Hewlett-Packard has launched a Wi-Fi switch module for its ProCurve 5300 edge switch, intended to compete with the wireless modules Cisco released for its switches last year.

Despite coming late to the switched Wi-Fi party, HP claims its Wireless Edge Services Module (WESM) makes a more tightly integrated wired/wireless network than the similarly-named WISM (Wi-Fi Services Module), which Cisco launched last November, based on technology which it had acquired with Airespace.

"HP is late, but the market isn't very big yet," said Evelien Wiggers, senior research analyst at IDC. "There is a chance for HP to get very large in this. The market is mainly with Cisco -- and of course Trapeze and Aruba -- but there has still been no real uptake. It might still be in time for large deployments."

"We have unified wired and wireless management," said Kail Krall, global mobility manager for ProCurve. HP's system uses the same ProCurve management suite as wired products, and is more scalable than Cisco's, since access points can be added with only a software upgrade on the module. It also has a lifetime warranty, like other HP switches, he said.

With centralized RF management, self-healing, quality of service and fast client roaming within a subnet, the product handles the basics of wireless LAN management, but lacks many of the features that more experienced WLAN switch providers include, such as RF planning, for which HP uses a third-party product from AirWave, and intrusion detection.

A single WESM module can support up to 36 of a new series of "thin" access points, connected anywhere on the same network. The initial cost of

» posted by abennett

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