Update: Cisco, partner to tackle Wi-Fi interference
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(InfoWorld) - Cisco SystemsÂ is clearing the air around enterprise wireless LANs with a partner that specializes in radio spectrum analysis. The company is offering Cognio's Spectrum Expert for Wi-Fi, a tool for studying interference around a wireless LAN, to complement its own Wireless Control System. Together, the tools are intended to help enterprises lay out wireless LANs and take care of rogue wireless gear and interference from a variety of sources, including non-Wi-Fi devices such as microwave ovens. Cognio's product is available now through Cisco's regular sales channels. Interference and security are two key issues for enterprises that want to set up comprehensive wireless LANs for demanding new applications, namely VOIP (voice over Internet Protocol). Cognio is one of many specialist companies that offer tools for working out those issues. Cisco, which is betting big on the spread of Wi-Fi from vertical industries to general businesses, wants to make sure its networks deliver a good experience. The Spectrum Expert is a CardBus device that plugs into a Windows notebook and works with software to detect and identify interfering devices and help a technician locate the device. Wireless LAN security systems from AirMagnet, Fluke Networks, and WildPackets use Cognio technology. Cisco's Wireless Control System is a server-based application for planning, designing, monitoring and managing wireless LANs. It can support thousands of access points around an enterprise and carry out tasks including user tracking and security monitoring, according to Cisco. The main thing Cognio brings to Cisco's wireless management offering is the ability to identify what is causing interference on a wireless network, executives of the companies said. The relationship is not exclusive. Cisco may integrate Cognio's technology more tightly with its products in the future but is continuing internal wireless development, said Ben Gibson, director of mobility solutions marketing. Many different products operate or emit radio waves in the unlicensed spectrum used by Wi-Fi. Using profiles of different types of devices, Cognio's system can tell whether interference is coming from a Bluetooth device, a cordless phone, a microwave or another source, including a jamming device, said Jeff White, executive vice president of strategy and business development at Cognio. Wi-Fi jammers are easily available but not a common threat today, said Farpoint Group analyst Craig Mathias. However, there are enough potential sources of interference to justify buying an analyzer like Cognios's, a fairly inexpensive purchase, he said. "It's not so much a question of security as it is of integrity. You want to make sure your network's operating," Mathias said. Interference is especially bad in shared properties such as an office park, and it may get worse as enterprises embrace the emerging IEEE 802.11n standard, Mathias said. That standard will probably use a wider frequency band than current Wi-Fi, making it more likely your neighbor's transmissions will bump up against yours. On the plus side, traffic won't spend as much time on an 802.11n network because it will move faster, and there will probably be new mechanisms built in to keep connections stable.
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A new appliance and new software announced today by Cisco are designed to help business users improve application performance over networks.
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InfoWorld - The Wi-Fi Alliance launched the action phase of its plan to get faster wireless networking products into the market on Monday, kicking off certification testing of gear based on a draft version of the IEEE 802.11n standard.
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Move will allow Cisco channel partners to monitor their enterprise customers' networks to provide better service and support.
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Technology behind super-fast wireless networks is close to getting official approval.
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TOKYO: Fujitsu Ltd and Cisco Systems Inc have agreed to form a strategic alliance, focusing on routers and switches that will enable businesses to build advanced Internet Protocol (IP) networks.
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Investor's Business Daily - Offices still lag homes when it comes to wireless networking, or Wi-Fi. But they're catching up.
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Hewlett-Packard Co. and Cisco Systems Inc. are teaming to provide large customers with combined network maintenance and support services around the globe.
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(InfoWorld) - âI-triple-what?â was the question being asked last week, after the Wi-Fi Alliance said it will start certifying next-generation wireless LAN products by the first half of 2007, regardless of whether the IEEE has signed off on new wireless specifications for them. The announcement last Tuesday was a break from tradition for the Alliance, which tests and certifies wireless LAN products from different vendors for interoperability; typically, the group waits until the IEEE has fully certified a wireless standard before testing products against it and putting its seal of approval on those that pass the test. In question is final approval of a specification for 802.11n, a proposed wireless standard that would support data throughput of 100Mbps or higher. A nasty fight over how to use multiple antennas and radios to achieve that performance boost has pushed back the expected approval of the specification several times. Final ratification of the specification is now scheduled for April 2008. With Wi-Fi products supporting some 802.11n features already available, the Wi-Fi Alliance couldnât wait around, said Managing Director Frank Hanzlik. The Alliance will use a two-phase certification process, testing for interoperability against whatever parts of the standard it believes are solid and unlikely to change, Hanzlik said. In Phase 2, the Alliance will use the approved IEEE standard, whenever itâs finished. Vendors strongly back the Wi-Fi Allianceâs dual-stage plan, even though some chip set makers have already performed interoperability tests for draft 802.11n products, Hanzlik claimed. âThe only way to really get the right kind of user experience is if thereâs an industrywide interoperability program,â Hanzlik added.
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Prepares to enter broadband era with Wi-Fi adaptor
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Cisco is rolling out today a router, switch, and enhancements for branch-office networking.
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Fujitsu Limited and Cisco Systems announced a strategic alliance focusing on routers and switches for the Japanese markets. Specifically, the companies agreed to jointly develop high-end routers and will collaborate
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(InfoWorld) - Cisco Systems and Hewlett-PackardÂ see the wireless LAN as something that can help the whole enterprise, not just departments. On Tuesday, HP launched a systems integration practice to plan and build wireless LANs as a strategic asset. The practice uses Cisco hardware and software that can support applications such as advanced security, location-based services, voice, and LAN access for guests and visiting contractors. In enterprises, wireless LANs were first set up by individual departments that had specific uses for them, but Cisco and other vendors have been scaling up their offerings for more general deployments. HP, a long-time Cisco partner with enterprise credibility worldwide, will promote and carry out such deployments through its services business. HP will take advantage of Cisco's Light Weight Access Point Protocol, a management protocol that lets enterprises centralize network intelligence. This approach can bring faster deployment of the whole network and simplify management, according to the companies. Over time, HP's experience in putting together Cisco wired networks should help in achieving Cisco's long-term goal of integrating wired and wireless LANs, said Ben Gibson, Cisco's director of mobility solutions marketing. Emerging capabilities of wireless LANs, such as location-based services, will make them useful across enterprises, Gibson said. For example, the networks can be used in conjunction with RFID (radio frequency identification) to keep track of physical assets, he said. In addition, unified messaging systems could use employees' locations as part of presence information, informing other workers whether they were within reach of their desk phones or PCs. The new systems integration practice is available now. The relationship is not exclusive, the companies said.
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With its eyes on the future of home entertainment and a relatively uncluttered band of radio spectrum, Cisco Systems Inc.&#39;s Linksys division on Wednesday unveiled a line of IEEE 802.
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LONDON - Cisco Systems and Fujitsu Limited are to collaborate on the development of high end routers and switches and support each other&#39;s products, initially in the Japanese market.
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Pennsylvania may block Philly's Wi-Fi plan. [News.com Extra]
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SAN FRANCISCO - Cisco Systems Inc. channel partners will be able to offer real-time monitoring of enterprises' networks after the company agreed to acquire NetSolve Inc., the networking giant said Thursday.