Running head: NETWORKING

Term Paper: Networking

Sheena Lindsey-Smith

CIS/505

Dr. Harry Omoregie

March 14, 2016

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Executive Summary

Today’s generation are embedded in social media, digital and mobile as a way of life.

Expectations are shifting requiring all industries to meet these needs through multichannel

mobile interaction methods. As these changes take place, people in society are frequently

changing their attitudes, goals and requirements from all enterprises. Society is embracing digital

technologies more than ever demanding a more convenient online experience. Industries are

being challenged to develop technical strategies to simplify daily tasks that are faster, more

secure and more contextual.

Although mobile-savvy individuals want ubiquitous access, businesses have struggled to

provide pure-mobile services due to challenges related to security, providing always-on

connectivity and replicating the online experience. Technical capabilities have become so

sophisticated that stationary devices i.e. telephones, facsimile (fax) machines, computers and

other communication devices connected to wires to power sources and telecommunication

networks are ever-present in many industries. The primary challenge is to develop affordable,

reliable, widespread capabilities for untethered communications. By relating and combining the

attributes of wireless and mobile technologies it will enhance the individuals online experience.

Therefore, wireless technology is the link for mobile communication.

This paper will focus on how wireless technology has evolved in today’s society in

addition to the role it plays in wireless communications and networking solutions. Some of the

current trends and future applications will be examined and addressed through a SWOT analysis

to identify the current state of wireless technologies and the effects it has on network security

issues and networking solutions. It will examine the ethical and legal concerns governing
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wireless technology. The prediction of how communication technology will play a role in the

future and improvements for both personal and commercial use will be explained. Time

management in the workplace and identifying employee rights to spend personal time on social

media sites on company time will be also addressed.

Introduction

Wireless Technology is among biggest contributions to today’s society. Wireless

technologies are now more attractive than ever in terms of their performance, quality and cost.

In today’s society life is managed on the go desiring the ability to access and transact business in

real-time from any mobile device. The growth of wireless network has achieved that goal and

has enabled capabilities for the use of personal devices anywhere and anytime. This has helped

play a role in the future of technology as the evolution of technology is constantly changing.

The term wireless refers to communications sent without wires or cables. It is the process

of sending information through invisible waves in the air. Information such as data, voice, and

video are carried through the radio frequency of the electromagnetic spectrum. Some of the

devices used for wireless communication are cordless telephones, mobiles, GPS units, wireless

computer parts, and satellite television.

The strong public demand for wireless services is fueling intense industrial and

government activity, including research and development (R&D) aimed at improving the quality

and reducing costs of wireless technology, design of innovative systems and services, and

implementation of new technical standards and policies. This dynamic environment is producing

diverse wireless technologies and standards, in stark contrast to other areas of communications
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marked by a convergence toward uniformity. All this activity will bring the reality of the next

century close to the vision of "anytime, anywhere" communications. (Council, 1997)

Driving the evolution of wireless broadband technology is customers’ increasing

expectations for speed, bandwidth and global access. Customers today are connected 24/7 via

their wireless devices and want immediate access to the applications and content they use most:

business productivity tools, streaming video, social networking and more. The desire for instant

access creates a need for greater bandwidth, improved responsiveness and faster upload and

download speeds than was offered by previous generations of wireless technologies. Wireless

carriers’ networks need to function more like landline IP-based networks to achieve the speeds

and connectedness customers have come to expect.

SWOT Analysis

In business, several elements must be considered, one of which is most important is

conducting a SWOT analysis. SWOT is an acronym that stands Strengths, Weaknesses,

Opportunities and Threats. “A SWOT analysis is an organized list of your business’s strengths,

weaknesses, opportunities and threats. (Berry, 2014) Weaknesses and strengths represent the

core factors of the company while opportunities and threats represent the external factors. The

analysis is part of the initial planning process to determine what is needed to sustain the business

and meet mission and vision statements.

The importance of conducting an internal and external comprehensive analysis serves to

identify the internal and external strengths and weaknesses of the business model. All wireless

technologies past, present and future have strengths and weaknesses because each technology

has been or will be developed to solve a particular problem. In order for a SWOT analysis to be
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conducted the organization must be able to understand how the company operates and know its

strengths and weaknesses.

