N+I has bounced back, and its network operating center is a site to behold

Back in the day, Networld+Interop was the gala networking event. Exhibitors were numerous, PR reps were mostly women and gracious toward nerds, and I was young and thin with the lights of Vegas glittering in my eyes. Then the bubble gave a wet pop and N+I did a nosedive so steep that for the last couple of years, I haven’t even bothered attending. But I’m here to tell you: N+I is back, and it’s back with a vengeance.

I staggered home having been too busy to sleep much and, more’s the tragedy, too busy to gamble or carouse. Then again, I’m broke and old so it’s just as well. But I garnered many useful tidbits at the show, not the least of which was on the plane ride home when Bill Woodall of Siemens let me try his Sennheiser noise-canceling headphones. I’ve seen them and figured it was marketing hooey. After trying them for exactly 30 seconds, I went out the next day and bought a pair. I’m literally never traveling without them again because they work and because traveling is stressful enough without having your DVD dialogue drowned out by little Jimmy in the seat behind you serenading the plane with an aria selection from Mozart’s “Change My Diaper Now” in D flat.

Back in Vegas, however, there was more to be seen than noise-canceling headphones. Get set for a marketing hype year, because the big networking boys have a new message and it basically runs like this: We have everything right down to the phone so you should rip out everything you’ve got and buy it all again from me — right down to the phone. And, yes, that includes our friends at Microsoft whose Windows CE-based SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) phones and PocketPC SmartPhones are definitely trying to claw their way into managed corporate ubiquity.

But when all the marketing gorgonzola gets you down, take the InteropNet Event Network (eNet) tour. InfoWorld‘s own Contributing Editor Brian Chee is a long-time lead in this project, headed up the wireless team this year, and was kind enough to give me a private tour. For those of us struggling with disparate network infrastructures and lackluster technical staff, it’s absolutely inspiring to see what some real quality engineers can do when you put them together with piles of equipment, huge spools of cable, and lots of caffeine.  

As an example, Brian’s team deployed around 390 access points this year covering 802.11a, 11b, and 11g. At any one time, the wireless network averaged around 1,000 unique client sessions and it was competing with private and commercial installations that were already present. All this required not only technical expertise but diplomacy as well because every vendor at the show had to be stroked into accepting appropriate channel assignments and power levels to play nice with all the other kids.

What’s shocking is how small the staff is. The N+I network is built by only 12 volunteers and another 20 or so paid and corporately donated engineers. These brave souls collect in Belmont, Calif., a month prior to the show, elevate their blood sugar to lethal levels, and build the entire show network as well as the bleeding-edge iLabs network from soup to nuts. The network is configured to the last port with every access tested and the final test being a complete power failure to see how the backups respond.

This whole job gets crated and shipped to Las Vegas where the eNet team reassembles and retests the network inside of four days. That’s all the way from the multi-meshed 10Gig Extreme BlackDiamond core switches to every access point as well as the 600 or 700 potential wired nodes, 10 fiber-based booth-to-booth gateways, and several miles of Cat-5e cable drops.

Equipment is donated by several vendors, including 3M, APC, Aruba Wireless Networks, Avaya, Infoblox, Juniper Networks, NetScaler, and OptiGate Networks, among others. The eNet provides dual DS3 connectivity to the outside world for the entire show as well as a full help desk, on-site technical assistance, VoIP-based phone support, firewall and security services, and even a patch mirror so folks don’t have to go all the way to Microsoft’s site to update their servers.

There’s even security intrigue, with this year’s entrant being some malcontent running around and pounding any wireless demo he saw with deauth attacks. Brian had him triangulated, but the little noseminer slipped away into the crowds and never dared show his face again.

There’s no money in volunteering for the eNet. Yet the eNet team goes through more than 1,000 applications every year with only 12 slots to give away. But Brian won’t give it up for the world. “Hey,” he says, grinning. “We get free shirts, bragging rights, and the chance to work with the some of the best in the world. What else do you want?” If that tag line interests you, go ahead and volunteer. Who knows? You might end up with a free shirt, too.