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Testing Enterprise Wireless: Good, Bad and Ugly: Page 2 of 4

Most vendors loathe the review process, but still do their best to
control the evaluation procedures from start to finish. The best ones
provide high-quality information and ensure that we have quick access to
their most capable staff, just in case something goes wrong, as it often
does, especially when we are pushing the testing envelope. Like you,
when we have problems during testing, we expect a quick response, not
excuses. By the end of the review process and usually a month or more
prior to publication, vendors have a general sense for how they fared.
Short of final results, we share as much as we can with them, especially
problems we encountered. By the time publication rolls around, vendors
are well-positioned to spin the story to industry analysts, prospective
customers, their internal employees and whoever else is willing to
listen.

The Spin

In our recent enterprise WLAN infrastructure review, we set a high bar
for participation, something we call a product filter. We required
centralized management, multi-layer security, dual-band radio support,
QoS and advanced RF management capabilities, all features readers have
told us are important for their next-generation WLAN designs. Only four
vendors--Airespace, Aruba, Cisco and Trapeze--agreed to participate. You
can't necessarily conclude that those who didn't show had something to
hide, but you have to respect the vendors who did participate. As we
noted in our cover story, all four should be on the short list of most
enterprises.


The Mobile Observer



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Flattering participants by suggesting they are all winners in our book
didn't hold much weight when the final results were published last
month. The first e-mail came from Airespace, the winner, congratulating
us on our fine work. Gee thanks, guys. You really think we're that good?
It took a little longer for Aruba and Trapeze to react, but react they
did. Cisco, perhaps because of regulations surrounding the Airespace
acquisition, kept pretty quiet.