Aruba Wireless Networks Named a World Class Winner in Industry’s First Wi-Fi Switching Competition
Muscles Airespace, Trapeze Networks and Symbol Technologies in a Battery of Performance, Security, Provisioning and Management Tests
SAN JOSE, CA – September 25, 2003 – Aruba Wireless Networks was awarded Network World’s World Class Award in the first wireless LAN competitive testing ever performed.
According to the independent test results published in Network World Magazine, Aruba was selected as a World Class Winner because it “offers the most comprehensive security story with fine-grained controls at Layer 2 through Layer 7” along with “the best combination of features.”
The Network World tests, performed by David Newman, president of Network Test, an independent test laboratory, evaluated all the wireless LAN switching products on performance, provisioning, security and management capabilities, awarding Aruba top marks.
That’s One Fast Forwarding, Low Latency System
Of all the vendors in Network World’s Wi-Fi switch bake-off, Aruba’s system came the closest to tripling the forwarding rates in tests with three or four access points with aggregate rates that averaged about 95 percent.
Relative to latency, another critical component of Wi-Fi performance, Aruba posted the lowest latency numbers of all competitors along with some of the highest packet forwarding rates. This makes Aruba’s WLAN switching system ideal for delay-sensitive applications such as voice over wireless.
For the testing, Aruba was the only participant to provide a modular wireless LAN switching system capable to being deployed backbone environments without having to directly connect APs.
Aruba’s Wi-Fi switches are the world’s only modular systems that aggregate hundreds of APs using IP-attached thin AP technology. APs are connected anywhere within the wired IP network and automatically connect to the Aruba Wi-Fi switch using standard generic routing encapsulated (GRE) tunnels. APs are then automatically configured with the optimal transmit power and channel settings and become part of a seamless mobile overlay network. Because GRE tunnels are transparently carried over an IP network, no new cabling changes or VLANs are required for the wired network.
According to the testing, Aruba’s unique differentiators, relative to competitive vendors tested, included:
- Providing stateful firewalling
- Distinguishing between APs that are both inside and outside a corporation
- Indirectly connecting APs to an IP network through generic routing encapsulation tunnels
- Dynamically adjusting AP signal strength for optimal performance
“This was the definitive test the industry has been waiting for,” said Pankaj Manglik, president and CEO of Aruba Wireless Networks. “Network World has done the industry a monumental service by eliminating the FUD surrounding Wi-Fi switching and arming corporate America with empirical information they can use to mobilize the enterprise.”
-30-