Subject: [NEXTEL-1] The Lippis Report Vol 33: Dumb or Smart WLAN Access Points?

From: [email-masked]
Date: Mon, 19 Apr 2004 02:31:40 -0400

From the Publisher:There’s a raging debate in the industry today that
pits smart against dumb Access Points (AP).The debate goes like this:
It’s better to build out an enterprise WLAN with smart APs because they
distribute intelligence and features such as authentication, encryption,
key distribution, rogue AP detection, etc.The smart camp says it’s
better to keep your existing layer 3 switches fast and cheap and build
intelligence closer to wireless users.Oh, and by the way, smart APs cost
a lot more than dumb ones.The dumb AP community says that APs should be
as cheap as possible and with China involved in AP chip and system
design plus manufacturing, APs are heading down the price curve as fast
as you can say Beijing.Dumb AP proponents say that APs should be widely
distributed throughout the enterprise with security, roaming and other
WLAN features centralized in either servers or wireless switches.In
short, the dumb AP camp says keep devices closest to users simple and
centralize complexity, and thus cost.So which way should you go, dumb or
smart APs?I can help you with your decision.Attend the Enterprise
Networks 2004 conference www.en2004.com (please use priority code
EMDAILY to register) at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel on Tuesday April
27th at 5:00pm where we are hosting a huge industry debate!

I’ve chosen Angela Champness, President of Champness Consulting to
moderate this great debate.Angela is an independent consultant with
strong, proven leadership in the wireless sector, and over 14 years of
experience in the WLAN industry.She just retired from running the WLAN
Division at Proxim where she was its Senior Vice President and General
Manager.Angela knows the WLAN industry both inside and out and is the
perfect person to ask the tough questions and cut through the noise to
help you decide if you should build a WLAN with smart or dumb APs.Angela
has invited the following Chief Technical Officers to make their case
for smart or dumb APs.

     Merv Andrade, CTO, Aruba Networks

     Ron Seide, Senior Product Line Manager, Wireless Networking
     Business Unit, Cisco

     Pierre Trudeau, CTO and Founder, Colubris Networks

Don’t miss this great Boston style debate on Tuesday night the 27th of
April at the Park Plaza Hotel, www.en2004.com.

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