Start-Up Aerohive Takes New Tack on WLAN

Aerohive Networks this week launched itself as a company with a new take on wireless LAN architecture that relies not on a wireless controller-switch model but "hives" of access points working cooperatively.

The vendor calls this approach a "cooperative control" wireless LAN access point (CC-AP). Aerohive announced its first products based on this architecture, the HiveAP 20 ag CC-AP and the companion HiveManager Network Management System Appliance.

Aerohive said its architecture eliminates the need for centralized wireless LAN controls, opting for a much more distributed model of APs that actively share control information. The architecture, Aerohive claims, improves performance for very large-scale WLANs that are optimized for voice over wireless LAN and can scale to support 802.11n. It also claims substantial cost savings when compared to conventional controller-based WLAN architectures (see Aerohive White Paper on costs - http://www.aerohive.com/resources/resources.html).Specific features for HiveAP 20 includes stateful Layer 2 and Layer 3 roaming; cooperative RF management; mesh networking; best-path data forwarding; subsecond network resiliency without loss of session state; and identity-based security and QoS at the network's edge.

The HiveAP 20 ag, a dual-radio, a/b/g, enterprise-class CC-AP, is priced at $995 and is available immediately. The HiveManager Network Management System Appliance, a 1U rack-mount network-management appliance, starts at $4,995 and is also available immediately.

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