Wireless LAN switches making a mark

Wireless LANs are getting a lot of attention these days. And where is that fact more evident than the rash of wireless LAN switches that have or will soon deluge the market from Aruba, Proxim, Airflow, Blackstorm, Vivato and Trapeze.

According to our Technology Update author this week (merv@arubanetworks.com) wireless LAN switches centralize control of access points and wireless switching much like intelligent switching did for the wired world.

Wireless LANs today are largely a group of access points that typically connect to a wired LAN. Individual users connected to one access point must share the available throughput, which is typically 5M to 7M bit/sec for IEEE 802.11b nets, and roughly 15M to 20M bit/sec for 802.11a networks.

The idea is to provide the standard architecture and centralized management tools needed to scale and secure wireless LANs beyond departments and across a corporation, our author states.

The need for wireless switches is growing as wireless LAN implementations grow. For example, The Dell’Oro Group says wireless LAN revenue will hit $3.1 billion by 2006. Bandwidth control and management needs will only grow.

For more on this article see: https://www.nwfusion.com/tech/2003/0303techupdate.html