WLANs / Wi-Fi - News, Features, and Slideshows

News

• Meraki buy more than cloud Wi-Fi to Cisco

  Even though Meraki made a name for itself in cloud-based WLANs, Cisco's long-term goals for its new acquisition go beyond just Wi-Fi.

• CONNECT: Networky gift ideas for the holidays

  Opening a new gadget for the holidays isn't any fun if you can't connect to the InterWeb or other devices. Sometimes you need to upgrade your network, and they often make great gifts, too!

• 8 free Wi-Fi stumbling and surveying tools

  Even if you have an enterprise-level Wi-Fi spectrum analyzer, like <a href="http://www.metageek.net/products/wi-spy/">Wi-Spy</a> or <a href="http://www.flukenetworks.com/enterprise-network/wlan-security-and-analysis">AirMagnet</a>, free Wi-Fi tools can also come in handy. You might use them during the planning or installation stages of your <a href="http://www.networkworld.com/topics/wireless.html">wireless</a> LAN, while troubleshooting, or when performing maintenance. They could even serve as your primarily tools in smaller and less-complex environments.

• New Wi-Fi routers, cloud services simplify branch networks

  Aerohive Networks has unveiled a set of products and services for small, remote, or branch office <a href="http://www.networkworld.com/topics/wireless.html">wireless</a> networking. The new "Branch on Demand" product line includes low-cost Wi-Fi routers, coupled with expanded cloud-based VPN termination and security services.

• Aruba expands 'instant' Wi-Fi offerings to small, midsize businesses

  Aruba Networks has unveiled new WLAN access points and software, expanding its Aruba Instant product line of easy-to-deploy Wi-Fi networks, and retargeting them for small and midsize businesses.

• Wired network edge vs wireless edge

  A survey by WLAN vendor Meraki in June found that for the first time smartphones and tablets like the <a href="http://www.networkworld.com/slideshows/2009/060309-apple-quiz.html">Apple</a> <a href="https://www.networkworld.com/slideshows/2010/120101-iphone-quiz.html">iPhone</a> and iPad have overtaken computers on Wi-Fi networks. The finding highlights the argument over how much wired LAN infrastructure companies need, or should have when users' connection expectations are for reliable wireless.

• In Chicago, a 4G coming-of-age party

  CHICAGO -- Carriers, chipset makers and device manufactures this week threw something of a coming-of-age party on behalf of <a href="http://www.networkworld.com/topics/3g-4g.html">4G</a> <a href="http://www.networkworld.com/topics/wireless.html">wireless</a> technologies.

• Meru software applies corporate Wi-Fi security to private devices

  WLAN vendor Meru Networks has announced a new optional software module that lets its Wi-Fi networks recognize privately owned clients and automatically configure them to meet corporate security and management policies.

• Wi-Fi devices crowd 2.4GHz band; IT looks to 5GHz

  Of the 470,000 Wi-Fi connections made on a recent day at Abilene Christian University, fully 94% used the 2.4GHz band, representing an extreme example of how today's surging number of Wi-Fi clients is crowding the band least able to accommodate them.

• WiFi users blissfully ignorant about real security, research finds

  New research conducted on behalf of the Wi-Fi Alliance shows that while wireless users are making strides on the security front, they’re still leaving their Wi-Fi networks too open to intruders.

• Eurostar to introduce WiFi onboard trains

  Eurostar International has awarded contracts for onboard information systems and WiFi services to France Telecom and Nomad Digital, respectively.

• Extreme's Wi-Fi wallplates speed 802.11n expansion, performance

  Extreme Networks has introduced a specially designed Wi-Fi access point about the size of an <a href="https://www.networkworld.com/slideshows/2010/120101-iphone-quiz.html">iPhone</a>, replacing an Ethernet wallplate in less than two minutes, and acting as a controller to 24 other units. The goal is simplifying 802.11n deployments, cutting their costs, and creating a Wi-Fi network tailored to the unique demands of wireless smartphones and tablets, says the company.

• Adtran buys Wi-Fi vendor Bluesocket

  Enterprise Wi-Fi vendor Bluesocket has been bought by Adtran, which plans to hammer Bluesocket's "virtualized" wireless LAN like a stake into the hearts of its WLAN rivals, <a href="http://www.networkworld.com/subnets/cisco/">Cisco</a> and Aruba Networks.

• Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 with 4G LTE available July 28 from Verizon Wireless

  Samsung and Verizon Wireless announced Tuesday that an <a href="http://www.networkworld.com/topics/wimax-lte.html">LTE</a> version of the Galaxy Tab 10.1, one of the few tablets to date that critics have called a viable opponent to the Apple iPad, will be available July 28.

• Controlling Wi-Fi radio 'nap-time' reaps big power savings

  A Duke University grad student has come up with a way to double, or more, battery life in Wi-Fi devices, without any changes needed on the device itself. Essentially, the technique regulates how long and when client radios sleep, so that data transfers can be scheduled more efficiently.