Wireless LAN security falls short says META Group
Wireless LAN security falls short says META Group
Wireless LAN vendors have failed to deliver interoperable, highly secure wireless LANs, with security still the primary inhibitor to enterprise adoption of wireless LAN technologies.
That is according to META Group. The analyst group said that achieving a highly secure enterprise wireless LAN remains a challenge to vendors, despite three years having elapsed since initial concerns about wireless LAN security emerged. META say vendors have succeeded only in confusing the market by offering solutions that are complex, costly to implement, and often cumbersome to support.
Despite the continued growth of the consumer wireless LAN market, total revenues from enterprise wireless LAN sales have recently declined. Enterprises have resisted adopting wireless LANs due to the immaturity of security and management standards.
"Although new standards are emerging, the complexity is still too great, forcing companies to postpone wireless LAN deployment," according to Chris Kozup, program director with META Group’s Technology Research Services. "Despite all the vendor marketing hype, standards remain immature and vendors continue to push their individual agendas."
META also warned enterprises to be aware of the complexity that remains in securing wireless LANs, adding that organisations will be forced to select a wireless system from a single vendor or take a VPN security approach until standards stabilize in 2005.
By 2006, META says the integration of wireless features into the wired infrastructure will ease operational complexities and enable wireless LANs to be treated as just another network-access medium.
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