Aruba's system would be a good pick for sites that want to build around a core wireless switch architecture, but it's a costly choice if you need to deploy switches within smaller buildings. Trapeze's system is the obvious choice of buyers who want sophisticated preinstallation analysis and detailed installation work orders, but the company's requirement that access points be directly connected makes its capital cost much higher than competitors'. (Trapeze says it plans to release an appliance product, perhaps by press time.)
Symbol gets credit for early innovation in wireless switching, and there is undeniable comfort in dealing with a company that has its breadth and depth of WLAN expertise. However, Symbol's design is more limited than the designs of the start-up vendors.
Cisco is a safe and rational choice for many organizations, especially those that have existing Cisco infrastructures and don't need advanced wireless features. The trade-off: You'll pay a price premium and you'll need to wait for Cisco to deliver on its product road map or fill in gaps with third-party products. Likewise, Enterasys offers a solid, if somewhat dated, multimode AP and free management software. Finally, Chantry's product shows promise, but unfortunately we were given an offering that wasn't quite ready.
Based on vendor RFP responses and test results, we liked Airespace's offering best. An appliance-based system, the Airespace Wireless Enterprise Platform offers the best combination of features, functionality and value and easily earned our Editor's Choice award.
Airespace installed more than 500 access points at customer sites before it showed up in our labs. This put the company slightly ahead of the start-up pack in field experience, and it showed. Airespace's proposal was feature-rich and cost-effective, and exceeded our minimum performance requirements. In the lab, Airespace's system blew through all our tests without breaking a sweat. We were impressed with the system's ease of setup, security features, adaptability to the changing RF environment, and pack-leading throughput and range results.
The company is well-funded, and the management team, which includes a good blend of executives from both network- and RF-oriented companies, appears solid. A global OEM agreement with NEC also helps us feel comfortable about future prospects.
Verizon is demoing crowd analytics technology that uses 5G along with AI and mobile edge computing to give stadium operators insights into the flow of fans throughout a venue.
As we move closer to fully realizing the potential of Wi-Fi 7, it becomes evident that the RF, signaling, and throughput tests are not merely procedural checkpoints but the pillars of excellence in wireless communication.
With low earth orbit (LEO) satellites fast becoming the norm and 3GPP unifying telecom standards around the globe, the satellite IoT and machine-to-machine (M2M) sector ought to be looking at a bright horizon. But is this the case?
