* WLAN switch makers metamorphose
The metamorphosis of the wireless LAN switch companies will soon leave enterprises wondering from whom they should procure some of their primary networking capabilities.
It has long been challenging to determine where one networking discipline leaves off and another begins. A particularly confounding demarcation point for the WLAN vendors has been security. Even more recently, in the case of branch-office support, the line between WLAN transport, wired LAN switching and WAN routing is also blurring.
I reported last time that Aruba Wireless had plunged whole-hog into enterprise-wide endpoint security. Other WLAN switch vendors also have deals with traditional firewall vendors, whereby they have built APIs in their WLAN switches for tunneling wireless security information to that vendor’s firewall, allowing all security to be managed by the enterprise’s firewall console. Chantry Networks does this with CheckPoint; Aruba does this with Fortinet, for example.
Meanwhile, WLAN vendors are using a variety of strategies to satisfy the needs of enterprise branch offices. Symbol, which recently added support for dual-frequency 802.11 a/b/g radios in its APs, as well as 802.11i security, and site-to-site IPSec VPNs in its Symbol 2000 branch-office switch system, supports not only WLAN capabilities, but WAN routing interfaces and wired LAN switching connections in the 2000. The all-in-one approach eliminates having to buy “extra” equipment at the branch to support wireless, other than the APs.
Interestingly, this means that Symbol – a wireless company by heritage – is now competing in the WAN access router space with companies such as Cisco and AdTran. Both AdTran’s NetVantage 4000 and Cisco’s Integrated Service Routers (ISR) combine LAN switches and WAN access routers plus VPN encryption. And Cisco’s new 2800 and 3800 series ISRs also support Cisco IOS Wireless Domain Services for control of Cisco Aironet APs.
And while WLAN switch vendor Trapeze Networks’ latest low-end branch-office switch doesn’t yet support WAN connections, recall that it is now closely partnered in a development relationship with 3Com. Among its many enterprise contributions, 3Com announced in September two families of WAN access routers, the 3000 and 6000 lines. Are integrated WLAN/WAN access products far off?
