Case study: Flying without wires

As with any freedom, there is a price to pay for widespread adoption of wireless technology. Security should be a high priority for any business, and wireless may mean it is harder to detect intruders. Browne Jacobson outsourced a wireless hotspot for its Birmingham office, enhancing client service and safeguarding client confidentiality at the same time.

By Peter Birley, IT director, Browne Jacobson LLP

For the purposes of this article, I’m not referring to the old valve machine in the corner tuned into BBC or the modern equivalent usually referred to as radio. Wireless is now used as a term to describe communication of data without cables between devices using low-powered radio waves.

The value of freedom

Imagine the value the following scenarios could offer to a law firm:

The design freedom of being able to put desks where you want and not against a certain wall because of the cable. This is especially true for law firms based in city centres, in older properties that look very attractive but pose serious difficulties when it comes to efficient office layout. Just think how many more people you could fit in, or perhaps you could delay that substantial move or the extra office across the road. Flexible working may even become easier just by being able to put your laptop down on the next available hot desk;
Walking into a meeting room or another area of the office with a laptop and not having to find a cable and ensure it is long enough to reach the socket or table. There is no need to call the support team in order to find a cable or a socket that is active and you don’t have to worry about the computer not working because somewhere along its three-mile length a contractor has drilled through the wire;
Meeting a client informally in a coffee shop, where your wireless-enabled laptop can be connected to the firm’s network via the internet. You can provide the information required by the client then and there;
Going to a client’s office with your wireless laptop and (with permission) using their wireless network to connect to your network to answer queries immediately. Or if you are a client, being able to connect to the firm’s wireless network and access your own company’s systems – as can now be done at Browne Jacobson’s Birmingham office.

The only issue is that you will still need your laptop’s power lead. Unfortunately power can’t be carried wirelessly yet. And as power packs are still limited in terms of the length of time they will power the laptop before needing a recharge, some concessions may have to be made until the ten-hour power pack and overnight recharge stations are available (or until your office resembles one of those Wi-Fi enabled trains with power sockets by every seat!).

The computer industry and providers of wireless technology remind us of even more benefits, including:

Saving time by multitasking in meetings;
Being connected to the network for longer and with the freedom of mobility increasing productivity;
Improving accuracy as a result of capturing data at the time, again due to the mobility benefits.

It is also interesting to note that e-mail and internet are the main applications used, so hopefully the productivity gains are not only personal ones.

The price to pay

In spite of the benefits, however, people do see security as a concern. That is the price you pay for freedom – in the legal profession certainly, but also in many other companies. It is perhaps the main reason it hasn’t fully taken off yet.

There are a number of security concerns with using wireless, including:

Easy access. All wireless networks need to announce their presence for legitimate reasons, but in doing so they can also be detected by others outside the office as the signals carry for between 80 and 90 metres depending on obstruction. Some tests have even shown a reach of several miles. Without putting in shielding at building perimeters, only security solutions such as access control and encryption can be utilised to negate the threat;
Unauthorised access points. This occurs where somebody installs an access point on the firm’s network that they have purchased from a local store;
Unauthorised use. This is due to a lack of proper security protocols and services. Default security out-of-the-box is definitely to be avoided, as those wishing to gain access without authorisation will probably know the defaults;
Denial-of-service attack. Attackers can overload the radio capacity by injecting large volumes of traffic into the network, rendering it useless
for normal business operation. This may be achieved either by direct connection into the network or by sending traffic onto the same radio channel;
Other technical issues, ranging from being able to eavesdrop on the data travelling over the network, to spoofing access points in order to gain entry.

It is fairly inevitable that some doubts about security and the fear that somebody has found a way through your firm’s defences will remain. This is problematic enough with a wired network, but at least you have control of the drawbridge. With wireless, how do you know if somebody has breached one of the walls?

Other issues

Aside from security, another possible reason for lack of wireless adoption in the business arena is the amount already invested in existing cable systems. Given the inherent security risks in wireless, some may argue that there is no advantage in getting rid of what you already have. For some there needs to be an especially compelling case for this, such as a new building or extension.

Performance has also been an issue in that wireless networks have not performed as well as cable due to technological limitations in transmission capacity. But this is improving with the emergence of each new standard.

