The Barnes & Noble Review
Hotspots are open-to-the-public wireless personal area networks (WPANs) that are showing up in hotels, restaurants, shopping centers, airports, cafes, parks, and just about everywhere else. This is a rapidly growing new market niche, and one that may be just for you.
This book focuses on the pragmatic aspects of designing, deploying, and maintaining hotspot networks, and -- to a lesser extent -- on the infinitude of architectural alternatives that have been advanced, particularly for wireless wide area networks (WWANs). Author Daniel Minoli does an excellent job of exploring the relevant technologies, standards, security issues, and protocols. For instance, Chapter 1 provides an overview WPAN, wireless local area network (WLAN), WWAN technologies, and the market potential for these services. Chapter 2 discusses the key standards that are applicable to hotspot services. Next, Chapter 3 covers each of these technologies in greater technical depth. In addition, Chapter 4 addresses the critical issue of security -- a particularly important issue, since there has been early negative press about the first-generation security systems in place. Chapter 5 discusses in some detail the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standard. On the other hand, Chapter 6 covers the newer IEEE 802.11b and IEEE 802.11a. Chapter 7 discusses the wireless application protocol (WAP), a de facto standard that has been around for years. Next, Chapter 8 covers the design aspects of nomadic networks. And, finally, Chapter 9 addresses the migration to third-generation (3G) WWANs and the future direction of the technology.
Whether or not hotspot networks are the second-best aspect of the coffee-shop experience, one thing is for sure: The expected exponential growth in subscribers for these services in the U.S. is doubling every 100 days. The good news is that the WLANs and hotspot services now being deployed will eventually drive the evolution to 3G by 2005 -- and possibly to 4G by 2010!
John Vacca
John Vacca, the former computer security official (CSO) for NASA's space station program (Freedom), has written 38 books about advanced storage, computer security, and aerospace technology.