Bluesocket Announces Enterprise Architecture And Advanced 802.11n Access Point

Burlington, MA - Bluesocket, Inc. recently announced its next-generation integrated architecture and 802.11n Access Point. Building on the advanced features and capabilities of its distributed edge switching and intelligent access point (AP) solutions, Bluesocket's new Virtual Wireless LAN (vWLAN) architecture unifies wireless and existing wired networks to produce a truly integrated and optimized networking solution. vWLAN will allow customers to dramatically reduce the cost of deploying and operating large-scale Wi-Fi networks while providing wired-equivalent performance for wireless users, with seamless roaming and enterprise-class security and policy management.

Today, users have many wireless architectural options including centralized or distributed Wi-Fi switch architectures or unproven coordinated control AP-only networks. The centralized architecture adds both capital and operating costs by replicating the existing data infrastructure, requiring users to deploy high-capacity Wi-Fi switching backplanes and forcing roaming traffic to special VLANs. This approach unnecessarily increases network complexity and creates a performance bottleneck, especially at 802.11n data rates. Alternatively, the coordinated control AP approach offers high performance, but does not integrate well with the existing data network and will not scale effectively in large enterprise installations.

vWLAN carries forward and builds on the granular user management, rich security, seamless roaming, high-performance and low latency that Bluesocket products are currently known for, all without the need for a central Wi-Fi switch or distributed mobility controllers.

Key elements of the Bluesocket vWLAN architecture include:

• A complete separation of the data and control planes. All data will be routed over the wired infrastructure in a vWLAN network; no data will be routed through Bluesocket Wi-Fi controllers.
• New vMAC (virtual MAC) capability will hide session routing complexity from both wireless and wired clients helping to deliver seamless roaming across APs and subnets, without requiring all roaming traffic to flow to a central switch or to a specialized mobility controller.
• New AP software will implement vMAC and add both intelligent roaming tunnel capability, QoS Policing, and a stateful firewall to Bluesocket's award winning access points. The APs will handle establishment of roaming tunnels over the existing wired network, and enforce user- and flow-level policy.
• New controller software that focuses on control plane functionality including intelligent roaming tunnel coordination. The new software will assist APs in rapidly establishing L3 roaming tunnels between non-adjacent APs and APs on different subnets for seamless roaming with fast hand-off for VoIP and FMC applications. In addition, standard controller functions will be provided including: user authentication, guest management, RF management and RF IDS. Because data will not flow through the controllers, they will be able to manage thousands of 802.11n clients and APs per controller – delivering unlimited scalability.

With the introduction of vWLAN, customers will experience a significant reduction in the total cost of ownership of Wi-Fi networks. Not only will customers be able to avoid investing in separate, ever larger wireless switches but they will also save on network and WAN capacity. In addition, with per-user and per-flow control occurring at the AP and roaming taking place within existing high-speed edge and core switches rather than a central Wi-Fi switch, end-users will enjoy a higher-level of service on vWLAN networks.

"With 802.11n, customers are demanding secure, future-poof solutions designed to scale," said Mads Lillelund, president and CEO of Bluesocket. "The heart of the truly unified mobile network is a marriage of wired and wireless networks with advanced applications. Our virtual wireless LAN architecture, coupled with our 802.11n solutions will allow customers to unify their network infrastructure to achieve mobility with full security, while laying the foundation for emerging network-based applications."

In addition to vWLAN, Bluesocket will be introducing its 802.11n draft 2.0 Access Point, the BSAP-1800, in early 2008. Bluesocket was the first vendor to introduce an enterprise class MIMO AP and continuing this lead in MIMO technology, the BSAP-1800 will be the first product with 2nd generation MIMO antenna technology, delivering customers market-proven performance and coverage advantages.

The BSAP-1800 includes two 11n radios - 802.11a/b/g/n and 802.11b/g/n - supporting up to 64 clients and 8 virtual APs per radio, a custom embedded antenna array with options for external antennas and a GigE port to support 2 x 150Mbps streams. The 802.3af power standard will be supported by the BSAP-1800 with a single-port Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) solution.

Scheduled to be rolled out through 2008, vWLAN will be compatible with all Bluesocket Access Points including the BSAP-1800, as well as the entire family of BlueSecure Controllers, offering customers a seamless upgrade from existing deployments. With Bluesocket's unique vWLAN architecture, network OEMs can also take advantage of a flexible model to rapidly add highly-scalable wireless capabilities and an optimal mix of security, control and quality of service (QoS) to their network infrastructure offerings.

"No matter what, demands for ever-increasing throughput, time-bounded services, and mobility will define enterprise networks far into the future," said Craig Mathias, a Principal with the wireless and mobile advisory firm Farpoint Group (Ashland, MA). "The key to successful deployments meeting these criteria will be the performance enabled by 802.11n and WLAN system architecture optimized for performance, and leveraging – not replacing – the wired network."

SOURCE: Bluesocket, Inc.