How to give a WLAN voice capabilities

There is no denying that voice over IEEE 802.11 WLANs are gaining in popularity. All you have to do is look at the slew of benefits derived: better customer service, improved staff productivity, stronger security and a reduction in costs. But there's also some big issues in running voice applications over that wireless LAN. You have to make sure you have enough access points so users don't hit dead ends, make sure you build in enough bandwidth for today's and tomorrow's user requirements and be committed to scaling the VoIP WLAN as necessary. Once wireless communications is in the hands of users, they're not going to give it up and they're only going to expect more features, functionality and portability.

The biggest chunk of work, however, is likely in the security aspects. Experts recommend using IEEE 802.1x authentication for verifying users' identities for network access. You also need to take into consideration the company office infrastructure in the WLAN voice design. All these issues have to be reviewed, investigated and understood before deployment to ensure that voice applications work to the company's best abilities.

For more on making WLANs voice-ready:
- read this article at Mobilized Software

PLUS: More insight on VoWLAN design specs. Article