The Wi-Fi Alliance recently announced a new IEEE specification, 802.11ah, developed explicitly for the Internet of Things (IoT). Dubbed HaLow (pronounced HAY-Low), it’s aimed at connecting everything in the IoT environment, from smart homes to smart cities to smart cars and any other device that can be connected to a Wi-Fi access point.

Here’s what you need to know about HaLow.

1. What are the potential advantages of HaLow?

First, HaLow operates in the 900-MHz band. This lower part of the spectrum can penetrate walls and other physical barriers, which means better range than the current 2.4GHz and 5GHz Wi-Fi bands.

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In the meantime, Google Fiber is the hottest ticket in town, and it's popping up in municipalities all over America. It started in Kansas City during the summer of 2012 -- followed by Austin, Texas and Provo, Utah in 2014. And on the official Google Fiber team blog, director of Fiber Expansion Jill Szuchmacher noted that Google is in the process of designing the San Antonio network, and construction has started in Atlanta, Nashville, Charlotte and Raleigh-Durham, N.C., and Salt Lake City. 

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Untangling hyper-entangled twisted light. 

Photons in the form of a bi-photon frequency comb. 

Quantum-powered random numbers generated by an entropy engine that exploits quantum mechanics. 

Quantum cryptology may be the hottest topic in security these days, but it sure reads like a lot of sci-fi jargon. But what does it mean? 

Bruce Potter, CTO of the KEYW Corporation, defined it to a room full of privacy professionals this past July at the Black Hat conference. He explained that with so much concern regarding the quality of our protective encryption capabilities, this is still a complicated and misunderstood process. Quantum cryptology (and its crypto components) is a mind-bending concept that baffles even the most experienced scientists. Those who try to understand what’s going on are stymied by the diversity, age and code complexity of the various software components. And, while cryptographic core algorithms have been well-studied, other components in enterprise cryptosystems are less understood. It's no wonder this field of science incites so much controversy. 

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Prosource Technologies (located in Cincinnati, Ohio) is a managed services provider (MSP) that offers document automation, office equipment and technology solutions. Earlier this year, Prosource acquired another local IT company called Alternative Computer Technology (ACT) that specializes in Internet and network security products and solutions. The acquisition essentially doubled Prosource's revenue and significantly increased its customer base overnight.

While the acquisition of ACT would allow Prosource to expand and improve its portfolio of managed information technology products and services, full integration of the two businesses was not going to be easy. All of the customers had to be migrated into a single Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system. The accounting software had to be combined. Technicians from both companies would need to work from a single ticketing system in order to effectively manage the combined customers’ networks. Thousands of recurring subscription renewals for security products had to be managed. All of which was a little outside of Prosource’s wheelhouse, so to speak.

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