Dell, Aruba in Wireless LAN Deal

Aruba Networks’ wireless local area networking solutions, including controllers, access points and wireless management tools, will be packaged and sold by Dell as the PowerConnect W-Series. The offering is the result of a multi-year agreement between Dell and Aruba Networks. It is also the latest component to Dell’s data center portfoilo that expands from the data center to the enterprise network to wireless devices.

Dell has been in the networking business for nearly nine years. It offers data center virtualization solutions from Brocade Networks in its PowerConnect B-Series plus Juniper Networks WAN Ethernet connectivity/security solutions in the PowerConnect J-Series. The W-Series gives Dell the wireless networking capabilities it lacked to bring data center functionality and capabilities to end users in wireless environments, such as a corporate campus or healthcare facility.

Dell expects to have The Dell PowerConnect W-Series of wireless networking products available to customers in the United States, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom this quarter, with other countries to follow in the near future.

The PowerConnect W-Series is designed for easy deployment. It is also designed to seamlessly prioritize bandwidth based on application demands in a dynamic, rapidly changing network, according to the vendors. W-Series Controllers will enable easy integration into an organization’s existing network, to securely and efficiently extend network resources to a mobile workforce. Once deployed, automated access point set-up and configuration will help reduce deployment time, while centralized management will ease the burden on network administrators.

Based on open-standards and interoperable with a broad universe of existing networking solutions, the Dell PowerConnect W-Series family will include:

• The PowerConnect W-3000 Series Controllers, delivering advanced secure, mobile connectivity for business-critical data, voice, and video applications;
• The PowerConnect W-600 Series Small Business and Branch Office Controllers, offering mobile connectivity and innovative features including Power-over-Ethernet, and file/print server options;
• W-Series Access Point solutions, including the PowerConnect W-AP92/W-AP93 Single Radio, PowerConnect W-AP105 Dual-Radio, and PowerConnect W-AP124/W-AP125 Dual-Radio 3×3 MIMO solutions, all supporting 802.11a/b/g/n industry standards;
• AirWave Wireless Management Suite, an operations management solution for multi-vendor wired, wireless, and mobile device networks.