May 07, 2008
Cisco Ships 5 Millionth Aironet AP to Mayo Clinic
It’s not every day that you announce a major industry milestone like shipping five million wireless access points (since 2000). And adding to that, we shipped more than 50,000 802.11n access points, making it the fastest ramping access point in Cisco history. So where was the five millionth access point shipped to? The world-renowned Mayo Clinic. They are running a Cisco Unified Wireless Network for hospital staff, patients and guests at its three U.S. campuses in Minnesota, Florida and Arizona.
Tune into a video taped from a TelePresence meeting between Randy Regimbal, Mayo Clinic’s director of network services (located in Minnesota) and the leadership team from Cisco’s Wireless Networking Business Unit (located in San Jose, California). Naturally, we thanked Mayo Clinic for being a very deserving recipient of the five millionth access point. Then, Randy talks about how Mayo Clinic is using wireless and mobility applications to improve its operations, enhance patient care, as well as provide a better experience for its patients and guests.
A Q&A with Randy Regimbal on how Mayo Clinic sees efficiency as a major mobility benefit can be read here.
And the press release is available here.
Posted by Ed Tan at 05:31 AM Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
April 30, 2008
Mobility Video Blog du jour: Adding Context Awareness to the Mobility Network
Aside from access and voice services, what else can businesses do with their wireless networks? This is something I think many mobility application providers and innovators maintain their focus on a daily basis.
Here is the setup: since a WLAN is available, I can roam around the office and campus while maintaining a connection to check email and access unified communication-type applications like messaging. Grand. I can make phone calls with a voice over Wi-Fi phone. Grand. If I did not have an actual handset available, then I could use my IP softphone client installed on my laptop to make phone calls. Grand. (I’m sure many users are over it, but my IP softphone client has a high usability and practicality factor, especially when I work from home or away from my desk.) And, if I were to work in a retail store, I could use a mobile computer to check inventory levels or collaborate with team members to better serve customers. Grand. Not to digress…
But, how about some of the not so often discussed mobility services? I’m talking about services that happen in the background, behind the scenes, yet have an impact to operations. I wanted to learn about some mobility services that do not get too much play, but deserve equal billing because I think they fall into the cool (literally) mobility application category.
In this episode, I interview Isabelle Guis, senior manager of mobility solutions, and asked her what mobility-related area she has been focused on. (Mobility has been a long-standing hot topic, but Isabelle always adds that certain je ne sais quoi…) So I will not say more; but, watch and listen about how adding context awareness to a wireless network can benefit the carpeted enterprise and enterprises in the every vertical market, including healthcare and manufacturing. Also, Isabelle talks about what IT should look for when planning to deploy context awareness services within their organization.
Posted by Ed Tan at 10:23 PM Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
April 23, 2008
Security and the Evolving Mobility Network
Thanks for tuning in for the second episode in our Mobility Video Blog series.
It is clear that more mobile devices are entering the enterprise, and this trend does not show any signs of slowing with industry analysts predicting an additional 1.1 billion new mobile devices coming to the market in the next couple years.
Security is a maintained concern with IT, especially with wireless and mobility; and with the expected wave of devices entering the enterprise, I interviewed Chris Kozup for his insight on the trends he is seeing that are related to securing a broader mobility network with a growing number of connecting end points and mobile users traversing multiple networks.
Although businesses can not deny the benefits of mobility, they should be cognizant of emerging security threats, as well as adjust their strategy when evolving their mobility network.
Posted by Ed Tan at 01:15 PM Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
April 11, 2008
New Cisco Mobility Video Blog Series
Welcome to the first in a series of video blogs that will discuss the challenges IT face for meeting the demands of mobility. With greater user expectations for mobility, new mobile devices and end points entering the market and organization environment, you will want to hear some of the insights and strategies addressed in the coming video blogs.
In the pilot episode, “Mobility and the Converging Networks,” I interview Ben Gibson, and ask what Cisco is seeing as IT’s challenge for providing mobility to employees and mobile users as they are connecting to more disparate networks (both wired and wireless). Ben provides insight on what and how IT should consider when planning, managing and growing a mobility system. And finally, hear how Cisco sees mobility evolving.
Thanks for watching, and stay tuned for a new episode next week!
Posted by Ed Tan at 01:42 PM Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)
March 28, 2008
Architecting a Reliable Wireless Network
Few question that the age of mobility is upon us. The emergence of a global economy is facilitated by the basic mobility of goods, services and people. For many, the idea of mobility has become second nature. Of course, the structures for mobility – transportation, logistics, infrastructure – must be robust and reliable lest the mobile quickly become immobile.
