N+I HIGHLIGHTS VoWLAN GEAR

The already-intense market for voice-over-wireless local area network, or VoWLAN, technology continued to draw attention last week with new offerings from Meru Networks, SpectraLink, Columbitech, 3Com and several other companies at Networld+Interop in Las Vegas.

Meru announced the launch of its Radio Switch family, which may up the ante in the changing WLAN switch market by delivering higher capacity to seamless virtual cells within an enterprise to address high-density voice and data needs.

The Radio Switch uses omni-directional antenna technology, which tends to be easier to configure and less sensitive to interference in a closed environment, such as a corporate enterprise said Ben Gibson, vice president of corporate marketing for Meru. The product line also relies on a single-channel architecture, “the only way you can really make hands-off seamless,” Gibson said.

When deployed with a Meru Controller, multiple Radio Switches coordinate to create up to 12 virtual cells that can boost aggregated coverage area bandwidth to 648 Mb/s. With the eventual evolution to 802.11n, Radio Switches will be able to support 1.2 Gb/s aggregated bandwidth.

SpectraLink demonstrated a new VoWLAN handset that supports the Wi-Fi Alliance's Wi-Fi multimedia quality of service specification for voice and other applications. The new handset also supports the WPA2 security specification.

While interest in VoWLANs for corporate enterprises is surging, consumer interest in hybrid Wi-Fi/cellular technology also is building rapidly. In-Stat released a new study last week, “Consumer Demand for VoWLAN/Cellular Combo handsets,” which stated that at least 84.6% of users surveyed were at least “somewhat interested in owning a hybrid handset. About half of those respondents said they were “very interested” or “extremely interested,” according to In-Stat.