PDA and Nokia 7100 cell phone in Paris to access reports from an intranet in the United Kingdom. Using an infrared link, the PDA can dial through the WAP-enabled Nokia phone to the server in England. Because of security concerns, the only data accessible via such wireless telephone link is a daily press summary and similar publicly available data. The press summary, available at 7 a.m. each day, is a compilation of worldwide news clippings about BG Group.

The primary management issue, of course, is physical security. Devices small enough to carry in a purse are easy to leave behind at a bar. Other issues involve network planning, synchronization, configuration, and even asset management.

But wireless networking presents new challenges in addition to the classic management migraines. Fred Landram, senior product manager at wireless management software maker Symbol Technologies, points out several key differences. First, wireless networks are hierarchical, with mobile units associated with access points. Standard network-management products for wired networks cannot represent such a tiered topology.