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Just wanted ask where people feel the market is heading or the specific vendors they deal with.

OK lets start with Cisco, the 800lb networking gorilla, with the breadth and depth of it portfolio. OK I am not naive enough to say it wins all the way or it has the best products in every firld but thats where thay are. There amin sales strategy is unified wireless ie not an overlay network but an integrated network.

Aruba very goodkit by all accounts and majoring on the security aspects, however from my point of view, and I dont know the portfolio at all most vendors offer either their own or a third parties complimentary security solutions such as IDS/IPS. what sgood about them, let me know as I want to get something out of this thread. Yes I think they are very good and would have no problem implementing their solutions as its a quality vendor. They are innovative and look like they are pushing o expand,

Meru, dont know cant comment, a freind says its easy to install.

Aerohive, love the architecture but its very new, does it have a complete portfolio. I would like out more.

Xirrus, are you being Xirrious, dont know about them but does their technology break some of the 802.11 standards by not allowing fair usage of channel resources. Or is it any good. A freind says its easy to install.

Ruckus, again I dont know.

HP well they used to sell everybodies but have bought Colubris, from speaking with them is it the blind leading the blind? OK HP have market penetration with their switches etc,

And what has happened to Trapeze and others

We have seen the Gartner amgic quadrants etc but what do we feel.

Who is innovative?

Is it a requirement to have a larger networking portfolio?

Whos getting bought next?

Probaly unfair but whats really rubbish either from a quality, support or performance perspective..

I've been fortunate since the majority of Wireless networks I've had to deal with have bee Cisco and well-financed outside of the "in the beginning" with some ghetto rigs and then of course stepping in for higher education where anything goes.

Meru? I thought their implementation was pretty decent.

Im not saying Meru isnt decent, thats exactly what I am asking now if we take HP well I have had the misfotune there.

One of my clients has the old 230aps and modules in his 5308 switch, now he has no upgrade path so its a rip and replece, HP have been very unhelpful to say the least.

I can understand the new Colubris integration but its like they dont have any pre colubris support left.

Its not just a question about product but support aswell.

I think the package should include support and strength in the market.

Whats Siemens doing, Alcatel, Juniper etc with regard to wireless. You dont tend to see these with any real strategy, it may just be a UK thing.

I think from an architecture standpoint, every solution is different. They each have pros and cons.
Meru - easy to install easy to maintain. Difficult to troubleshoot. Seems like it would have scale issues.
Cisco - If you have a Cisco environment this probably is the way to go, especially if you are doing the SMARTnet contract and don't have a local resources to manage the wireless.
Trapeze - interesting managment (Ringmaster) from what I understand. They seem to get a bit of OEM stuff from network vendors like Nortel but seem to be losing these one by one as everyone is buying and rolling their own.
Motorola- I think is well positioned as wireless "overlay" vender. They have a great planning tool, AirDefense and now finally have a 3x3 AP that uses 802.3af power.

From a strictly architectural standpoint, there could be some changes in future. I know that I see some long term problems with centralized controllers. However, that said, even in the environment I manage, 2600 devices and over 1000-2000 concurrent connections, the aggregate bandwidth isn't earth shattering. So maybe 10Gb/s controllers aren't absolutely necessary for 802.11n, YET. I think Wi-Fi still lacks a killer app or device. AT&T didn't have the bandwidth problem it has today until the iPhone 3G launched. Perhaps, this is the same for Wi-Fi. Maybe the tablet/slate/iPad type thing will be that device. So....
Autonomous AP's - these should be the topic of remember when discussions soon atleast for enterprises
Lightweight AP's - Will need to exist long term as a solution for vendors to provide in an overlay solution.
SCA - Niche, voice is a great driver for this, but I wonder how large a deployment can be. However, I don't believe voice should be riding over Wi-Fi.
CCA - Very interesting, but again what is the scale of this solution in practice. I think this is leading up to the next thing ->
Distributed integrated solution. I think ultimately as every network vendor acquires or rolls their own Wi-Fi we will see two options: 1. The controller based solution to sell to a customer with another vendors switches and routers. 2. A solution that is integrated with the network vendors gear. In the beginning, no one developed their own wireless solution. As the acquisitions continue there really are only a few players lacking their own enterprise solution, such as Juniper and Avaya/Nortel(currently resell Trapeze). Cisco - Aironet then Airespace; HP-Colubris; Motorola; Enterasys-Siemens/Chantry. Meru, Ruckus, Aerohive, Xirrus, and anyone I missed lack a networking partner to leverage. Consequently, I think the end-to-end players are going to be able to provide a better solution because of the economies presented and the integration possibilities especially if you get into provide more than just an SSID. So, I think if you watch the market leader moving to "Unified Networks", I have to say this is a natural progression. I'm not saying the niches won't exist like SCA and every vendor needs an solution that will play nice with others (controller based or CCA).

Would it be cool if Aerohive calls there architecture something other than CCA, I keep thinking Clear Channel Assessment. How about NCCA for Not Centralized Control Architecture. Eh, maybe that's why I don't work in marketing.

I forgot aot Moto, yea they have some good products and bought market share with Symbol. Their survey software is awesome but it was developed for a different market but works well for wifi. But its about $30k I believe.

Yea I think we will see less and less Trapeze, I used to do quite a bit with them.

