Wireless worlds
Working habits are changing. A more mobile and flexible workforce is confronting IT Professionals with new challenges and demanding different ways of accessing networks. IT Pros would do well to embrace the convergence innovations heading their way
The pace of technology change is so fast that sometimes it is hard to stand still and take stock of what is really happening. This is especially true in the communications worlds, where IP convergence is having a fundamental effect on the working practices of organisations all over the world. For IT Professionals it is a time to take stock, find out as much as possible about how these changes might affect them, and start to change some of their basic approaches to providing technology to their organisations.
George Bartley, managing director of Building Zones, part of the Cordless Group says there are currently huge changes in terms of networks convergence going on. “It used to be that the IT backbones would only have to cater for desktops and laptops,” he says. “But now it is in a major transition phase. For example, around 20 per cent of UK companies are using VoIP so it is still early days, but this is the time to get prepared. VoIP makes commercial sense because of the large cost savings that can be made through cabling, and because of the implications for more effective change management. So traditional IT and telephony managers need to pay attention. The next stage will be for building management to be run over IP, so that CCTV and everything else will be on the same network.”
The problem is that most IT and communications people don’t speak all those languages, according to Bartley, so they need to make sure they understand what is going on so that they can work effectively in a converged network environment.
Building Zones provides technology services that change the way people use buildings, it has been one of the pioneers in providing wireless access solutions, and operates the most active public wireless site in central London, the British Library, which has more than 3,000 visitors each day. The company also provides private wireless infrastructures for companies to allow visitors to their sites to get on line securely.
“Wi-Fi was a big change for everyone,” says Bartley. “And more and more wireless is now coming online, which is offering new ways of working, with major implications for how offices are designed and how space in them is allocated. It used to be that workers had their own spaces, but now spaces are more likely to be task related.”
For many companies security is the biggest worry in this arena. However, this is one area where IT professionals can really make a strategic difference if they understand how security on wireless systems works, Bartley believes. “Skilled IT professionals can give reassurance to organisations, because there is no good reason not to use wireless systems. They should skill up areas like rogue access, weak encryption, and un-trusted devices.”
IT has traditionally been concerned with mission critical applications for the business, and IT managers have often worked hard to keep anything else away from these systems. But IT Professionals now need to begin to really embrace innovation, especially in the networked convergence arena. For example, convergence devices are now being used in the basic building controls for organisations, and it all needs to work together. Last year Building Zones completed work on the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development’s (CIPD) new HQ in Wimbledon. The building uses extensive Wi-Fi technology, which allows for cordless telephony, wireless Internet access throughout the building, and giving visitors access through an online visitor portal with user names and passwords issued by the reception desk.
Many companies are now using primary transactional networks for their internal business systems, together with a secondary network for visitor access, new digital media, and mobile telephony. There is a good business case for the second network, and partioning of trusted and un-trusted networks, so that any un-trusted device is kept nowhere near the mission critical corporate servers.
Bartley believes that IT Professionals have to keep a careful eye on the innovations in the market, and become skilled in embracing these innovations. “IT Professionals have to be ready for wholesale convergence,” he says. “The technologies being developed and taken up, like WiMax and transitional wireless hotspots, are changing the landscape of the workplace, and habits of the workforce. IT Professionals have to understand the technologies, and then embrace the innovative working practices which they will lead to.”
