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The evolution of wireless local area networking (WLAN) is facing a new set of requirements, driven by a number of technology and business trends. One is the imminent arrival of the 802.11n standard, which will increase wireless traffic loads by more than 10 times-far exceeding the throughput capacity of today's wireless switches. Another trend is the acceleration in enterprise adoption of voice over IP that is dramatically cutting phone costs. Enterprises are eager to extend VoIP over wireless, but current generation WLANs cannot support voice at enterprise-wide scale. Additional trends include the need to extend wireless service outdoors throughout the campus, quad and warehouse, as well as the need to maintain state-of-the-art wireless security and minimize management and operations costs as wireless networks increase in size, criticality, and pervasive use.
Today's WLAN architectures fall under one of two approaches-distributed or centralized. A distributed architecture places all the intelligence in the network access points. This approach is also known as "fat AP." A centralized architecture places all the intelligence in one or more WLAN controllers rather than the AP. This approach is also known as "thin AP." Neither of today's approaches provides the traffic optimization necessary to handle the emerging requirements for next generation WLANs, including cost-effective implementation of 802.11n networks and large-scale voice over WLAN deployments, while retaining centralized control and management.
Recognizing the limitations of current approaches, Trapeze Networks has developed a new WLAN architecture called Smart Mobile?. Smart Mobile introduces an innovative breakthrough called "intelligent switching," which combines the advantages of both centralized and distributed approaches. As a result, Smart Mobile allows organizations to adopt high-performance 802.11n networks, deliver high-quality voice for hundreds of users, and scale their WLANs across the enterprise indoors and outdoors, without compromising security or manageability and without having to upgrade their existing switching or WLAN controller infrastructures.
INTRODUCTION
Over the last few years, enterprises have increasingly deployed wireless local area networks (WLANs) to drive productivity, reduce cost, and improve work quality. While the return on investment has been substantial, enterprises recognize they have reaped only a fraction of the potential benefits. Today, they are looking to leverage wireless technology for even greater value, by extending it to more users and by expanding the scope of wireless services and applications.
At the same time, a number of business and technology trends are creating a new set of requirements for wireless networks that can deliver the increased value that enterprises are demanding. Emerging developments such as the high-throughput 802.11n standard hold the promise of providing significantly more powerful WLANs. But current WLAN architectures stand in the way of realizing those benefits. Consequently, a new approach is needed to deliver the next generation of high performance wireless networks.
This paper identifies the requirements for next-generation WLANs, examines the limitations of existing approaches, and describes an innovative WLAN architecture from Trapeze Networks called Smart Mobile?, which overcomes those limitations.
FIVE REQUIREMENTS FOR NEXT GENERATION WLANS
As enterprises develop their strategies for deploying new WLANs or evolving existing ones, five key requirements must guide their evaluation. The choices they make today will profoundly impact their ability to maximize value from their WLAN investments and minimize their costs throughout the WLAN life cycle.
- 802.11n. The IEEE 802.11n standard, which is more than ten times faster than 802.11b/g or 802.11a, is expected to be ready for enterprise deployment in the second half of 2007. Any new WLAN investments must support 802.11n when it's available. For existing investments, the enterprise must examine whether its WLAN infrastructure will be crippled by the 10-fold increase in throughput that 802.11n will bring and whether it can move to 802.11n without exorbitant upgrade costs.
- Voice over WLAN. Enterprises have accelerated their adoption of voice over IP to dramatically reduce phone costs, and they are eager to extend VoIP to wireless. But voice over WLAN (VoWLAN) has had limited enterprise adoption, because current generation WLANs cannot deliver toll-quality service to large numbers of users. Next generation WLANs must overcome this limitation to support hundreds of roaming users with clear, reliable service.
- Seamless indoor and outdoor coverage. Enterprises want to extend mobility services across their campuses, including outdoor and unwired areas such as shop floors and warehouses.
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