On the road to a complete solution: the Consolidation Principle at work
WLAN leader Meru Networks today announced a comprehensive set of additions to their product line that follow a number of interesting technology, product, and market trends. The highlights of this announcement, so big it took two press releases, include multi-vendor unified wired/wireless management via a partnership with SolarWinds, spectral assurance, IPS, and more. All of this works with Meru’s previously-announced Service Assurance Program, and continues their key marketing theme of the all-wireless enterprise and what the company calls the “Wireless-like-Wire experience”. Have a look at the releases – that’s a lot of function in a WLAN system, much of which previously could only be obtained via separate and distinct (meaning no common management platform) products.
What I find particularly interesting here, then, is that what I call the Consolidation Principle is alive and well. The key concept is that new innovations in any area, including wireless, tend to appear as point products – spectrum analyzers and assurance/IDS/IPS tools come to mind as examples. But, gradually, these capabilities are rolled up into higher-function platforms. If we follow this trend, everything one needs to plan, install, operate, and manage a wireless LAN will be available from the WLAN system vendors that are left standing when the other kind of consolidation happens – the one that is sometimes called a shakeout and which occurs when the players that don’t keep pace with the requirements of functional consolidation are gradually absorbed or otherwise leave the playing field. Sure, there will always be a need for standalone spectrum analyzers and IDS/IPS tools – and applications that will require them. Regulatory demands may, in some cases, dictate distinct solutions regardless. But what’s going on, as evidenced by Meru’s announcement, is more than just keeping up with the Joneses – it’s the fundamental requirement to provide a complete, one-stop-shopping solution for customers who no longer have the time or budget, let alone the staff and skills, to custom-assemble a solution from pieces and parts. Remember, this is a principle – it always happens. The future, in this case, is consequently easy to predict: consolidate or die.
