Cisco Systems Inc. today unveiled a new module for its Catalyst 6500 that enables the enterprise-class Ethernet switch to support up to 30 of the vendor’s Aironet WLAN access points and enables Wi-Fi clients to roam among those APs without interruption of service.
The new Wireless LAN Services Module (WLSM), which is part of the Cisco Structured Wireless-Aware Network (SWAN) initiative, will be available in the June to July time frame, with Cisco accepting orders for the product now. List price for the WLSM module capable of supporting up to 150 access points is $18,000. To increase support for up to 300 APs, Cisco will charge an additional $8,000 fee.
According to Douglas Gourlay, product line manager of Cisco’s Internet Systems Business Unit, initial WLAN equipment was designed for “pilot deployments,” but many corporations and others deploying Wi-Fi networks might need 100 to 300 access points. The WLSM addresses that, he says.
In addition to allowing WLAN operators to scale their networks, WLSM enables existing owners of Catalyst 6500 switches to leverage that investment while expanding to allow support for wireless LANs without requiring any additional changes to the underlying wireline infrastructure, according to Cisco.
Additionally, the Catalyst 6500 Series switch capabilities are available to wireless LANs either natively through the Supervisor Engine 720 or through the addition of other service modules such as the Firewall Services Module, Intrusion Detection Services Module and VPN Services Module.
Up to 16 logical mobility groups across different subnets can be established, providing network managers with greater control of user access to network resources. Wireline services such as firewall, intrusion detection, rate limiting and filtering can also be implemented on a per mobility group basis.
Cisco also today announced a new release of its CiscoWorks WLSE. Release 2.7 offers new self-healing wireless LAN capabilities that detect and compensate for out-of-service APs as well as maintain security policies by suppressing rogue APs through switch port shut-down and automatically helping to protect the radiofrequency environment from unauthorized access by using a wireless intrusion detection system.
Finally, Cisco has come out with its first outdoor AP bridge. The Cisco Aironet 1300 Series IEEE 802.11g Outdoor AP/Bridge can also be used to provide traditional building-to-building and temporary network infrastructure in a rugged and portable form factor.
