11/21/2005 -- Last week, Cisco Systems Inc. unveiled additions to its wireless networking portfolio, including the Cisco Wireless Service Module (WiSM) for the Catalyst 6500 Series and the Cisco Wireless LAN Controller Module for the Integrated Services Router (ISR) family. The new additions are based on technology Cisco acquired from the former Airespace.

Thanks to the upgrades, Cisco says, each Catalyst 6500 series switch -- outfitted with Cisco’s Wireless Services Modules (WiSM), of course -- can control and manage up to 1,500 lightweight access points (APs) per chassis. On top of that, each WSM can support up to 300 APs, with up to 3,600 APs per roaming domain with clustering across modules.

Joel Conover, a principal analyst for enterprise infrastructure with consultancy Current Analysis, likes what he sees in the new Catalyst wireless additions. "Cisco’s delivery of the WiSM module, based on technology it acquired from Airespace, is earlier than anticipated, and puts greater pressure on competitors as Cisco is rapidly getting its wireless act together," he says.

More than anything else, Conover says, Cisco’s announcement helps clear up months of uncertainty and should help put an end to competitive FUD-mongering, too. "Cisco has cleared up any uncertainty regarding its future direction or strategy for the wireless market. While Cisco clearly intends to service, support and enhance its existing first-generation WLAN product portfolio, this launch marks a turning point in Cisco’s wireless strategy," he comments. "It is clear that Cisco intends to use its unified, centrally controlled wireless LAN technology as its preferred technology platform moving forward. By rapidly launching the integrated WISM and WLCM technologies, Cisco is moving to clearly show its direction and to give customers an integrated solution that builds on the strengths Cisco has established with its architecture to date."

Of course, Cisco’s new additions aren’t all upside, Conover says. "While Cisco now has a complete integrated WLAN architecture based on its thin-AP Airespace-derived architecture, Cisco has had to make some compromises to get to this point so quickly," he indicates. "Cisco’s new WiSM module, like the WLSM, demands a Cisco Supervisor 720 or Supervisor 32 module in the Catalyst 6500 chassis, which forces many existing customers to upgrade, and forces new customers into a higher-class Supervisor engine if they want to support wireless LAN switching. And even though customers get fabric switching with the Supervisor 720, they get no benefit on the WiSM module, which uses the traditional shared bus on the Catalyst chassis to provide interconnect." -Stephen Swoyer