 Wireless in the EnterpriseThis newsletter is sponsored by Belden(r) Wireless SolutionsNetwork World's Wireless in the Enterprise Newsletter, 09/10/07Cisco rollout could accelerate enterprise 802.11n plansBy Joanie WexlerCisco’s entry into the enterprise 802.11n market last week could hasten enterprise preparations to migrate to the next generation of high-speed Wi-Fi technology. The wireless LAN heavyweight announced enterprise-class gear that it said is the first to pass the Wi-Fi Alliance’s 802.11n Draft 2.0 compatibility certification tests. Such certified products are deemed interoperable with one another at a basic connectivity level. Most of the 802.11 enterprise-class equipment makers have made announcements about their plans for 802.11n and will be rolling out products after they complete Wi-Fi Alliance certification testing in the fourth quarter.
For its part, Cisco announced: * The Aironet 1250 802.11n access point to ship next month for $1,299. * A 48Gbps WLAN controller in the form factor of a module for its Catalyst 6500 Ethernet switches. The throughput increases will be needed eventually to support several hundred megabits per second of 802.11n Wi-Fi traffic. * A power-over-Ethernet (POE) module for the family of Catalyst switches to supply the extra power that will be needed by the higher-throughput APs from a single Ethernet port without requiring a separate power injector. It is due to ship late this year. * Associated software services. Cisco hasn’t said anything about adjusting the architecture of its system’s data and control planes; in other words, the 802.11n gear will continue to make both traffic control and forwarding decisions in the centralized Catalyst-based controller. Many of the other enterprise-class Wi-Fi vendors are beginning to distribute some data plane activity out to APs in their 802.11n systems to avoid controller bottlenecks and reduce latency of voice and other real-time applications. Among these vendors are Trapeze Networks with its Smart Mobile architecture and Nortel, which plans to integrate wired and wireless switching decisions in a new line of unified Ethernet switches next year. Colubris has from its inception distributed forwarding decisions and centralized traffic control and management.
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| Contact the author: Joanie Wexler is an independent networking technology writer/editor in California's Silicon Valley who has spent most of her career analyzing trends and news in the computer networking industry. She welcomes your comments on the articles published in this newsletter, as well as your ideas for future article topics. Reach her at joanie@jwexler.com. This newsletter is sponsored by Belden(r) Wireless SolutionsARCHIVEArchive of the Wireless in the Enterprise Newsletter. BONUS FEATUREIT PRODUCT RESEARCH AT YOUR FINGERTIPS Get detailed information on thousands of products, conduct side-by-side comparisons and read product test and review results with Network World’s IT Buyer’s Guides. Find the best solution faster than ever with over 100 distinct categories across the security, storage, management, wireless, infrastructure and convergence markets. Click here for details. PRINT SUBSCRIPTIONS AVAILABLE International subscribers, click here. SUBSCRIPTION SERVICESTo subscribe or unsubscribe to any Network World newsletter, change your e-mail address or contact us, click here. This message was sent to: networking.world@gmail.com. Please use this address when modifying your subscription. Advertising information: Write to Associate Publisher Online Susan Cardoza Network World, Inc., 118 Turnpike Road, Southborough, MA 01772 Copyright Network World, Inc., 2007 |
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