Access points get wired back to a server or data network and can be engineered to hand off the radio data stream of a user moving through a facility, similar to roaming in the cell-phone world. Most wireless data sessions occur with fixed users. Some users report that raw materials in a manufacturing area, for example, can actually absorb the radio signals and limit their reach more than in an installation where an outdoor access point connects users in two or three adjacent buildings. The Medical Center at Ohio State University in Columbus isn't what anyone would call a timid early adopter. The hospital complex, spread out over eight buildings, is using wireless LANs for a host of business applications, such as collecting clinical orders, ordering X-rays, and writing prescriptions.
Nurses use the wireless network to keep track of discharge instructions.
Respiratory therapy technicians collect and enter orders wirelessly. And the wireless LAN is just starting to be used for incoming patient registration purposes, says Phil Skinner, the medical center's director of telecommunications. The center also walks the wireless walk. Skinner says the hospital began looking at different vendors about two years ago. After talking with Cisco Systems, Lucent Technologies, and Symbol Technologies, the medical center settled on Cisco's Aironet product.