Yes, folks, there was a Networld+Interop show this week at the Las Vegas Convention center. Smaller, perhaps humbler than in past years, but happening nonetheless. Despite the reduced size of the show (very comfortably housed in half of the LVCC's Central Hall - with lots of room to spare), there was plenty to see and write about, which I'll get to in a moment.

My key impression from touring the show floor is that the consumer networking folks appear to be hunkered down in their bunkers, with Netgear , Belkin , and Actiontec as the only representatives of that part of the market. Granted, N+I has never really been a consumer-focused show, but the absence of Linksys - okay, they have an excuse having been swallowed by Cisco - SMC and D-Link from the show floor is, to me, not an encouraging economic sign, especially given that the consumer has reportedly been the only one with money to spend on anything these days!

Enough of the witty chitchat, let's get to the good stuff.

WPA: Believe Me Now And Get Me Later...

The Wi-Fi Alliance chose N+I for the coming-out party for its enhanced security initiative called Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA). The press releases from the Alliance and the first 'graduating class' companies - Atheros, Intersil, Broadcom, Intel, Cisco, and Symbol - were big on chest-thumping and self-congratulation, as might be expected. Noticeably absent, however, were any details on exactly when you'd be able to download the firmware and driver updates needed to actually enable WPA features on your access point, wireless router and client adapters. However, by the end of the show, a number of consumer WLAN product makers came forward with their plans [related story ], which set a starting point as early as mid-May .

Although the announcements are a big step forward, get ready for a long process of getting WPA into customers' hands. Since most consumer networking gear comes from a network of OEMs and ODMs in Taiwan, those companies must first absorb the code from the wireless chip companies and then grind out the driver and firmware updates for their customers. This is no small task, given the 700+ Wi-Fi certified products that the Alliance said are available today, not to mention the hundreds of uncertified products. Those updates must then be distributed to the networking gear companies, who will execute some sort of QA/ acceptance process (let's hope), and finally be able to make the drivers available for download.

As you might expect, the focus of networking product vendors will be on supporting current and upcoming products, since that's what actually brings money in the door. Expect long waits on tech support calls, too, since transitions like this seldom go smoothly, and confused consumers will be looking for help to make their way through the required firmware update and driver upgrade processes.

Owners of wireless gear older than a year or so, or containing chips from vendors other than those named in the Alliance's announcement should also prepare for a long wait for their updates. A look at the list of the reference designs that have been approved (and made part of the Wi-Fi Alliance's WPA test bed) reveals that the oldest design there is Intersil's PRISM 2.5 . Noticeably absent are WLAN chip makers Agere Systems and Texas Instruments , whose chips also have a good-sized installed base in ORiNOCO and original Apple AirPort gear, and D-Link and USR 's" 802.11b+" 22Mbps products, respectively.

By the way, it appears that 802.11i will be called WPA2 (at least in Wi-Fi Alliance-speak) when it finally hits the market late this year/ early next. WPA2 will keep WPA's authentication and encryption key management features and add stronger AES-based encryption . Be warned, however, that the upgrade path to WPA2 will be limited to products based on wireless chipsets with built-in encryption engines. So for all intents and purposes, this means that only 802.11b/g and a/b/g products will be WPA2-able when the time comes to upgrade.