Open Source about to explode Wireless Security Market

Most of the business press will miss this, but a big thing just happened. Wireless security via an open source industry initiative OpenSEA will quadruple the market growth of 802.1x wireless security by widening adoption of WEP technologies. Jon Oltsik even acknowledges parentage, which is unusual for an analyst. Its a perfect example of what I spoke of as strategic open source (see prior blog entry).

With 802.11 WLAN's everywhere, you'd think that businesses would've already mined out all the opportunities ... but its actually quite the opposite. Read more ...

A large number of wireless networks are totally wide open - even in industry. Or they are totally locked up, and sometimes new ones are added because no one can identify how to gain appropriate access by different groups of users. Worse yet, there are business initiatives afoot to tie specific businesses/products into wireless security, whereby either you're a secure customer of those products, or you're running by the aforementioned rules.

Every corporate or educational campus has this problem, of thousands of wireless connected users, with uneven security policies distributed across them. If you look at this as an opportunity to interact with those users, the point of an open source platform becomes clear - each institution/corporation can have crafted solutions that take into account the customers needs - not forcing awkward "built into the platform" solutions that mask or omit critical elements necessary for security policy.

Information security works best when it fits an institution "hand in glove". With appropriate incentives, instead being an obstacle, adopting security policies can be seen as a means by which users "self identify" and seek out verification resources, such that the burden of maintaining quality credentials shifts to the users, because they see the benefits accruing for them. The means by which you let users "pull" security instead of "push" through management can be a watershed opportunity that only open source can achieve.

Open source here erases the artificial product links, allowing a horizontal market for security products and services. It allows a broad degree of "customer choice", while allowing the best providers to bid on comprehensive client solutions with a standards-based architecture.

The security products/services markets could face exponential growth if this eliminates the frustrations of deployment of this "ground level", that all depend upon.