* Foundry Networks' new wireless gear
Foundry Networks this week unveiled a wireless LAN switch that the company says supports a greater density of wireless clients than previous products.
Foundry’s IronPoint Mobility RS4000 is a radio switch that uses RF clustering to increase wireless client density by 1,000%, supporting up to 256 clients, according to the company. It dynamically reserves bandwidth for each client. Foundry calls it a “plug-and-play upgrade to existing WLANs,” requiring no new site surveys.
Foundry is aiming the device at environments where there are a large number of wireless users in a small area, such as an auditorium or a conference center.
The company also introduced the IronPoint Mobility AP150, an access point that has stand-alone sensors for detecting rogue access points. It supports QoS for voice over WLANs and as many as 128 mobile clients. It automatically configures itself and balances loads among wireless clients. It is controlled by an IronPoint Mobility Controller. Multiple units can use the same radio channel.
Foundry also beefed up its management software, Wireless Location Manager, with real-time visual RF mapping, automatic location reporting and network access management. Interestingly, the software supports location-based access control, which allows you to allow or deny access to clients based on their physical locations. Luckily, it has “enhanced location accuracy,” which Foundry says means that you don’t need a parallel overlay sensor network to detect rogue access points.
All of the products are scheduled to ship next month.