I dont agree that wireless and voice dont go, its the human factor partly and almost certainly mainly the human factor. Dual mode devices are the ones. I dont go in the office much and have never logged into my phone. All my numbers are in my mobile so I use that, thats a cost to the company. Yeah service providers will drop their rates but it will still move to wireless, there are also the voice users that trully need to be mobile such as hospital staff. The good thing is that its not bandwidth hungry and has matured in the market.

Video is the killer app and again its the human factor, video is bandwidth hungry. Now as we all get given laptops at work we get lazy. Let not look for a cable, lets not bend over or crawl under desks. I want to open my laptop and work.

I havent plugged my laptop in to my network at work for I dont know how long. At home I use wireless except in my lab. Yeah yeah its a wireless lab but Im also doing CCNP so apologies I need to bring interfaces up and I use switches etc just to ping to and activate interfaces. I would love to have 4 or 5 laptops.

I see HP as the vendor wit most potential but they sure havent goy their act together, theres nothing innovative.

Aruba WOW if they got bought up then it deepends on who buys them.

Looking at the core network technologies its usually Cisco or HP, so Aruba dont have the option of a perfect partner with huge market share in switching to bundle there product with.

Aerohive, I rally like the idea and dont see why it wouldnt scale, maybe with the exception of several thousand aps coordinating RRM or location Im not sure I just dont know.

Is there a killer app or device? OK video is the biggy, maybe more and more location but there are different flavours. Is there a killer device? Just more devices.

Is wireless getting mission critical?

Will client expectation be the driving force with the adoption and promises of 802.11n capabilities.

f nothing else I think wireless is certainly maturing and you have to say its definitely more exciting than any other sphere of networking. Whats the next big thing in voice? data? security? Nothing else compares to the speed with which wireless is changing and evolving.

Apologies for rambling I just absolutely love this stuff, wireless that is.

Yeah, I completely left Aruba off the list. Ooops, I think they are the most likely acquisition target, but by who? Juniper? I may have miss stated my opinion on voice over Wi-Fi, I don't see this as mission critical. Perhaps, as a solution like the iPhone second line AP. Vendors like Spectralink have some requirements that really degrade the performance of you network, like using only UNII-1 and 3, try using channel bonding on that. It's not that the technology doesn't work it's more of a situation that seems less attractive as a cost savings given the sacrifices made. Good banter Pete, I enjoy these discussions on the boards.

Thats exactly what I am saying Jon, Aruba yea buy them out but I think Aruba would have been great at HP, nobody else is going to give them what they need..

I also never knew that about spectralink, have to put that in my mind for a later day.

I would agree that voice isnt mission critical, however when does it become mission critical, in a hospital?

Is anything trully mission critical? well if it is I dont see it being run over wireless certainly not in the near future, unless its as an absolute last resort, misson critical to me is something that you would actually have seperate, duplicated and dedicated networks for, not only supporting hardware and applications but transport mechanisms too. Redundant systems do not mean mission critical. Mission critical is used far to readily today. Is a network outage going to stop a department functioning, well yes but is that MISSION CRITICAL, no its damned inconvenient and highly visible but its not life and death, you dont need five nines availability there. Now an operating theatre, is that mission critical, you bet but then they probably dont rely on networked services when they operate. Im sure Darby deals with this.

Sorry I digress.

There have been several attempts to buy Aruba, but since their IPO they have got a bit to large for a buyout. Not saying it can't happen, just they are pretty fiercely independent and like it that way. Lets not forget the Motorola thing is a partnership with Enterasys to OEM their line. I don't really thing the others lack a networking partner and I really only see HP & Cisco as the one's doing the integrated approach, the others take the 'we can work with anyone's switch infrastructure approach. I really disagree with Gartner's assessment here that the future will be only with integrated solutions.
I honestly have difficulty recommending Meru, I just can't get past that SCA will have co-channel interference, no matter how fancy its managed by the controller. That and the two major Meru installations I've seen just don't seem to work well. Now Aerohive I really think has managed to do a different architecture that is innovative. I think they have a pretty good argument to say that the future will be more like how they do it and less like the big centralized controller. This also has an impact on the the model Cisco is promoting, but realistically Cisco could easily change to a more distributed model like Aerohive by incorporating WLAN switch functionality into all their major enterprise switch lines.
Wireless _is_ mission critical already. Just ask the nurses who use VoIP to be able to work. There are plenty of other examples. If you talk with most kids who have just graduated college you will find they _expect_ wireless connectivity and mobility in the workplace. This is where the future is going.

Agreed - Wireless is mission critical and will be more do going forward:

1. Vocera

2. Alaris Pumps

3. RFID - moving forward - I understand the expense is great for the loss of medications if a refrigerator dies - $$$.

It's inconvenient to loose wireless and yes there are contigency plans - however, I'd hate to be the guy who brought it down by accident...

Motorola bought Symbol, AirDefense, and Wireless Valley. I don't believe they ever OEM'd Enterasys gear. Enterasys OEM'd Trapeze wireless. Aruba, you probably right, will be the last bachelor. So either a controller based , integrated or Cooperative Control Architecture seems likely to be the future. I guess the question is really will the CCA replace the controller? I'm sure the Aerohive engineers will say that it will, but it is up to the sales guys to answer that question for sure.