Though a late entry, Cisco's first wireless LAN mesh product will throw fuel on an already hot market.

Wireless mesh networks based on the IEEE 802.11 standards offer a range of benefits, such as fast deployment, minimal cabling, unlicensed spectrum and broadband throughput rates over wide areas. Mesh promises to make 802.11-based data and voice services pervasive and affordable, at least in campus and metropolitan-area deployments.

Those benefits are persuading a variety of customers to adopt mesh topologies: police and fire departments; campuses; construction companies; utilities; and, increasingly, local governments for business and residential Internet access.

Cisco is throwing the Aironet 1500 into a highly competitive and lucrative market. So far, a pack of upstarts, including BelAir, Firetide, Strix and Tropos Networks, and one established vendor, Nortel, have had the market to themselves, offering an array of architectures and technologies. Other companies such as Motorola, which acquired MeshNetworks, offer proprietary wireless mesh products. The 1500 makes Cisco a major player in this market.

"It appears to be a very competitive product," says Craig Mathias, principal with Farpoint Group, a wireless consulting company. "And it does have 'Cisco' on the front label."