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Convincing Management to Migrate to WiFi?
bergeron76 asks: "My company is currently preparing to relocate to a new location out in the suburbs. We recently received a very outrageous quote to move our computers, telephony gear, and ethernet wiring to our new office. I'm trying to convince management to switch our call-center to WiFi for a fraction of the "relocation" quote cost. The problem is that they are still considering outsourcing the ethernet wiring at an exorbitant rate! Can the Slashdot crowd help me come up with more selling points for WiFi (beyond the obvious) before I make my formal proposal?"
And here I am trying to convince my management to NOT rollout wireless until they at least look into possible security risks associated with Wi-Fi. Seems like all the PHBs are busy trying to fill in as many buzzwords as possible.
Look at what happened to Best Buy - they got 0wned - do it right and include an entire security overview and recommendations in your findings. Research possible scenarios and record those down too.
If managament goes along with it, and typicaly ends up cutting your funding half-way through (like always happens), they'll skimp on security, some day the network gets compromised, and its your fault for bringing it up in wireless in the first place, that's when you whip out your documentation - stressing the importance of security. Cover your ass.
I'm trying to convince management to switch our call-center to WiFi for a fraction of the "relocation" quote cost.
You can get 10/100 Ethernet cards for $15-20. The cheapest I've seen PCI 802.11 cards for is $75-100. Are you really so sure this is going to be saving that much money? Don't forget that the base station is $400 instead of the $100 for an 8-port 10/100 switch!
I'm guessing you have no buisness recomending one solution or the other. You seem very biased at the install cost without reguard to what is being installed. Obviously phones aren't going to be moved to wireless if your in a call center. The speed of fixed vs wireless at this point is much better. The obvious security implications of wireless data floating around the office and surrounding neighborhood would also be a worry. Wireless could always be added in stages at a later time however, the costs of going back to a fixed solution after the initial move would be really outrageous. Better to do that than experiment with technologies that while undoubtedly are cool are not proven yet and as such should be handled with a long stick unless you are prepaired to take a big hit should things not work out the way you expect them to.
Unless you know for a fact that your performance needs are minimal, you better do a bunch of research and discuss the future needs of the company with the powers that be or your head WILL be handed to you on a platter. :).
Cat-5 can do Gigabit nowadays, WiFi does about 20Mb if you're lucky (yeah, I know 802.11a can burst up to 74Mb, but you gotta be sitting on top of the damn AP to get that! How many sys-admins can sit on the head of an AP anyway?
If you're looking at 802.11b for range then you'll be looking at a real-world max of about 2Mb. Again, fine for browsing and the occasional download but impossible for a business with real bandwidth needs like databases and poorly designed accounting apps. Not to mention the schmuck who delights in creating 50Mb PowerPoint presentations.
Think twice, then a couple more times. Then investigate every app you're using now and every app you expect to be using in the next couple of years, then go have a beer and come back to thinking about in a day or so. Repeat as many times as it takes to update your resume'...
Wow, that's a bold agenda! I've actually been peddling the other way: telling management about the perils of going wireless. One of the people in my office asked me, "So, am I safe getting wireless for my house?" I sent him a three page email outlining why wireless was dangerous, as well as recommended security to implement it. (Not that he followed suit, mind you -- it would have taken a gear head to implement security properly, and he didn't seem too keen on the idea of, say, building his own firewall.)
;) Passing up security for the moment, you probably have a better handle on whether or not wireless is cheaper / more scalable than wired routes. In my office, WiFi would definitely *not* be sufficient, if that were the only network available. I know that I wouldn't be very happy if I was limited down to the 2 - 11Mb/s of 802.11b at the office, especially when, say, transferring large files or routing large documents. If you have the numbers that say that the bandwidth is "sufficient", fire away!
It sounds like to make your case, you have to show that the wireless route is 1) secure, 2) cheaper / more scalable, and 3) secure. Note the repetition there.
Unfortunately, whatever proposal you present *has* to have a security focus. You *have* to make the emphasis that wireless is secure enough, and you *have* to be unyielding on the security measures necessary. The main problem with this is the fact that you are surrendering the security of closed wired networks for an open-air, wireless one. Sure, you may have convenience in terms of setting up connections, but you're going to have significant additional headaches making sure things are secure. Some thoughts? Try to get everyone to use IPSEC. Oog, it's ugly and non-simple, but it's what you would have to do if your paranoid. Just thinking about plain-text passwords flying through the ether makes me dizzy from a security standpoint. Drive-by hacking is all too easy and cheap to do. *sigh*
Of course, you're really trying to push the proposal past a manager, right? So perhaps your focus should be on how it's keeping the company on top of cutting edge, alternative technologies to proactively seek out the most cost-effective methods for maximum deployment capacity. *heh*
Treat the wireless network as the Internet. Firewall it, don't trust host on it etc.
User loggin on from the wireless net should use VPN.
That way you're safe.
I'll bet that you'll bet getting wired.