Enterasys and Siemens Enterprise Communications today announced a new release of the HiPath® Wireless portfolio including new pricing, increased hardware scalability and new software features to unify wired and wireless communications while enhancing security. HiPath Wireless provides an easier and lower cost way to deploy 802.11n solutions, delivering more cost-effective pricing, wired/wireless integration and low TCO while openly supporting a broad range of mobile voice, video and location-based applications to drive enterprise productivity and reduce the overall cost of mobility. Backed by industry-leading global support and services from both Enterasys and Siemens, the Open Communications approach means that customers can leverage existing investments and avoid forklift upgrades.
"As WLANs become a mainstream network access technology, it becomes harder to justify multiple systems to manage, monitor, and secure a WLAN separately from the rest of the network" said Abner Germanow, Director of Enterprise Networks Research at IDC. "The HiPath 802.11n access points are priced aggressively for companies looking for the next generation of reliability and performance that 802.11n networks provide"
“We’re driving down costs and improving scalability to accelerate adoption of 802.11n on a global basis without disrupting an organization’s current communications infrastructure,” said Chris Crowell, Enterasys EVP and General Manager. “Our easy to deploy 802.11n technologies coupled with fixed mobile convergence and HD video conferencing delivers intelligent bandwidth and convenient information access inside and outside the enterprise while helping to reduce travel expenses and cell charges.”
Cost-effective 802.11n Wi-Fi
Purpose-built to enable voice and HD video communications across the WLAN, the HiPath Wireless dual-radio 3x3 MIMO 802.11n wireless access point can cost up to 30% less than single-radio or 2x3 MIMO offerings from leading competitors. Unique plug and play AP configuration and highly efficient Power over Ethernet (PoE) technologies can dramatically simplify deployment and avoid infrastructure upgrade costs by enabling a dual-band 3x3 MIMO 802.11n access point to be powered by a standard IEEE 802.3af PoE port found on most switches that form today’s wired networking infrastructure – making wireless mobility more practical, achievable and cost-effective.
Scalable Capacity
The new C5110 wireless controller scales to support more than 1,000 wireless access points. Simplified and cost-effective licensing ensures only the desired capacity can be purchased for initial deployment, while enabling growth over time without restricting particular APs to particular controllers or controller connection limits. The C5110 expands the current portfolio of C20, C20N, and C2400 controllers for office, campus and enterprise deployments to deliver unified and/or overlay Wi-Fi connectivity. The C20N wireless controller network expansion module (NEM) integrates wireless switching into the Enterasys Matrix® N-Series LAN switches without occupying any additional slots in the chassis.
Enhanced Software
The HiPath Wireless v6 software optimizes traffic flow for each user group and/or application with specific capabilities for healthcare and manufacturing industries. This avoids the bandwidth bottleneck of forcing all wireless traffic through a centralized controller. Rather, traffic can be switched and distributed at each AP, and/or controlled centrally in hybrid modes of operation depending on desired behavior that best aligns with individual business requirements. The latest HiPath Wireless controller software can also be deployed on select Enterasys RoamAbout® controllers and specific RoamAbout APs to deliver advanced HiPath functionality without requiring existing hardware replacement.
Unified Wired/Wireless Management and Security
Integration between Enterasys NetSight® management software suite and the Siemens HiPath Wireless portfolio provides end-to-end visibility of HiPath Wireless access points, controllers and wireless clients from NetSight Console. The new integration delivers improved network management efficiency and wired/wireless infrastructure topology mapping and visibility for network administrators. HiPath Wireless Manager HiGuard enhances security with embedded wireless intrusion prevention and location-based services. When deployed in conjunction with the Enterasys Dragon® Intrusion Prevention System, full packet inspection, adaptive signature pattern matching, protocol analysis and behavioral anomaly detection is delivered for both wired and wireless users. Further, Enterasys NAC identity-based policy privileges are unified across the wired and wireless infrastructure to deliver role-based access control – regardless of connectivity method. The NAC policies ensure only the right users have access to the right information, from the right place, at the right time.
