WLAN Vendors Trump Up 802.11n Offerings

Asche said 802.11n offers VARs new inroads to clients. To help with that, Trapeze has created a trade-in program for VARs whose clients upgrade to Trapeze 802.11n, regardless of what vendor's wireless gear was previously installed at the customer site. Asche said customers who migrate from their old access points are eligible for special pricing, which is only available through the channel. VARs and customers must submit a pre-approval request and the serial numbers of the equipment to be returned. In turn, the VAR will receive special pricing and the customer will return their old gear after the new wares are deployed.

Trapeze also released a new high-capacity WLAN controller, the MX-2800. The controller offers 28 Gbps of Ethernet switching capacity and features two 10 Gbps ports and eight 1 Gbps ports. IT can support 512 active access points and 12,000 active clients, Asche said. Up to 64 controllers can be combined in a virtual stack to support more than 32,000 access points.

Trapeze also upgraded its RingMaster radio frequency planning software and released an appliance containing the software. The new RingMaster releases support 802.11n and mixed deployments. RingMaster 7.0 software lets users define indoor and outdoor coverage areas to visually display where access points should be placed for the best performance. The RingMaster appliance, the RM-200, can support 250 access points and can scale to 5,000 access points or 1,000 MX wireless controllers. Several RM-200s can be used to scale. The appliance lists for $18,995.

Asche said VARs can use RingMaster to offer wireless planning and management as a service and lets them use one tool for campus-wide network planning, both inside and outside.

"They use it today to plan and manage customers' wireless networks and offer professional services," Asche said.

Lastly, Ruckus Wireless on Monday unveiled its SmartMesh Wi-Fi meshing technology, which the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based vendor said lets companies deploy WLANs quickly, cheaply and with high performance. SmartMesh falls under Ruckus' Smart Wi-Fi umbrella. David Callisch, vice president of marketing for Ruckus, said it helps create robust WLANs that self-organize, self-optimize and self-heal, while also eliminating the need to run cabling to every access point and also thwarting the need for radio frequency planning. Along with SmartMesh, Ruckus released its ZoneFlex 7942 802.11n access point, the ZoneDirector 3000 WLAN controller and the FlexMaster remote Wi-Fi management system.

Callisch said SmartMesh with 802.11n lets companies get immediate value from the latest wireless standard well before 11n-based clients become pervasive.

SmartMesh uses Smart Wi-Fi beam steering technology to control the form and direction of Wi-Fi signals, allowing signals to adapt in real time to the wireless environment which can change because of interference, distance and physical obstructions. Callisch said it can boost reliability, extend coverage and offer consistent performance. The ability to mesh reduces the hops and hop-induced delays in the coverage area, which can often degrade throughput. Callisch said the 802.11n SmartMesh access point can deliver higher performance than a standard 802.11g wired access point even across two hops.

The ZoneDirector updates eliminate the need to run Ethernet cables to access points and offer a point-and-click user interface to enable automatic configuration and management, along with automatic network provisioning, optimization and tuning. Callisch said basically an administrator or VAR can place access points where they're needed and walk away.

The new line of controllers, the ZoneDirector 3000, can support up to 250 ZoneFlex access points. Both the ZoneDirector and access points can be managed through the FlexMaster system meaning users and VARs can manage remote start WLANs and access points in regional or branch offices from a single point over the IP network.

SmartMesh is available now as a free software upgrade to customers with ZoneDirector WLAN controllers. The ZoneDirector 3000, which will hit the streets in July, starts at $6,000 for 25 access points, and the FlexMaster management system, is available for ZoneFlex access points starting at $5,000 for 100 access points. Ruckus' 802.11n access points are $699 each.

Gompers said SmartMesh technology from Ruckus has solved the manageability problem that wireless deployments can often present. Having software that tunes itself and the ability to blanket wireless coverage using access points that talk to each other means the wireless LAN has no single point of failure.

"I can really build a robust network," he said. "I can give 100 percent wireless coverage and the network itself is self-manageable."