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Saturday, Nov 9, 2024

Wireless Widens in Workplace

With Internet access now integral to nearly all businesses, many companies and institutions are now moving toward wireless Internet access at their offices as prices for wireless, commonly known as wi-fi, have dropped and the number of businesspeople with laptops and PDAs has skyrocketed. One company profiting off of this trend is Calabasas-based Strix Systems, a manufacturer of wireless systems networks. “We’re seeing wireless appear in different areas. Hospitality has reacted favorably to the technology. They have a lot of people who come in and out of hotels and want broadband access. But across the board, companies are starting to go wireless,” Doug Huemme, the assistant vice-president of strategic and channel marketing for Strix, said. “You’re seeing small businesses in 20-person offices moving into new buildings and wanting wireless. It’s far more cost effective and it gives them a lot more flexibility. I would say to any business owner, large or small, that it would be a mistake not to consider wireless. It’s a far more effective option than wired.” Sherman Oaks-based Premiere Radio Networks, a producer and syndicator of radio program and services, has implemented wireless into its company with successful results. “We figured why not implement wireless. If we’re doing a presentation or a client comes in it and wants to use the Internet it makes things a lot more seamless. You never have to drag wires around,” Roger Seflinger, Premiere’s IT director said. “We have a little courtyard and people often decide to work out there or to use the wireless connection while having lunch. It makes things more convenient.” Wireless solutions come with a variety of different price tags and options. For someone looking to implement a system in their home, one can go to any electronics retailer and set it up for roughly $75. In an office environment there are more open spaces and security concerns, causing one to need a different type of wireless system. The average 50 employee company would need one to six different wireless points, which retail for approximately $75 apiece. Larger businesses often utilize anywhere from six to eight different access points. Chatsworth’s Pacific Coast Cabling provides a variety of Internet options, including wireless, to businesses of all sizes. The company has seen its share of wireless projects rise dramatically in recent years, including recent projects to provide one large wireless Internet hot spot for the cities of Hermosa Beach and Lompoc. “We do many wireless network deployments. We’re very focused on a large range of customers from small-medium sized businesses to large cities and metropolitan networks,” Allen Horwitz, the vice-president of Pacific Coast Cabling’s networking division said. “Wireless is becoming an overlay network for all businesses. People used to think that wireless would replace wired networks, that’s not true. It’s just going be another feature that’s required for all businesses. They’re 25 million computers that have shipped with wi-fi capability and the number grows bigger every day. These people are looking for a network to deploy them.” Creeping across Valley Wireless Internet has slowly begun to make its way throughout the Valley. Wi-fi accompanied the re-construction of the city’s Marvin Braude Constituent Services Center in Van Nuys. Completed last year, the project is one of the pilot attempts for Los Angeles Mayor James Hahn’s plan to increase the number of wireless areas in the city. “It’s just as easy to install a wireless Internet router as one with wires. The Braude Center (which contains several Valley branches of city offices) became a pilot project that we worked on along with our IT agency. We decided to put the pilot in a municipal facility because of its campus type environment, being adjacent to the courthouse, library and federal buildings,” Los Angeles Deputy Mayor Doane Liu said. “The advantages come on two levels. We hope that the consumers/constituents level will bring their laptops and PDA to access the network without plugging in. Secondly, we hope that it brings greater economic development and that the wi-fI brings more customers to the location. The mayor sees great possibilities if we can get our subways outfitted with wireless and our bus lines.” Liu mentioned that Hahn has recently organized a commission to study the feasibility of all of Los Angeles one day going wireless. “(Hahn) would like all 465 square miles of the city to be wireless. He has formed the Broadband Executives Panel to study the opportunities and see what possibilities there are. It’s not out of the realm of possibility,” Liu said. To many of its proponents, the future of wireless seems unlimited. With entire cities becoming endless hot spots, the trend seems to be advancing with the rapid leaps in technology. “I’m a huge proponent of the future of wireless. I’m a firm believer that the entire world will one day be wireless. 30 years ago, we realized all these various devices can be networked together. Technology has advanced quickly since then in terms of speed and security measures,” Huemme said. “Wireless is the next revolution. I’m not brave enough to put a time table on it, but one day we’re going to reach a time where we’ll laugh about having used cable.”

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