Given this, it is critical that the wireless industry focus R&D on improving network performance and reliability. What makes this challenging is the need to do this from applications, to the network, and very importantly, to a wide range of mobile devices. To achieve this, businesses should focus on the following key areas when designing a highly available wireless network:
• Managing the growth in wireless devices – Managing the growth and diversity of devices connecting to the network requires a continued focus on device compatibility and testing. Through its Cisco Compatible Extensions program, Cisco works with leading Wi-Fi silicon manufacturers to ensure simple, secure connections for a broad range of mobile devices. Another key need is ongoing interoperability testing and validation. While not widely known, Cisco has a very robust program in place, called Assurewave, to achieve just this.
Posted by Chris Kozup at 01:00 PM Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
March 24, 2008
Responding to CRN's 802.11n Testing
CRN recently published an article profiling 802.11n performance testing of the Aironet 1250 Series access point. The article titled “Where’s Cisco with Wireless N?” (http://www.crn.com/networking/206905063#community) profiles the results of their testing of Cisco’s 802.11n solution. The article was part of a larger story testing 802.11n products including Meru and Ruckus.
Cisco declined to participate in the CRN product review due to basic differences in product testing methodology. Cisco asserts that the review of its 802.11n access point as presented by CRN misses some of the basic principles of product testing and as such is inconclusive on many levels. Firstly, CRN tested a product that was operating with an early version of software. As with any new hardware, users should seek the latest software to ensure optimal performance. The code for Cisco’s 802.11n access point has evolved quickly and the version used by CRN had already been through 4 subsequent releases. The most recent product code is always available for download from the Cisco website – a point that was overlooked by the CRN staff.
Posted by Chris Kozup at 12:28 PM Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)
January 24, 2008
Is 802.11n Right for You?
The debate over the readiness of 802.11n and whether businesses should adopt or wait is nothing new. Remember when Ethernet was too unpredictable to displace ATM? IP VPNs too unreliable for critical business data? The adoption rate of new technologies is commensurate with the benefits they deliver. 802.11n offers significant performance improvements over existing standards. Still, for most, the benefits must be evaluated in combination with longevity. In other words, few want to deploy a technology that may soon be obsolete – no matter how great the benefit.
Posted by Chris Kozup at 05:29 PM Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)
January 07, 2008
The Power of 802.11N
One can barely open a trade rag these days without reading about the arrival of the next generation of wireless standards - 802.11n. It's always exciting when new technology hits the market, especially when that new technology truly lives up to the hype. Of course, as with anything new there's always a bit of misinformation that exists before folks have made it through the learning curve. As I follow the comments of various industry pundits, I'm starting to see a reoccuring theme - misinformation on how to power 802.11n access points.
Posted by Chris Kozup at 01:21 PM Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)
November 27, 2007
WLAN Market Claims vs Reality
There have been enterprise WLAN vendor claims recently relating to market performance and market share. In particular, Aruba Networks has been making bold statements about major market share gains at the expense of Cisco. Wanted to provide, to quote that food critic from Ratatouille (ok -- yes, I've watched it twice recently -- my kids love it) "some perspective"
The Claim: Aruba's CEO, Dominic Orr, claimed on their earnings call last week that his company was rapidly gaining market share in the Enterprise WLAN market.
Some perspective: The Dell'Oro Group, a widely respected industry analyst firm, just released new market share numbers last week. The results: The Dell’Oro Group reported that Cisco extended its market share lead to 63 percent in the Enterprise WLAN market, which includes WLAN controllers and access points. This performance came at the expense of the No. 2 (Aruba) and No. 3 (Motorola) vendors in the market, who both hold market share positions of under 10 percent and showed sequential declines in revenue from Q2 2007 to Q3 2007.
Some more perspective: In the critical WLAN controller market, Dell’Oro reported that Cisco sequentially gained 4 points of share in Q3, while the distant No. 2 player Aruba Networks lost more than 3 points of share due to declining controller shipments. In the past two years since the introduction of Cisco’s Unified Wireless Network, Cisco has gone from 31% share to today's 54%. Aruba has gone from 9% to 13% over the same time period.
And from another source: Synergy Research, another respected, indepedent authority, reported Enterprise WLAN market share for Cisco of 64 percent. Synergy also reports that Cisco’s share has grown from 46 percent in Q1 2005, the quarter when Cisco acquired Airespace, to the most recent quarter share at 64 percent. These 18 points of market share gain over the past three years significantly outpace all competitors, which according to Synergy all individually fall below 10 percent of share.
Everything listed above is based on independent, non-commissioned analyst data, with permission given by each firm for me to cite here.
www.delloro.com
www.srgresearch.com
My point? That Cisco continues to strongly lead this market, and grow its share over time? Well .. yes. But also to provide a counter to claims that big companies can't be agile and compete in fast-growing markets. Both topics were addressed by Aruba's CEO in what I felt was in misleading fashion, particularly in light of the data just released above. So I post this not with chest-thumping, but to offer up a more facts-based response to some public statements. Plus, it's fun when the numbers are on your side :)
Posted by Ben Gibson at 11:36 AM Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
November 25, 2007
Strange Vendor Claims on 802.11n and PoE
A story was published last week http://www.techworld.com/mobility/features/index.cfm?featureID=3830&pagtype=samecatsamechan that delves into what I think is a rather sloppy argument from one of our competitors on 802.11n and how to deploy a dual-radio .11n AP with adequate power. We've taken a close look at the issue, and developed a system-level solution with Cisco Catalyst switches to autonegotiate the appropriate power to run a dual-radio 802.11n AP at full performance.
