In this editorial at ZDNet, columnist Steven Vaughan-Nichols complains that there are too many wireless LAN alternatives. Vaughan-Nichols writes . . .

“I've been covering wireless LAN technology since I was on top of a Goddard Space Flight Center office building on a snowy day trying to make a T1 (1.544 Mbps) hook-up over a jury-rigged point-to-point microwave connection. At the time, as the connection kept failing and the snow kept falling, I kept thinking there had to be an easier way.”

“Today, there are many easier ways to do wireless networking. In fact, and this is the bad news, there are too many ways to make a wireless LAN work. First, we have 802.11b, known to those who love it as Wi-Fi. But, we're already seeing far faster 802.11a network interface cards and hubs powered by the Atheros chipset and by the third quarter of 2002 we should see 802.11g and ultrawideband (UWB). What's a network manager to do?

The answer is to look carefully at each protocol and see where it might fit into your overall enterprise plan . . .”

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