The (Other) Important Research Note from Gartner
Posted by Chris Roeckl, VP Marketing at AirMagnet
Date: March 12, 2010
Gartner Magic Quadrants regularly grab all the attention when they're issued. In our little corner of the world the latest one got issued last month and led to a predictable stream of press releases from the WLAN infrastructure vendors, each crowing about their placement in the quadrant: "I'm a leader," "I'm a visionary"... yup we've all been spammed with these releases over the last few weeks.
Stealing a play from the best-selling book "Who Moved My Cheese," Gartner this year rightfully upset the apple cart, placing more emphasis on a vendor's ability to provide add-on services, such as security, location vs. just having good APs and controllers. They also focused on the trend of the integration of wired and wireless networks and management (which, in full disclosure, was an important reason why Fluke Networks bought AirMagnet last year).
But far more important, albeit less press-release-inducing, was a research note that came out from Gartner at about the same time from John Pescatore and John Girard titled "Wireless Security Trends: Planning Principles for a New Decade." The note provides solid advice and best practices for enterprise managers who have to protect business-critical systems while at the same time leveraging the productivity and cost benefits of wireless.
The consumerization of IT, the need for wireless intrusion prevention, the increasing wireless threatscape and PCI were among the security-related topics. The upshot? Wireless threats aren't going away anytime soon, and WLAN infrastructure vendors can only provide "basic enforcement," the research note states. "Lack of RF monitoring can lead to exposure through mismanaged access points and by next-generation wireless-enabled devices providing unauthorized access to corporate networks and data."
This research note makes the top of my recommended reading list. The last time that happened, the company I was working for was named a leader in the Firewall Magic Quadrant.
For Gartner customers the report's available for free, otherwise it's $195.
Chris Roeckl is the VP of Marketing at AirMagnet. Prior to AirMagnet, Roeckl served in executive roles at Fortinet, Infoblox, NetScreen Technologies and Inverse Network Technologies. He has also served as a technology analyst for the Robert Frances Group and as the editor for CommunicationsWeek.