As WLAN infrastructure vendors such as SMC Networks, Netgear, D-Link and Linksys roll out wireless products that incorporate MIMO (multiple in, multiple out) wireless antenna technology, VARs are seeing rising interest in these products from SMBs.
MIMO technology employs multiple wireless antennae that boost the speed and range of wireless networks while minimizing latency.
Daniel Britt, vice president of operations at Tower City Group, a Cleveland-based wireless solution provider, said MIMO can achieve exponential increases in network speed due to its ability to efficiently propagate wireless signals.
The adaptive properties of MIMO products make them ideal for modern office environments where steel-studded walls, fire separation standards and other newer building code requirements are commonplace, Britt said. "MIMO takes a considerable amount of effort out of the installation process, as well as cost in larger rollouts," he said.
Bob Goldstein, founder and vice president of Single Digits, a Netgear partner in Exeter, N.H., said MIMO's ability to work with all the different flavors of 802.11 makes it easy for users to connect equipment from multiple vendors across multiple networks. "It basically gives a lot of flexibility to the consumer and the venue as far as the technology they can use," he said.
SMC Networks last week announced plans to begin shipping a wireless router with MIMO technology in December; Netgear and D-Link each released similar products in the past month; and Linksys, a division of Cisco Systems, began selling its Wireless-G Broadband Router in September.
Netgear's RangeMax 240 wireless router boasts speeds of up to 240 Mbps and was designed for use in business environments of up to 250 users and in the home, said Vivek Pathela, senior director of product marketing at Netgear, Santa Clara, Calif. "The added speed makes it possible to deploy enterprise applications such as videoconferencing and VoIP on the wireless network, which means lower infrastructure costs," he said.