Wireless is a technology that is changing fast, with improved security algorithms, faster performance, and just as important, the growth in people’s awareness and education concerning how to deploy it securely. Even with the worries, wireless technology continues to grow and appears unstoppable. Barely a week goes by without another announcement of a city ‘going wireless’, with access points in coffee shops, railway stations or on the top of phone boxes. While business is cautious, the public arenas and home users certainly continue to push for it and there is no doubt that with investment in planning and security, a wireless network can be implemented that can deliver the desired performance and be secure.

Maximising mobility

Wireless is not just confined to internal computers and their connectivity, but covers a whole range of other devices, from mobile phones and pagers to global positioning systems (GPS), cordless peripherals such as the cordless mouse, cordless telephones, home entertainment, garage door openers, two-way radios and even baby monitors.

In the business world, the mobile phone is the most obvious of these. The Blackberry is another, which many, including the legal industry, have bought to ensure you can’t even escape your e-mails on the beach in the south of France. It has become the standard piece of business equipment and has helped improve client service by ensuring the customer and provider can contact each other with relative ease. On the other hand it has some limitations owing to the size of the keyboard and screen, so although you can open attachments and surf the internet, some items will be difficult to read.

To some extent e-mail on your mobile has reduced the need for laptops, but I wonder whether we will see a resurgence of these types of devices when 3G networks take off. Short for ‘third generation’, a 3G mobile network basically allows for fast data transfer while on the move, but it is still limited by coverage. Should you wish to, it means you could take your entire office with you on holiday. One of Browne Jacobson’s lawyers wanted to do just that because of a large deal that was happening, so was kindly equipped with a 3G laptop.

Wi-Fi enabled Voice over IP (VoIP) is another technology getting a lot of coverage. Basically, this is a telephone handset that connects wirelessly to the internet and allows telephone conversations to be held. It leads to dramatically lower costs compared to existing cellular mobile phones. At the moment, the downside is poorer quality and less availability of connection.

Case study: Hot spot

When Browne Jacobson looked into going wireless, the firm also remained adamant it would not compromise its network. Although it could see the benefits and wanted to explore them further, clients’ data and the associated confidentially also had to be taken very seriously. It is an important part of any business, but especially in law.

Around the same time, several partners were reporting enquiries from clients about wireless network availability that would mean they could access their own networks in the firm’s offices – before, during or after meetings. The firm is always looking for new ways to make business easier for clients. With the Birmingham office being a key ongoing success story, it seemed the ideal place to add the facility.

It was decided that the ideal solution was to mirror the ‘coffee bar’ route and install a wireless hotspot, but effectively outsource it to be managed by a third party, avoiding touching the firm’s network directly.

The range of service covers both the reception area and meeting rooms, allowing clients to access the internet from wireless-enabled laptops. This they can do for free for set periods of up to two hours, but they can also have as many time periods as they need – or
even have a whole day at their disposal. At the end of each period the client needs to log on again, but the system is flexible and periods can be determined when it is set up. In addition to the advantage of improved client service, the security fears often associated with visitor access are removed, as there is no connection to the firm’s internal communication services.

The third party chosen to provide the service has a presence in the cities where the firm does business – as well as a widespread reach through roaming agreements with other providers. This means lawyers can also use the service on their travels to support client requirements – another part of the firm’s strategy to ensure the highest possible quality of client service. The only slightly off-putting thing with Wi-Fi is that to be truly internationally mobile it is necessary to have a number of separate accounts with Wi-Fi providers – unless the service is only used in the same branded coffee shop. The ideal solution is to begin operating in a similar manner to mobile phones, where there is only one provider and you connect to different networks as you roam abroad, the provider sorting the billing out behind the scenes. The other main lesson learnt is that the set-up instructions can be overcomplicated. The firm had to rewrite these instructions a couple of times as a result of client feedback.

Installing a wireless hotspot is just a toe in the wireless water for Browne Jacobson, but it does fit neatly into the firm’s wider mobile strategy, providing a secure, remote-access service for lawyers from any internet-enabled PC. Whether through the Birmingham hotspot or any other, lawyers can connect to base and access matter files to ensure client needs are always serviced both promptly and securely. Wi-Fi VoIP handsets are also being investigated, which, if part of a corporate telephone system, would allow the office extension number to be diverted to a lawyer’s home.

And with the Blackberry for e-mail and phone, and the 3G-enabled laptop, lawyers are set up to respond whenever and wherever they are. As with most technological advances, this raises the importance of work-life balance, but that’s a question for another time.

Peter Birley is IT director at Browne Jacobson LLP. He can be contacted at pbirley@brownejacobson.com