Ben Gibson at Cisco was kind enough to point out that there’s a slight error in my Network World article on WLAN Management. Cisco has in fact integrated the Spectrum Expert functionality into their WCS console, but what I was trying to say here is that I expect that future management systems (most notably Cisco’s, because, after all, they already own the chips required) will consider RF interference as a parameter in overall system management.
And, secondly, in retrospect it’s not entirely fair to say that the system-level WLAN management tools won’t be able to handle the tasks currently accomplished by the ad-hoc tools I’m currently testing. Most of these are client tools anyway. This brings up, however, an interesting question – just how much functionality will a given management product embody? Will IDS/IPS be rolled up into the management system? Will wireless LAN assurance tools (AirMagnet, OmniPeek, etc.)? Will all manner of widgets and gadgets? What does a complete set of WLAN management functionality actually look like, especially as we move to unified networks?
I’ll try to answer some of these issues in the upcoming Network World articles.
