LET'S TALK ABOUT WIRELESS
By Jack Wagner
By now, most healthcare organizations have, at least, pockets of wireless network
connectivity within their infrastructures. However, there still appears to be a large outcry
of either dissatisfaction with currently installed wireless implementations, or the need for
more robust implementations to meet the requirements of today’s bandwidth-hungry and diverse
applications. With many years of wireless implementations under my belt, “Let’s talk about
wireless”.
There are many misconceptions about wireless networks, not the least of which is its
definition. Let’s begin with what a wireless network is in its most general sense. First and
foremost, it is an “overlay” to the current wired infrastructure. The purpose of the wireless
overlay is to provide enhanced capabilities in an organization’s existing network. In this
case, that enhanced capability is the networking of “mobile” devices. I’d like to emphasize
the word “mobile”, because it segues perfectly into my next topic of what the wireless network
is not.
A wireless network is neither a “replacement” of an organization’s existing network, nor is it
an excuse to avoid cabling by simply connecting all new devices wirelessly. While wireless
technology is maturing, particularly in the areas of speed and security, it should not be
construed as a replacement for traditional wired networks. The earliest that wireless
technology could hope to replace some stationary devices is when 802.11n is ratified and
generally released.
Now that we’ve established what wireless networks are and what they are not, let us get to the
meat of the discussion. What do you need to look for when investigating the possibilities of
a wireless infrastructure in your organization?
First of all, be highly selective when choosing your wireless vendor. I have seen too many
implementations that stem from a vendor trying to sell a single service, for example, voice
over wireless. The voice over wireless vendor is there to sell that one service, and generally
may not be interested in the overall wireless requirements of the organization. The vendor may
come in (or worse, perform it remotely) and survey the areas where the wireless voice
implementation is desired and give your organization a design that will not meet even the
minimum data requirements since their focus was only on voice.
Often the vendor will provide a wireless network that will meet the needs of their technology
in specific locations and many times without provision for any redundancy in the infrastructure.
This hurts in several ways:
1. As soon as the technology takes off, the organization will want it deployed in other
locations and that will require another survey and another purchase.
2. As an organization becomes dependant on the technology, downtime is no longer an
option; therefore, they end up having to add to (or replace) the work that has already been
done in order to provide the required redundancy.
3. Whenever the need arises to run another application over the existing infrastructure,
it may be discovered that the current wireless implementation is not satisfactory for those
purposes.
Needless so say, none of the aforementioned possibilities are particularly pleasant.
The simple solution to prevent these issues is to hire a vendor that takes an enterprise view
of wireless. Rather than depending on your technology vendor, rely on someone impartial who
will design a wireless network where all the technologies and applications can exist
successfully. All good wireless vendors will provide several functions that are critical to
the success of an organization’s wireless network:
1. Perform in depth interviews – What good is a wireless implementation that is designed
by someone who does not know the needs of your organization? Your selected vendor should
walk in the door and talk to the personnel in the organization key to the wireless
projects. That does not just include Information Technology, but leaders in the clinical
and business functions of an organization to capture the requirements and future vision of
the applications and network. These interviews are a very helpful approach to figure out
what functional and business characteristics the wireless network must possess.
2. Include a Radio Frequency (RF) Spectrum Analysis – Most assuredly, wireless
technologies exist in your organization today. It is critical to know what currently
exists within, and around, an organization so the design can take those factors into
account for proper utilization of the available wireless channels. This is also the
portion of the survey that identifies any existing rogue networks and devices.
Unfortunately, there may already be unsecured wireless access to an organization’s network
through both accidental and/or purposeful means. Imagine somebody sitting around in the
lobby of your organization with free access to the resources that house Protected Health
Information (PHI) on your network. Not good…
3. Require an Onsite Wireless Survey – Yes, “Onsite” survey. Some vendors will attempt
to get floor plans from an organization, gather basic construction information, and give
that organization a detailed listing of where Access Points (AP’s) should be deployed.
This is extremely risky. Healthcare organizations are notorious for having many different
construction types throughout a campus. Many hospitals have been around for years, and
have an expansive mix of solid concrete, lead-lined, and drywall construction. How many
times has an organization’s Radiology department been relocated throughout the years? That
question, in itself, can erase the validity of a remote survey.
4. Insist on Knowledge Transfer – Handing over a design to an outside party does not mean
that the organization’s team should be ignorant of wireless basics. Hire a vendor that
will train personnel at a high level on wireless and what it involves, as well as, provide
training and turn over to the staff that will be taking over the care of the system after
the vendor is gone.
5. Demand Involvement – As mentioned above, proper involvement of technical personnel
during the survey, design, and implementation, as well as, proper turn-over is critical to
the success of an implementation.
6. Look for Extras – Some wireless vendors will go as far as to help organizations write
policies to wrap around the wireless implementation. As any good legal department knows,
a technology is only as good as the policies wrapped around it. As an example, if you do
not have misuse defined, then there is no misuse.
After choosing your vendor, the next step is to have an idea of your options. Should you use
802.11a, 802.11b/g, or both? I see a trend in full implementation of all three. In this way,
organizations can run critical data applications over the less used and implemented 802.11a
(5GHz) band, while keeping 802.11b/g (2.4GHz) open for wireless voice and guest access. This
type of implementation increases the density available to any given AP.
What applications should an organization run over the wireless? This is not an easy question
to answer. However, it is best to only deploy applications that are made, or certified, for
wireless networks. These are many times web-based applications that run a very small client
on the wireless device while all the heavy lifting is performed on the server backend. In this
manner, the communication streams flowing across the wireless network are small and provide
relatively quick response times to the user on the client device.
There is another way that can be used to deploy applications that are not certified, or
previously fit, for wireless deployment. That is through the use of Terminal Services (e.g.,
Citrix, Microsoft, etc…). Terminal services provide the ability to run formerly “thick-client”
applications over wireless, by doing all the work of the clients on remote servers. Using this
method, the only information being sent across the wireless network is basically keyboard,
mouse, and screen refreshes. Many vendors are now designing and supporting their applications
to be run over Terminal Services.
For a succinct wrap-up, let me simply stress three major points:
1) Do not take a single application vendor’s word for the wireless network you should have.
2) Hire a vendor that provides wireless network designs and surveys as a core service line.
3) Know your options for wireless deployment of applications.
Follow these tips and significantly increase the opportunity for success in your wireless
endeavors! Contact me at vcs@getvitalized.com for
any additional questions or comments.