Cisco pushing new wireless products

Cisco Systems this week several new wireless products, bolstering the fixed-line networking giant’s foray into the mobile market.

Cisco’s unveiled new Wi-Fi-certified access points for wireless LAN networks and a new mobile access router designed to work for public safety, military and transport vehicles. While Cisco is no stranger to wireless networking, the new raft of network devices are the first wireless modules built on Cisco’s IOS software platform, meaning all of the functionality Cisco builds into its fixed line networks can be carried over to their wireless counterparts or-- as Cisco terms it --to the wireless network edge.

The platform supports virtual LAN, QoS and proxy mobile IP service and allows IT staff to run both the wireless and wired networks as a single network. The access points, the Aironet 1100 for smaller enterprises and the Aironet 1200 for larger ones, help enterprises shorten the lead-in time to deploy wireless LAN networks, said Ron Seide, product manager for the wireless networking business unit. Cisco can sell its Wi-LAN products and its LAN products as a group since they all rely on the same management platform and software bundle, he said.

The mobile access routers are designed to create a mobile edge to large transportation networks, according to Sam Ezekiel, general manager of the mobile access unit. The router performs like a standard, yet very compact fixed-line router, except it hooks into mobile radios, linking to the overall network through GPRS, CDPD or other mobile data standards and to network devices, such as laptops, PDAs and other handhelds through 802.11 technologies.