Interop: New wireless LAN hardware options abound

Vendors keep changing the most basic element of the enterprise wireless LAN: the access point.

Several hardware announcements at the Interop trade show this week add still more options to the "Chinese menu" of wireless LAN options for network executives:

* Meru Networks is unveiling a kind of super access point, packing into a single box up to 12 WLAN radios, all of which can operate at the same time.
* Aruba is offering what it dubs a personal access point, which you can take on the road or use at home, plug into any Ethernet port, and tunnel securely to your corporate net over a WAN connection.
* Chipmaker SiNett announces a complete reference design, including boards, software, development tools, and services built around its recently announced chip that can process both IEEE 802.3 Ethernet packets and 802.11 WLAN packets; this is the heart of future switches, routers, and other net gear that will form a single net with both wired and wireless client access.
* Siemens Communications is formally unveiling its line of WLAN switches and thin access points, based on technology it acquired from start-up Chantry Networks last year.

The new Radio Switch product line, from Meru, Sunnyvale, Calif., is aimed at creating wireless LANs that can support lots of users, at higher throughput than conventional single-radio access points. The Radio Switch box is an access point with four, eight or 12 radios, in a mix of 2.4-GHz 802.11b/g and 5-GHz 11a radios. The box is cabled to a new Meru-designed omni-directional twin antenna, which looks rather like a short chimney.
The antenna is the key, Meru executives say. It lets all the radios in the node send or receive at the same time, without interfering with each other. "Think of this as a big access point that can send and receive on 12 channels at the same time," says Vaduvur Bharghavan, Meru's founder and CTO.

With each channel acting in effect as a single access point to which wireless clients connect, each Radio Switch node can support vastly more users in a given area than a conventional access point.

One key point to keep in mind: the Radio Switch has the same range as standard single-radio 11b/g or 11a access points. An enterprise would need about the same number of Meru Radio Switches as conventional access points. The difference, according to the vendor, is that many more users can be supported on each node.

The Radio Switches, linked to Meru's WLAN switch, can balance users and traffic across the group of radios. "The switch knows all 12 radios and channels," says Bharghavan. "It blocks a congested radio channel from responding to a client [connection] probe." The Radio Switch can also kick out lower-priority users, such as those not running voice or video traffic, from one channel and reconnect them on another. The switch is done behind the scenes, and users aren't aware it has been done.

The Meru Radio Switch will be available in August, in three versions: RS-4000, RS-8000, and RS-12000, reflecting four, eight, and 12 radios. Pricing for the 4000 starts at $1,795 and for the 8000 at $2,995. The 12000 pricing will be announced later.

Aruba is introducing code that can run on its current access point products, turning them into what the San Jose WLAN vendor calls the Personal Access Point.