3Com Offers Integrated Wired, Wireless LANs In H3C Upgrade
The move comes as many businesses are looking to make wired and wireless network integration more seamless, and move away from the cumbersome and often expensive model of overlaying wireless on top of an existing wired network.
3Com says its UNA is the first portfolio of its kind in the industry. Other companies have also leaped into the integrated wired-wireless space; Extreme Networks and Motorola, for example, announced an OEM deal in October and a partnership to develop integrated wired and wireless in future products.
The move continues 3Com's efforts to broaden its H3C enterprise networking portfolio following that portfolio's arrival in North America earlier this year. 3Com in August, for example, said it had created an integrated network security fabric using the H3C line and its TippingPoint security brand.
The new H3C UNA portfolio includes integrated controller modules for S7500E chassis and S5800 Flex chassis switching platforms, as well as standalone controllers, unified switches and access points. According to 3Com, all of it future H3C enterprise networking products will support the UNA platform.
Price-wise, the S7500E chassis module is $16,999, standalone WX wireless controllers start at $6,499, unified wired and wireless switches start at $2,299 and 802.11n access points start at $699, with 802.11a/b/g access points at $249. Additionally, license upgrades come in versions with 12, 32 and 128 access points, and 3Com's IMC Wireless Services Manager (WSM) plug-ins start at $2,995.
"Having been in the industry since the early days of wireless technology, I believe this is the first time customers will have a truly integrated solution that will allow them to take their enterprise Wireless LAN deployments into primetime," said Saar Gillai, 3Com's senior vice president of worldwide product and solutions, in a statement. "H3C's UNA is the only solution to deliver on the promise of a seamless wired/wireless network infrastructure, provide wire-speed performance and ensure complete scalability -- all critical to moving WLAN into the mainstream of enterprise networking."
The H3C UNA portfolio would be yet another gem for HP as it prepares to leverage 3Com's portfolio against competitors like Cisco. HP hasn't offered any guidance on how it plans to integrate 3Com products into its own ProCurve networking unit and other units, but as a number of solution providers have pointed out, the voice products and low-end items 3Com makes would immediately add product categories to HP it didn't already have. The H3C UNA portfolio would seem to do the same.
HP announced Nov. 11 it would seek acquire 3Com for $2.7 billion.