Wifi Revolution

The last five months have brought many breakthrough technologies to the forefront, including the official ratification and release of the 802.11n wireless LAN specification.

 

Cisco, one of the big stakeholders in the business of WiFi (News - Alert) technology, expects 2010 will be an even better year, especially with the release of increasingly sophisticated devices and video technology, Chris Kozup, senior manager, mobility solutions for Cisco (News - Alert), told TMCnet. 

 

“In 2010, Cisco believes customers will start to experience the evolution of the network edge,” Kozup said. “The key trends driving this evolution include the proliferation of connected endpoints and consumerization of IT, user expectations for work as a function - not a place, and collaborative applications and video.” 

 

Cisco is driving this evolution by working with customers to build a “Borderless Networks” architecture that delivers unified wired and wireless to support the breadth of user requirements and business applications, Kozup said.

 

“Our view is that this evolution will be accelerated by the emergence of 802.11n as the primary wireless access technology,” he added.  

 

According to Cisco, some of the key mobility trends of 2010 include “IT consumerization” – the blurring of lines between personal and professional – and market dominance by WiFi, which will solidify its role as “the leading local wireless standard across a broad variety of endpoints,” Kozup said.

 

Additionally, WLAN adopters will move to support mobile video, and spectrum management will be come more important as businesses realize how mission-critical the WLAN must now become.

 

Cisco reported successful 2009, even with the global economic downturn.

 

Highlights include the introduction of “the industry’s most widely adopted enterprise 802.11n access point, the 1140 Series, which allowed companies to take advantage of the speed of 802.11n, while also improving the performance for legacy devices through the use of its beam forming technology, ClientLink.”  

 

For the financially wary, Cisco introduced the 802.11n Acceleration Kit simultaneously with the ratification of 802.11n. This kit takes a comprehensive approach to helping businesses move forward with the adoption of 802.11n. It includes 11n access points designed for large and small businesses, try-before-you-buy programs, technology trade-in credits, attractive financing offers and reduced pricing for 802.11n.

 

Additionally, Cisco introduced the 5500 Series WLAN controller – a controller platform that delivers line-rate 802.11n and security performance without compromise. Cisco also introduced significant enhancements to WCS 6.0. This, in turn, provided customers with a lifecycle management solution that’s designed to lower the operational cost of the wireless network through streamlined workflows and tools.

 

In other Cisco-related news, the networking giant made a big splash at this week’s CES (News - Alert). 

 

Cisco on Wednesday announced new customers, features and professional service options for the Cisco Eos social entertainment platform.

 

Cisco also announced today that it is providing a medianet -- a media-aware Internet Protocol video network infrastructure - to NBC during the network’s coverage of the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Winter Games, February 12-28.

 

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