Addressing a company’s strengths should be conducted from internal and external

perspective that expresses the customer’s views and needs. Once the strengths are established

then the weaknesses of the company need to be addressed and determine what needs to be

improved and what is contributing to losses that is affecting the company’s sales and revenue.

“Weaknesses are aspects of your business that detract from the value you offer or place you at a

competitive disadvantage.” (Berry, 2014)

Weaknesses can be overcome by using effective strategic planning that will allow the

company to make the necessary adjustments. “Weaknesses are aspects of your business that

detract from the value you offer or place you at a competitive disadvantage.” (Berry, 2014) To

maximize growth, profitability remaining competitive and minimizing risk, organizations must

continually monitor internal and external environmental factors and adjust their strategy

accordingly. To do that, it's important to know what the internal and external factors can consist

of in addition to, what is needed to sustain the business and meet organizational goals.

Ethical and Legal Concerns Surrounding Wireless Communication

An important concern with any new technology is deciding how current laws deal with

new issues that this new generation of products might raise. Several actions that used to be taken

for granted now can possibly be perceived as illegal. With the market for wireless applications

and hardware growing at a phenomenal rate, as with most new technologies that gains market

acceptance, the deployment phase is usually followed by the discovery of security issues.
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The legal and ethical issues pertinent to the use of cell phones, PDAs and other

telecommunication mobile devices are evolving as rapidly as technology itself. Issues center

around using these devices in a manner that respects the rights, safety and privacy of others.

Legal concerns about misuse of e-mail and the Internet relate to liability and privacy. Most

employers want to trust employees and respect their privacy, however they fear the organization

will be liable for the content of e-mail messages. Gossip, derogatory comments, lewd or obscene

messages or graphics, harassing messages, or any number of other things can be retrieved from

e-mail files and used as evidence. Having such messages originate within the workplace

negatively affects the organization’s responsibility for a harassment free environment and could

ultimately tarnish their image and decrease productivity.

The fear of litigation and the concern over wasted time prompts some organizations to

monitor staff use of electronic resources. Special network and software programs exist just for

this purpose. The Electronic Privacy Act gives an employer the right to access an employee’s e-

mail and voicemail messages that are maintained on a system provided by the employer. To

eliminate this fear and improve awareness, clear policies on the use of electronic company

resources are developed and become a part of the hiring process.

Another privacy issue includes Internet research. Technology makes it feasible to gather

information about computer users without their knowledge or permission. This practice many

consider to be unethical and an invasion of individual privacy. Objections arise because

advertisers on the Internet may secure information from sites to track ones’ preferences and

online shopping habits. To alleviate concerns about cookies, organizations frequently include a
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privacy statement on their Web sites that explains the type of information that will be gathered

and its use.

Company Time

An employer has the right to monitor all employees who utilize company resources on

the network during company time. Social networking has made it easy for employees to

communicate and share information with colleagues, connect with customers, and advertise for

the business. Employees are able to remotely connect to the company’s network and still have

the same access to social media sites to include Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter to share

information. Employees have a right to privacy, however not on company time. “Unfortunately,

American and international laws do not directly address social networking site usage” (Coco,

Kaupins, Little, 2012, p.1). Employees should be aware and limit the amount of time spent on

social networking sites, unless it is work-related. Corporate policies on social networking should

provide clear, concise direction to as a part of security awareness to all employees to govern

usage. Corporate policies should also provide consistent monitoring of employees with constant

reminders or notifications routinely as a form of policy enforcement.

Technology Improvements

Radio systems, such as mobile phones and wireless internet connections, have become an

integral part of modern life. However, today's devices use twice as much of the radio spectrum as

is necessary. New technology is being developed that could fundamentally change radio design

and could increase data rates and network capacity, reduce power consumption, create cheaper

devices and enable global roaming.

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This important change in radio design could offer a range of benefits. In Wi-Fi systems

this would double the capacity of a Wi-Fi access point, allowing more users and higher data

rates. For cellular systems, full-duplex operation would also deliver increased capacity and data

rates, or alternatively the network operators could provide the same total network capacity with

fewer base station sites, giving obvious benefits in the cost and environmental impact of running

the network.

