WLAN solutions that fit between small-business and enterprise-class are becoming much more important. Cisco recently announced a few additions to their product line that motivated more thought on this – and a new Farpoint Group White Paper.
I recently posted an entry here on how I see the separate and distinct classes of wireless-LAN systems on the market today, with an open question as to the degree of functional overlap we’ll likely see among them. The midmarket sector is today of particular interest, motivated by a recent announcement from Cisco of new APs (the 1600 and 2600) aimed just at that opportunity. Coupled with a new release of the Cisco Prime unified (wired and wireless) management console and an increasing emphasis on virtualizing key components (very important to midmarket firms trying to minimize costs), and the midmarket opportunity suddenly looks like anything but a niche.
We’ve identified the key requirements that define this segment. These include ease-of-use for operations staffs, because midmarket firms don’t have the large IT departments of their enterprise counterparts. Staff productivity, always a key to lowering operational expense (OpEx), is thus especially critical here. The other major issue is scalability, as in non-disruptive, cost-effective, and easily managed, because midmarket firms often see higher growth rates than larger firms. There’s much more, of course, and you can take a look at our latest Farpoint Group White Paper on the motivations and background for this new (at least in terms of a refinement of definition) class of wireless-LAN systems. I think you’ll find it informative, and there’s also a bit more detail here on key midmarket AP feature requirements and Cisco’s new midmarket APs as well.
Just to reinforce one point from the White Paper that I’ve been making at conferences and in Webinars – even with 802.11ac on the horizon, 802.11n is far from dead. While I expect 802.11ac shipments, for both clients and infrastructure, to pass .11n in 2015, it will be at least 2018 before organizations start to turn off their .11n networks, and likely much later than that before .11n joins .11b as extinct (and, the be fair, we still see .11b from time to time, even today). So – don’t be afraid to get ROI from new .11n APs in the interim, and by all means talk with your vendor about your evolution and upgrade plans. While these are especially important in midsize settings, every business WLAN operator should have a few calls and meetings on this subject on their to-do lists for 2013.
