You have a wireless LAN with 50 access points. You manage it using running shoes, bailing wire and spit. Now, a host of companies say they've got a solution and it looks a lot like something you already use: an Ethernet switch.

Two start-ups, Aruba Networks and Trapeze Networks, and big fish Extreme Networks, are rolling out switches this week that secure and control companion WLAN access points, the goal being to extend traditional network control to the wireless realm.

By shifting intelligence from access points back to the switch, these and other vendors - including Airespace,
which announced a product last week (see story) - can simplify wireless deployment by building in support for security, radio optimization and other advanced management tasks.

While Aruba, Trapeze and Airespace are hoping the approach will help them make a mark, Extreme simply sees the advance as the evolution of its edge device. The company intends to treat radio waves as just another medium, like copper and fiber, in an enterprise network.

Distinguishing between the products is still difficult because most vendors are just starting beta tests and won't ship products until midyear. But there are differences.

Aruba's switch has up to 72 10/100M bit/sec Ethernet ports to connect to wireless access points; Extreme has 48, and Trapeze has 20. Aruba has up to six Gigabit Ethernet uplink ports, Extreme has four, and Trapeze has two.

Extreme executives emphasize the Layer 3 capabilities of their new switch, such as IP filtering and quality of service. But Trapeze executives say focusing on Layer 2 makes for simpler and less-expensive switch deployment, although Trapeze does support some Layer 3 features.

And each vendor sounds a different marketing theme. Aruba focuses on software that lets the switch track wireless users across subnets, maintaining each user's access and service privileges.

Extreme describes its switch as one that adapts the wired network's edge to seamlessly handle any kind of IP-enabled client, wired or wireless.

Trapeze touts a sophisticated graphical user interface software package, called RingMaster, which can simulate the WLAN and translate the simulation into configuration instructions for the access points.

Curing headaches

The network headaches that such products are designed to heal are growing more painful for network executives.

"When you have more than about 10 wireless access points, they just get difficult to troubleshoot and maintain," says Abner Germanow, enterprise networks research manager for IDC. "If you deploy a lot of access points and one of them goes down today, it's difficult to know that without walking around with laptop or PDA scanner."