802.11n wireless gear to shine at Interop

Wireless LAN vendors are unveiling at Interop Las Vegas next week a slew of draft 2 IEEE 802.11n access points, controllers, and management features aimed at spurring enterprise adoption of the technology.

The new access points can vary widely in terms of the number of radios, which frequency bands are supported, their power requirements, and of course, price.

The new products reveal the unanticipated complexity that 11n is introducing to enterprise WLAN buying decisions and deployments. “It’s getting more difficult to do an apples-to-apples comparison,” says Paul DeBeasi, analyst with The Burton Group, a technology research firm.

The best example is the vendors’ nearly unanimous claims to support power-over-Ethernet. Most (but not all) make various tweaks, shutting off or cutting back on certain services to reduce power demand. But the products being introduced at Interop show an array of still-developing techniques to make the access points use less power, or use it more efficiently, or both.

In almost every case, the 802.11n radios in these new products support two spatial streams, a 3×3 MIMO antenna configuration, and 40MHz channels, giving each radio a data rate of about 300Mbps, or 600Mbps total for a two-radio access point. In most cases, TCP throughput is about half of that, or somewhat more. Most have two Gigabit Ethernet ports, with support for one or more Power-over-Ethernet options. (Compare WLAN products.) 

Aerohive Networks is adding the first 802.11n access points to its “no controller” WLAN architecture. Controller functions are distributed to the Hive access points, which work together to coordinate the WLAN activity. There are three new models, one for offices, one for industrial sites, and one with three radios for outdoor networks.

The products use an Aerohive technology called SmartPoE, which detects how much power a PoE switch is supplying to the access point. In most cases, according to company executives, the devices can run on a single 802.3af PoE connection. HiveAP 320 has a list price of $1,300; the 340, of $1,500; both are available in July. The 380 lists at $3,000 and is scheduled to ship in the fourth quarter.

Aerohive also announced a rack-mounted GuestManager 1.0 appliance that lets an enterprise simply and quickly create and manage WLAN access for guests and visitors. GuestManager costs $10,000.

Aruba Networks is releasing a pair of two-radio 802.11abg access points that can activate their 802.11n capability by means of a software key, and an additional fee to the vendor. The AP-124 has detachable, replaceable antennas; the antennas for the AP-125 are not removable. The base price for the 802.11abg device is about $1,000; to activate 802.11n is another $300 to $400 per device, depending on the number deployed. They are slated to ship this quarter.

Aruba executives say the new access points will run with full 802.11n function using a single 802.3af power injector connection. That’s because of some power management code inside the access point, according to Aruba.

Aruba is also releasing a new version of its portable access point, the Mobile Remote Access Point, this time with a port for a 3G cellular adapter card.

Meru Networks is unveiling the Mercedes Benz of 802.11n access points: the AP440, with four 802.11n radios. Two can be set to different channels in the 2.4GHz band (one 40MHz, one 20MHz), and two to different 40MHz channels in the 5GHz band. Meru’s architecture lets you in effect layer four separate WLANs atop each other, for a total potential capacity of 1.2Gbps, in terms of data rate, according to the vendor.

But to run all four radios at full function, you’ll need what’s called “PoE Plus,” a higher-powered alternative to 802.3af, pending the still-unratified 802.3at standard. A host of vendors offer PoE Plus gear today, according to Meru. Add to whatever that cost is the hefty cost of the 440: roughly $3,000. It is set to ship in the third quarter.

Meru is also unveiling an innovative network management application, called Wireless Virtual Reality, which takes a floor plan of your site, in jpg format, and then builds a three-dimensional view of the actual WLAN coverage and health. It’s priced at $10,000 and will be released in the third quarter.

Ruckus Wireless is introducing a much less expensive 802.11n access point, the ZoneFlex 7942: a one-radio, 2.4GHz device. It’s also the first to feature Ruckus’ new wireless mesh software. The self-forming SmartMesh eliminates the need for every access point to have an Ethernet cable to the LAN, and it automatically routes traffic around broken connections. It’s available on all Ruckus access points.

The 7942 also has the Ruckus smart antenna array, which changes antenna combinations on the fly to maintain the best connection and throughput, and extend the range of the access point. It’s available now, at a list price of $700.

Also part of the announcement are a new high-end controller, for up to 250 access points, starting at $6,000, and a revamped network management application, starting at $5,000 that can now manage multiple controllers.

Finally, Trapeze has announced the MP-432, two-radio 802.11n access point. It’s available now, priced at $1,300. Trapeze engineers focused on reducing power consumption and improving power efficiency for the electronics. The vendor says that one 802.3af PoE connection will let the device run at full function.

The new high-end MX2800 WLAN controller has a switching capacity of 28Gbps, and can support up to 512 access points. The units can be “virtually” stacked, up to 64, appearing in effect as a single device. It is available now, priced at $20,000. Trapeze has upgraded its Mobility Systems Software, adding a feature which lets a controller automatically and seamlessly step in and take over for another in the event of a failure.

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