NETWORKING; TODAY AND THE FUTURE

Wireless Networking Computers are connected to a ‘wireless network’ through wireless base stations that allow them to connect dozens of computers at a time without having to lay expensive physical infrastructure Using the IEEE wireless protocol, the base stations have a range of up to 150 meters and will connect even when there are walls in the way The cost of wireless networking technology would continue to fall as bandwidth expands and doubles from the existing 11Mbps to 22 Mbps by mid 2001 Much improved security is ensured, with encryption that was on a per-user per- session basis, as opposed to a shared-key encryption that was common to all users in a session e.g. by using Lucent’s brand new AS2000 technology

Open Sesame Concept & Protocol The concept of ‘open wireless systems’ refers to standards-based interface protocols between radio base stations, mobile switches and other network- infrastructure components Wireless network systems are becoming very common due to high volumes of data transfer, that is time-consuming on land-lines The optimal network system is attained through an open, plug-and-play system approach There is a wide variation depending on the markets served. Some regions require sophisticated, feature-rich applications with high bandwidth and high mobility for both voice and data services. Other regions need only a fixed-wireless or WLL application that provides basic POTS-like service

Standards such as ANSI-41 are defined and widely followed in order to implement and integrate internet solutions from multiple vendors in a single network Similar to the ANSI-41, the ‘A interface’ gives providers more flexibility to choose between radio-base-station and mobile-switch infrastructure vendors Standards are being forged and open-infrastructure systems are becoming a reality. The ANSI-634 standard is in place today for AMPS, TDMA and CDMA Even with an approved standard, it will be difficult to provide interoperability of multiple-infrastructure-vendor systems. Service providers are going to drive the evolution to open interfaces, allowing them to deploy multivendor base stations in their networks

Satellite-based Networks By 2002 broadband Internet access via satellite will be price and speed competitive with the land-based competition It will take 600 milliseconds (approx.) to transfer the information packets over TCP/IP, 200 milliseconds more than it’s land-based competition LEOS orbit the Earth at a height of just 500 to 1,000 miles. This makes them capable of providing smaller, more energy-efficient spot beams, and delivers latency potentially equal to (or better than) transcontinental fiber optic cable In order to communicate over the satellite, the TCP/IP protocol will have to be customized

There are physical restraints in deploying LEOS such as data latency issues and also communication between the ‘birds’ High Altitude Long Operation (HALO) technology by Angel Technologies in LA, uses small planes that act as LEOS but with reduced latency problems and maintenance issues Analysts say that satellite technology will not be available soon. The real problem is economics. Though satellite vendors tout their abilities to bring high-speed networking anywhere in the world, they wont be able to make a living serving only developing nations. They need to gain revenue serving wealthy, bandwidth-hungry places such as Silicon Valley. Unfortunately, those areas already have plenty of terrestrial broadband options, and customers wont necessarily flock to towers in the sky.

Neural Networking Technology The technology studies the target environment, becomes familiar with its daily behavior, identifies when the system is going out of its normal operating state and notifies network administrators A typical prediction of a problem issued by Neugents (CA’s Windows NT server- based network agents ) may look like: "At 11:00, Neugents predict a 95% probability that server AB232 will run out of virtual memory in approximately 45 minutes."

Analysts believe that Nugents is susceptible to failure because; Failure to estimate the unpredictabilities, faced by a ‘normal’ server Nugent’s initial focus is on systems, primarily NT, with no support for the network/application infrastructure Nugent doesn't take into account the interdependencies of multi-level protocol stacks involved in every networked application transaction

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