* Company says it will relieve looming net gridlock
There are network performance issues to consider as the arrival of fast 802.11n networks draws near. I described them last time and mentioned that Wi-Fi systems maker Trapeze Networks is attempting to head them off at the pass with its Smart Mobile overlay architecture, which it formally announced this week.
Trapeze wireless LANs are based on a centralized, or “thin-access point (AP)” model, which delivers the centralized management and control capabilities required for scaling large wireless networks. This model is commonly being adopted by many large organizations for new deployments. In addition to Trapeze, centralized WLANs are supplied by Aruba Wireless, Bluesocket, Cisco, Meru Networks, Symbol Technologies and others.
The Smart Mobile software overlay from Trapeze distributes a so-called station switching record (SSR) of every 802.11 client to each of Trapeze’s Mobility Point APs (while also retaining the information inside the switch). The SSR enables most application traffic to be switched within the APs themselves, alleviating potential data bottlenecks at the central WLAN controller.
However, you may choose to keep other application traffic, such as guest access traffic, centralized, says Dan Simone, Trapeze VP and CTO, to ensure that it doesn’t traverse internal switches.
Smart Mobile also extends the edge of Trapeze WLANs to the out of doors. A hardened, Smart Mobile-enabled Mobility Point can be configured to run in mesh mode, says Simone, enabling the system to be used for backhaul and campus-area coverage. A common management system, the company’s Ringmaster tool suite, will control both indoor and outdoor WLAN segments, Simone says.
The “meshedness” of Smart Mobile is its most appealing characteristic to Frank Basso, assistant director of communications at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, in Monterey, Calif. The outdoor raceway currently uses Trapeze gear for 802.11 client access in concert with WiMAX backhaul equipment from Motorola and Trango Broadband Wireless to support public access, corporate, concession, point-of-sale, ticketing, hospitality and other applications. Basso indicated that he prefers to run one “big” Trapeze network that spans the 500-acre track.
The move means that Ringmaster site survey tools should also work out of doors, says Basso. Previously, Ringmaster wasn’t able to account for elevation deviations, metal tractor-trailers and other outdoor variables in helping build a network configuration, he says, for which “I gave [Trapeze] a lot of grief.”
