I do not believe there will be a slowdown because of increased security concerns. There are excellent methods available to protect wireless LANs access and data transmission. As mentioned above, we believe the best way to secure wireless LANs is through the use of certificate-based authentication (augmented with the use of smart cards or other token technology, if desired) to VPNs. The certificate-based authentication ensures strong user identification that avoids the numerous security issues involved in using weak passwords to identify WLAN users. And, the VPN technology provides an additional layer of data encryption on top of the native wireless LAN encryption, known as WEP (Wireless Encryption Protocol).

What are your predictions for the future when it comes to wireless security?

My predictions are as follows:

1) Organizations that use wireless LANs without appropriate protection will have their systems and information breached. These breaches will lead to a loss of brand equity and very likely the loss of customers and partners.


2) Organizations that properly protect their wireless LANs will reap the benefits of the technology -- improved productivity and decreased networking costs (both for administration and wiring)

3) Wireless LAN growth in Europe will catch up and being to outstrip growth in North America in 2004 (my anecdotal understanding, from talking with media in Europe, is that use of wireless LANs in Europe is low today)

4) Wireless LAN technology will be used as a key communications technology in emergency response situations (e.g., in response to terrorist attacks, etc ...)