Cisco launches WiFi mesh product

Stuart Corner
Wednesday, 16 November 2005 07:33

Business IT - Technology

Cisco Systems has entered the 'meshed' WiFi market which in the US is booming as many municipal governments roll out city-wide networks.

Mesh technologies are WiFi based but each access point is able to communicate with its neighbours so only a few need connections to an external network. Major players currently are Nortel, Strix Systems, Tropos Networks and others.

The core of Cisco's announcement is the Cisco Aironet 1500 Series access point. With a claimed "zero-configuration" deployment, it can automatically set-up and configure itself to operate within a mesh network. This capability, according to Cisco, allows it to "self-heal" if power should go down or some other interruption occurs, thus reducing maintenance and management costs.

The product uses two radios, one dedicated to AP-to-AP communications leaving the other free to use all available data channels. Cisco says that, because of this dual-radio design, the APs can segment the wireless network for different types of user types, such as for police, fire, municipal services, etc, who can then securely tie back into their existing indoor network.

The 1500 Series access points use hardware-based Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) encryption between nodes, and Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 (WPA2). They are also Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) compliant.

Completing the Cisco mesh offering is the Cisco wireless LAN controller, running the Cisco Wireless Control System (WCS). This "provides the scalable management, security, and supporting tools to manage a mesh network." It enables device configuration and management of security policies and RF parameters and provides access to traffic statistics, link characteristics and client information.

Cisco claims that its Adaptive Wireless Path Protocol is the key innovation in its mesh product. "Specifically designed for massive wireless network environments, this protocol enables a remote access point (AP) to dynamically select the best data path among other APs within the mesh coverage area. This provides greater data resiliency to radio frequency (RF) interference, and helps to ensure optimal network capacity."