Motorola Shows Support-Oriented Flexibility With Latest 802.11n Offering: Page 2 of 2

But Motorola also delivers a feature that I have personally identified to both Cisco and Aruba as the Holy Grail of support tools: the ability to make an AP act like wireless client to exercise all parts the network. The gist is that from a central management position, an administrator grabs an idle AP, makes it connect to nearby AP as a client, and tests wireless connectivity, 802.1x authentication (or PSK-based security), DHCP, DNS and wired network services. This force-multiplication ability means any area covered by the WLAN can be fully operationally checked on demand- going far beyond simple ping and SNMP monitoring of system hardware.

While so far I've been told by Motorola's competitors that it's an interesting notion, Dr. Sinha modestly says "yes, we do that and have for a while now." Be still my heart! Just as cool, any radio in a Motorola AP is "band unlocked"; you decide what spectrum to use and whether to use it for client access, radio backhaul for mesh applications, or as a sensor for testing and security monitoring.

Motorola may not yet have the market share of it's bigger competitors, but it certainly has it's finger on the pulse of what makes for practical wireless. At the time this blog was published, I was not involved in any business agreements with Motorola.