In today's mobile devices, a separate filtering component is required for each frequency

band, and because of this, today's mobiles phone do not support all of the frequency channels

which are in use across the world. Different devices are manufactured for different regions of the

world, and there are currently no 4G phones capable of unrestricted global roaming. Replacing

these filters with the research team's duplexer circuit would create smaller and cheaper devices,

and would allow manufacturers to produce a single model for the entire world. This would

enable global roaming on 4G and would further decrease cost through greater economies of

scale.

Future Role of Wireless Technology for Personal and Commercial Use

Wireless technology is a powerful tool utilized to aid in boosting productivity and

encouraging information sharing. With untethered access to documents, emails, applications and

other network resources, employees can travel where they need to and have constant access to

the tools required to do their jobs. Some of the ways both individuals and businesses alike are

taking advantage of wireless technology through increased mobility and collaboration, improved

responsiveness, better access to information and easier network scalability.

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Wireless communication technology gives mobile access to information through a variety

of portable communication devices. Organizations and individuals alike are increasingly

dependent on computers and other technology devices to handle the volume and complexity of

information communicated through daily operations. In years to come, all aspects of wireless

communications are subject to rapid change globally. These changes include rapidly expanding

public demand for products and services, major changes in government policies, emergence of a

variety of new systems for delivering communications services to wireless terminals and

profound changes in communications industries as evidenced by mergers, alliances involving

some the world’s largest corporations. Beyond the enduring need for improved efficiency, there

are two key technology developments, neither of which is particularly unique to wireless, that are

expected to continue to fuel the advancement of wireless technologies for the foreseeable future:

cloud computing and the Internet of Things (IoT).

With the development of cloud computing, data has become mobile, transferable, and

instantly accessible. Cloud computing refers to a network model in which applications reside on

network servers and are accessed from end clients. Cloud computing typically relies heavily on

the concept of virtualization, where servers may actually be virtual appliances and an actual

physical device may be hosting many virtual appliances. To end users, it may appear as if they

are accessing a physical server, but in reality they are accessing a piece of software that is

emulating a physical server. This concept of virtualization allows for significant network

abstraction and rapid reconfiguration to meet user needs.

Although cloud computing is an incredibly powerful concept for information technology,

this trend has placed enormous strain on the communications infrastructure. It has also presented
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security risks, regulatory compliance, and connectivity and availability issues as a concern that

still prevents some businesses from adopting the use of cloud technology. With end users

increasingly accessing both applications and content from the cloud, their bandwidth

consumption has significantly increased.

Cloud computing is expected to increase, and combined with increasing user mobility

and mobile computing, this trend will continue to place strain on wireless communications

infrastructure. Cloud computing is one of the main reasons we expect the time frame between

major commercial technology releases to continue to shorten.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is the vision of connecting devices that can generate data

and information that can be accessed from anywhere via the Internet. This connectivity allows

governments, businesses, and individuals to make data-driven decisions in real time. The most

common view of the IoT refers to the persistent inclusion of Internet connectivity, usually

wireless, in common everyday objects.

In the Internet of Things (IoT) model, Internet connectivity extends beyond traditional

devices such as laptops and smartphones to include everyday items such as refrigerators,

microwave ovens, dishwashers, thermostats, automobiles, and road signs. Micro-

electromechanical systems (MEMS) are embedded into objects to enable communication and

interaction with the environment. These objects can range from humans with implanted medical

devices to controllers in oil refineries. Current projections estimate tens of billions of devices

will be connected to the Internet by 2020, and wireless technology will be a key enabler.
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Conclusion

Cconsumer demand is stimulating many advances in wireless communications

technology. The future of wireless technology is significant as it represents the frontier of

communication. However, determining which wireless technologies should be used in the future

has become an increasingly daunting endeavor considering the variety of options available.

Innovation and integration of mobile and wireless technologies are an on-going process, which

have given shape to the industry.

Wireless technology is a part of the past, present and future. This term paper completed

the examination of the SWOT analysis. It evaluated the current ethical and legal concerns

surrounding wireless technology. It analyzed the improvements over the last two (2) years, and

it predicted the future role of wireless technology for both personal and commercial use.
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Figure 1

Wireless Technology Communication Structure

Mobile Device
Wireless PDA

Wireless Laptop
The Internet

Wireless Access (Point Router)

Wireless Workstation

DSL or Cable Modem Wireless Printer

Wired Desktop
Wired Tablet PC
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