First we had the era of the thick AP (802.11b…1999), then the “thin” AP and controller (early 90’s), now we actually are reverting back to the distributed systems model…intelligence at the edge. If we can use the silicon and bring in intelligence in the AP…the controller does not become what I perceive as the “bottleneck”..and then do you really need redundant controllers? Motorola as the superior RF company provides more power per AP and better receive sensitivity versus the competition. (again…what I see from the specifications and analysis).
I was actually around then Symbol/now Motorola to witness this transition.
This Adaptive Architecture provides
No controller bottleneck
Improved application performance
Massive scalability
Collaborative intelligence in AP and controller
(Think of the controller as being in the cloud…sort of!)
This all results in a more reliable WLAN design, less cost of ownership, and less TCO. Add in all the forensics of AirDefense..and you bulletproofed your WLAN. Know that Cisco and Aruba battle head to head all the time…but Motorola and others (well at least another that I have blogged about) are have innovation that is changing the landscape of the WLAN.
For at the end of the day…it how to take the commoditized WLAN technology…make it better and better to deliver real business value. Not just about moving widgets.
Wired & Wireless Firewall
QOS – WMM-PS/SIP CAC
Mobility – L2 and L3 stateful roaming
Native IDS/IPS
AAA Server for site survivable networks*
DHCP Server, with caching*
Dynamic RF Management with SMART RF
Traffic Load-balancing with Rate Limiting and Bandwidth Management
Locally managed firmware updates and configurations
Local troubleshooting capabilities with Statistics aggregation
* Typically separate servers and/applications.
