* Panel discussions tap hands-on Wi-Fi deployment advice
Earlier this year, a colleague and I issued a Draft 2.0 802.11n Challenge to enterprise-class Wi-Fi system suppliers, asking them to publicly plead their case about their primary strengths as an 11n supplier. Six vendors accepted the challenge by submitting written documents and also by participating in audio panels on various educational 802.11n subtopics.
In addition to the participants’ written submissions, the first two of five multivendor Webcast panel discussions are available for free download on the following topics here (free registration required):
* 802.11n Migration Best Practices (Cisco and Proxim Wireless)
* How Important Are Wi-Fi Architectures? (Enterasys-Siemens, Proxim Wireless, Xirrus)
It can be quite enlightening to converse with two or more vendors at the same time. I usually talk to vendors one by one, with each subsequent vendor seeming to enjoy negating what the previous vendor said. As such, I often end up in a wash.
I would describe these 802.11n Challenge panel discussions, by contrast, as civil but spirited and quite hands-on in nature with a minimum of vendor hype. There’s more agreement going on in the first two, which each address some basic design and architecture decisions, without the need for too many “My feature list is longer than yours!” arguments. These sessions are set up as multi-person conversations, rather than presentations, so be prepared to eavesdrop on two-way or three-way educational talks in which vendors and I discuss best practices, deployment tips and recommendations as though we were shooting the breeze alone in a room.
Still to come:
* Creating a Highly Available 802.11n Environment (Trapeze Networks and Motorola), to post this Friday, April 24
* Managing Your Airspace for Optimal Performance (Cisco, Motorola, Xirrus), to post Friday, May 1
* Getting 802.11n Ready for Voice and other Real-time Applications (Enterasys-Siemens and Trapeze Networks), to post Friday, May 8
Note that each vendor’s written business case, described here in a newsletter in early March, remains available at the same Webtorials Web site.
