* WLAN market is poised for overhaul
It’s true that with the crystallization of the IEEE 802.11 series of wireless LAN standards, WLANs in general have grown pretty mature. I’m talking, in particular, about 802.11b and, second, the Wi-Fi Protected Access set of security features that are a subset of the IEEE 802.11i security enhancements. (In fact, Microsoft just announced last week a download for WPA for the Microsoft Windows XP operating system – a real coup for getting enhanced, yet standard, security into client devices without much effort.)
Meanwhile, the 802.11a standard has been ratified and products are in Wi-Fi certification and interoperability testing. And 802.11g is close behind (though it has seen some ripples because of vendor eagerness to build products ahead of standards; ratification is expected in the second quarter).
All this discussion is meant to demonstrate that the WLAN market has already undergone lots of development and testing work that has resulted in several iterations of radio transmission technology and products in the past six years or so since the original 802.11 standard was ratified in July 1997. And, of course, the industry has overhauled itself on the security front.
But, despite all these generations, the market remains in the throes of massive change right at this moment. A horde of players is coming up with new designs, form factors, security and management solutions in the hopes of finally lighting a big bonfire under WLANs in large enterprises. These companies include newcomers AirFlow, Aruba, Chantry, Trapeze and Vivato, as well as several established WLAN access point/network interface card (NIC) makers who are jumping into the so-called “wireless switch” market. (You have to do the math, though, with actual WLAN switch pricing to make sure the numbers actually do work out on paper, not just in theory.)
Meanwhile, Nortel has just thrown its own hat into the WLAN ring with a set of products that includes just such a centralized switch.
Many other announcements will be made in the next few weeks so you can view all the wares at NetWorld+Interop in Vegas at the end of the month.
So the question is: Are WLANs safe to deploy enterprisewide, yet, or are they still, in their own way, maturing, with new products to understand and a new cast of vendor characters to get to know?
Stay tuned.
