Directional antenna pattern

Wireless LAN (WLAN) Radio Frequency (RF) management is poised to become the new competitive battlefront. This includes technologies such as beamforming, smart antennas, and any other techniques used to control the wireless LAN physical layer. One might think that 802.11 technology innovation is slowing down, and that future competitive battles will primarily rely on marketing fluff, [...]]]>

Wireless LAN (WLAN) Radio Frequency (RF) management is poised to become the new competitive battlefront. This includes technologies such as beamforming, smart antennas, and any other techniques used to control the wireless LAN physical layer. One might think that 802.11 technology innovation is slowing down, and that future competitive battles will primarily rely on marketing fluff, but not so.

Where we’ve been 

It may seem that most of the seemingly difficult WLAN problems have been solved. For example, WiFi Protected Access Two (WPA2) (802.11i-2004) provides strong, interoperable, wireless LAN security.  WiFi Multimedia (WMM) (802.11e-2005) provides basic quality of service capabilities and power save mechanisms.  And the emerging 802.11 high-throughput standard (802.11n) provides high performance improvements using various multi-input, multi-output (MIMO) configurations.

There are also other important, but lesser known standards such as fast roaming, (802.11r-2008), spectrum & power management (802.11h-2003), and radio resource management (802.11k-2008).  So, we’re done with 802.11, right?  Well, not exactly, there are still lots of standards under development and new technology hurdles to overcome.

Where we’re going

I think that the key area to keep an eye on is RF management. Companies such as Xirrus and Ruckus Wireless have used beamforming for years as a way to improve wireless performance, predictability, and reliability.  Aruba Networks uses Adaptive Radio Management (ARM) and Meru Networks uses VirtualCell/VirtualPort to manage RF.  Recently, Cisco Systems announced M-Drive and ClientLink technologies aimed at RF management.

Unfortunately, the technology is complex, difficult to understand, and filled with vendor jargon.  It seems to me that this is a perfect setup for pseudo-techno marketing spin.  The poor IT manager must learn the technology and then figure out how to compare the various vendor solutions. So over the next 4-5 weeks I am going to do a deep dive on this topic. My goal is to answer questions such as:

1. What are the important components of RF management?
2. Why is this topic important to the enterprise?
3. How does one compare the various vendor solutions?
4. Which vendor is in the best position to provide RF management innovation?
5. What does the future hold for RF management?

This research will form the basis of my next Burton Group report.  In addition, I will likely write several detailed blog posts and articles on this topic. 

How you can help

As always, I began my research by casting a fairly wide net in the hopes of quickly and thoroughly learning the topic. Naturally, I’ll speak to all the major vendors and read all their white papers.  I will also rely upon engineering textbooks and technical articles. But probably the most useful source of information is the collective wisdom of practicing network engineers.

So if you are willing to share your RF management experience, or you know someone that might, please contact me (here).