Our erstwhile competitor Aruba boasts the "only 802.11n AP that operates with standard PoE." Yet when you really take a closer look, what they mean here is that their AP can operate, but at reduced performance and capacity. Their story gets stranger when you read recent, completely inconsistent press comments from Aruba, essentially warning against 802.11n deployments altogether. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/communications/0,1000000085,39290082,00.htm The best part -- there's no sign that the company is shipping product any time soon.
My other favorite competitive claim by the same folks is their new "80 Gbps controller". Sounds great, until you realize that if you actually want to encrypt your traffic over an Aruba WLAN -- and what customer wouldn't -- that same Aruba controller, which handles all encryption centrally, slows down to 16 Gbps. Kind of like looking at a speedometer -- sure, 210 mph looks cool, but it doesn't mean a thing.
Posted by Ben Gibson at 07:20 PM Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
November 08, 2007
Passing notes with paper airplanes and resilient MACs
Here's the fact folks - I'm getting married... in three months. In order to ensure that I'm going to be an awesome husband, I've been going to marriage class. Unfortunately, sitting in class made me regress to my younger years when I spent time honing my airplane making skills.
Posted by Matt Glenn at 09:48 AM Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
November 05, 2007
How to defeat the laws of physics
In my blog posting on enterprise WLAN, I talked about how the 2.4 spectrum simply does not have enough capacity for large scale deployments. My thesis was that users should really be looking to maximize the 5Ghz spectrum for their use (while recognizing that legacy devices will continue to exist in the 2.4 spectrum). Following this article, some vendors argued that existing WLAN architectures could not meet the needs of the enterprise, and the only valid architecture was one that used the same channel across all APs. They claim that a single channel architecture is the only one that can support fast roaming and provides maximum performance. In this blog series, I will explain why this is myth.
Posted by Pat Calhoun at 07:15 AM Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
October 04, 2007
What's up with MIMO? - Part Deux
In my first episode on MIMO (What's up with MIMO), I introduced the concept of multiple antennas and the home audio analogy. In this example, I discussed one particular mode of MIMO that transmits the same stream across all antennas, and makes use of multipath to increase the chance of correctly decoding the received signal - thus lowering the bit error rate. This method exploits what is known as spatial diversity, which is one of the simplest method to achieve MIMO gains. But MIMO is much more than that.
Posted by Pat Calhoun at 11:26 AM Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)
October 02, 2007
What's mobility to an SMB?
When it comes to WLAN applications, small and medium businesses clearly have a different set of priorities than enterprise customers. In a much more direct way, their IT strategy (if there is one) is driven by immediate business needs. For example, I recently spoke with the administrator of a small medical group. He needs to move the clinic from a paper based operation to an electronic medical records system. His key business problem is moving paper charts around – across multiple sites. To use his words, it’s a nightmare. This medical group has no wireless network today. Security continues to be his greatest concern. However, when they do implement an EMR system in the next 6 months, it will drive the need for a pervasive, reliable, and of course secure wireless network.
So how’s this different then enterprise? He’s not even thinking about niceties such as guest access, VoWLAN, location or asset tracking. His mobility application is EMR, plain and simple. He readily ticks off the benefits from improved staff productivity, more accurate records, and therefore better patient care.
BTW – his most trusted technical advisor is his son. He has one outsourced, part time IT guy. And he still needs to figure out what it means to be HIPAA compliant in a wireless world.
Posted by Georganne Benesch at 10:04 PM Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)
September 26, 2007
What's an SMB?
I love Wikipedia. I just do – it just speaks to me. So of course I had to check out the Wikipedia definition of SMB. Lot’s of interesting possibilities including Small Mouth Bass, Steve Miller Band, Server Message Block protocol. Plus some of which are just way too inappropriate to mention. Here’s a liberally paraphrased version of the Wikipedia definition I was after:
“Small and medium enterprises or SMEs are companies whose headcount or turnover (revenue) falls below certain limits. The EU categorizes companies with fewer than 50 employees as "small", and those with fewer than 250 as "medium". In the US, SMB often refers to companies with less than 100 employees, while medium-sized business often refers to those with less than 500 employees.”
Cisco defines SMB pretty much along the lines of the EU definition. These definitions are fairly meaningless because they imply that SMBs are just small enterprises. But thinking in terms of mobility, small and medium size companies are different than enterprises in 3 key ways:
Posted by Georganne Benesch at 06:42 PM Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)
