* Aruba moves APs into structured cabling plant
Aruba Wireless Networks this week is introducing the “Wireless Grid,” a structured approach to building wireless LANs that piggybacks scaled-down access points onto Category 5 cabling distribution systems.
The idea is to eliminate the hefty costs associated with running cable from switches to wireless access points. This is usually the biggest cost of WLAN deployment, particularly since most are inconveniently deployed in ceilings for optimal coverage.
Instead, implementers mount Aruba’s new software-programmable 802.11a/b/g AP 60 Series access points in walls and cubicles where Ethernet jacks already exist. Aruba will continue to sell its other access points, as well.
The move is somewhat reminiscent of the Home Phoneline Network Alliance’s efforts to leverage the Category 3 phone wiring in walls to deliver wired Ethernet to desktops and circumvent additional cabling costs.
“The cost of labor is going up, and the cost of WLAN equipment is going down,” says Craig Mathias, principal analyst at the Farpoint Group wireless consulting firm. “This is such an obvious thing to do, I wish I’d thought of it. All you have to do is unscrew a panel, and plug a new panel in. [The Aruba wireless] switch automatically sees it, configures it, and you’re done.”
Ceiling mounts have traditionally been used to maximize wireless coverage, hailing from the days when access points were very expensive. Now, because access points are becoming relatively inexpensive, enterprises can mount them in more convenient places, but install more of them to achieve their coverage goals.
Lower-mounted access points will have a smaller coverage sphere because of obstacles in the way – so you can reuse frequency bands more often without interference, Mathias notes, creating many small micro-cells of coverage around each access point.
Gary Jenkins, senior network engineer at Sharp HealthCare, an Aruba customer in San Diego, points out that it can cost $3,000 to install an access point in places where patient care occurs.
“Dust [in ceilings] can kill a patient,” he says, explaining that special equipment must be used first to suck out the dust before an access point can be installed.
For physical security, the new Aruba devices come with a mounting lock that requires special tools for removal. In addition, Aruba has partnered with Ortonics to eventually integrate Aruba’s WLAN technology directly into an office network wall outlet.
Aruba plans to sell the Wi-Fi grid architecture as a managed service; you pay an annual fee for wireless hardware, software, ongoing support, repair and software updates. The cost, says Keerti Melkoti, Aruba vice president of product marketing and management, comes to $200 per access point per year.
