Despite their own success in the face of slow enterprise WLAN uptake and Cisco's dominance, the start-ups also are learning that Symbol's strategy of dumbing down the wireless edge probably isn't the best strategy. The need for multiband functionality, intelligent radio resource management, real-time intrusion detection, location-awareness and other strategic services requires more rather than less intelligence at the edge. Yes, you also need more smarts at the distribution and core layers of the network, but scalability is enhanced by off-loading as much as you can to the intelligent edge. As a result, all these vendors have been selling systems that tightly integrate APs and switches, forcing IT pros into proprietary products from the edge to the core.
Keeping Costs in Line
The bottom line for any technology is controlling total cost of ownership, by reducing capital equipment costs or by moderating ongoing operational costs. Today, the start-ups have a significant competitive advantage in both acquisition and operating cost, but as Cisco fills its AP management holes, the future battleground may come down to acquisition cost alone. Ask Cisco's Ethernet competitors how much fun that is.
Given the market clout Cisco wields because of its dominance in Ethernet switching, WLAN start-ups face significant challenges, especially in Fortune 1000 accounts where Cisco is viewed as a premium-priced player that delivers high-quality products and services. For smaller WLAN vendors to survive, they must find better ways to compete.
For starters, they must work together to define a new class of commoditized, high-performance APs that adhere to standard protocols for interacting with centralized wireless switches. Rather than going thin at the edge, go muscular, incorporating advanced technology at reasonable prices. They can leverage commoditized AP reference designs offered by chip manufacturers, focusing more of their attention on centralized intelligence. Most important, by advancing standard APs, they'll have a better chance of getting conservative IT pros to consider alternatives to Cisco. Otherwise, they may find themselves going the way of Windows Terminal makers.
Subsea cable alternatives can provide a level of comfort for those concerned about disruptions. Realistically, they will continue to play a small, but critical role in the short term.
Maintaining existing network infrastructures often incurs huge technical debt before newer technologies are adopted over time.
Amid ongoing regional uncertainties, telecom infrastructure in the Middle East has expand to include terrestrial low-latency network infrastructure, which offers resilience and agility in navigating political complexities without relying solely on undersea networks.
