Trapeze Networks Delivers Secure Mobility For Cisco Systems Access Points
Publication date: Tuesday, 19 April 2005
PLEASANTON, Calif. — April 18, 2005 — As part of its Open Access Point Initiative (OAPI) announced last month, Trapeze Networks™, award winning provider of the wireless LAN (WLAN) Mobility System™, will deliver new features in its Mobility System Software™ that will allow for a new level of interoperability with Cisco Systems APs (Cisco Aironet 350, 1100 and 1200 Series).
With these new features, wireless clients become part of a Mobility Domain comprised of Trapeze switches and Cisco and Trapeze APs. Users get all of the benefits of Identity-Based Networking: secure roaming among and between all Cisco and Trapeze APs and Mobility Exchange™ switches as well as full 802.1X Authentication, per client policies (Authorization), and full Accounting support for all clients associated with Cisco or Trapeze APs. Identity-Based Networking leverages customers' existing AAA infrastructures and other back office components such as Active Directory, Novell EDS or LDAP. Cisco APs can also be planned in Ringmaster™, Trapeze's full life cycle software tool suite, whereby the transmit power and channel settings are determined and the APs are integrated into the RF plan.
"Since the inception of the WLAN switching market, vendors have been spinning stories about how they can co-exist with existing wired infrastructure. Trapeze is the first vendor to step up and support true integration of a Cisco Aironet access point, rather than merely co-existing beside it," said Joel Conover, principal analyst at Current Analysis. "With this announcement, Trapeze and its OEM partners' now have the ability to target Cisco's wireless customer base with more options to extend the life of their legacy APs."
In addition to 802.1X, a variety of other Authentication options are available for clients associated with Cisco APs. One such option is Trapeze's WebAAA portal-based access, a unique capability that provides browser-based Authentication to make it simple for users to connect to the network, along with Authorization and Accounting facilities that give IT complete control over network access privileges. Guest access accounts can also be created across the combined infrastructure and managed with Guest Pass™, another Trapeze innovation that provides fast, simple guest provisioning and AAA control for IT.
With a simple IOS CLI command, customers using Cisco APs can make them part of a Trapeze Mobility Domain. No Trapeze software of any kind is running on the Cisco APs; they run only their native IOS software load. Cisco APs can be directly (physically) or logically connected to Trapeze switches over a switched network.
"We are focused on delivering features that allow customers to derive continuing value from investments that they've made in their WLANs," said Dan Simone, CTO of Trapeze Networks. "With our new capabilities, customers can migrate legacy distributed AP deployments to a switched network architecture while enjoying complete mobility between the new and the old and preserving security policies with per subscriber granularity."
Pricing and Availability
Support for Cisco Aironet APs will be a free upgrade in Trapeze's Mobility System Software and will be available in May. All Trapeze partners will also have access to this new functionality in May.
About Trapeze Networks
Trapeze Networks delivers the power of business applications and services to the mobile enterprise workforce. The company's wireless LAN Mobility System enhances productivity, introduces new efficiencies and accelerates business response time by delivering secure mobility for roaming users and sophisticated services for both users and IT, all while offering the lowest total cost of ownership of any WLAN infrastructure provider. Trapeze announced a partnership with 3Com Corporation (NASDAQ: COMS) in August, 2004 and a partnership with both D-Link and Nortel (NYSE/TSX: NT) in March 2005. Trapeze has also been the recipient of eight industry awards, including InfoWorld's Technology of the Year award for the best WLAN Solution in 2004, in recognition of its product and technology strength. Founded in March 2002, Trapeze has raised $67.5 million in venture funding to date and is headquartered in Pleasanton, Calif., U.S.A. For more information, please visit www.trapezenetworks.com.
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