Consolidation in the WLAN switching arena may mean fewer vendors to choose from, but more ways for users to secure, configure and manage their wireless LANs this year.
Aruba Wireless Networks Inc. later this month will announce updates to its WLAN switch line, along with two major customer wins, McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas and SAP America Inc., each of which is turning to WLANs for corporate and guest Internet access.
Due for release later this month is the Aruba AP70 Grid Point access point, which provides simultaneous 802.11a and 802.11b/g wireless connectivity and features a choice of internal or external antennas. Key to the AP70 Grid Point is the inclusion of a USB (Universal Serial Bus) port, a feature Aruba officials said will appear on the company's future grid points.
Officials at WLAN market leader Cisco Systems Inc., in San Jose, Calif., said the company has no plans for USB expansion ports.
Planned service extensions for Aruba's USB ports in the coming year include a spectrum analyzer, Bluetooth detection, integration of third-generation cellular network technology, wireless backhaul capability for mesh networks, and smart cards from security companies such as RSA Security Inc. and ActivCard Inc.
Other possible USB extensions include the ability to upgrade to future radio protocols such as 802.11n and WiMax, officials said.
Aruba is also updating its WLAN switching software. Chief among the new features is the ability to create IP Security tunnels between switches and access points, even if the access point is in a remote location. Previous versions of the software used UDP (User Datagram Protocol) packets for control messages and GRE (General Routing Encapsulation) tunnels for user data transport.
In addition, the free software supports NAT (network address translation), which allows IPSec to work in the presence of devices without native IPSec support.
Aruba Gives Wireless LAN Switches More Options
