Look Ma, no wires

5 NETNEWS DECEMBER 2007 I t feels funny to be writing my first NetNews column for netWorker without any network wires in my office. Not a single one, only the smell of fresh paint. Two weeks ago, our offices were redecorated. In preparation for the upheaval, we pulled everything out of my office, including a fully-laden Gigabit Ethernet switch, phone wires, and miles of twisted Cat5 cable going into a couple of wall jacks. Now, there’s fresh carpet, fresh paint, and not a single phone wire or Ethernet cable. As part of this makeover, we’ve gone 100 percent wireless, other than electrical power. The only devices still connected physically to the business LAN are a 2Wire DSL modem with its SonicWall firewall appliance, Apple Airport Extreme access point, a file server, and a networked Brother HL-5170DN laser printer. Everything else is WiFi-B or WiFi-N. Even our phones are now cordless, with recharging base stations arrayed in a central location for the handsets. It’s a brave new world.