Cisco Takes Lead in 802.11n with Aironet 1250 Product Release

By Mike Jude, Nemertes Senior Analyst
Sept. 13, 2007

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) announced the product release of its new Aironet 1250 wireless access point, which it is marketing as the first WiFi-compliant access point to conform to the IEEE 802.11n draft 2.0 proposed standard. This move underscores enterprise momentum behind 802.11n as the next generation of WiFi technologies, and enables Cisco to stake out a leadership position in the market.

In the Nemertes Research benchmark, "Building the Successful Virtual Workplace," we noted that enterprises would increasingly look to wireless technology as a viable alternative to recabling. Cisco has explicitly recognized this with the release of the Aironet 1250.

The Aironet 1250 is a modular access point capable of being configured to operate at either 2.4 Ghertz or 5.0 Ghertz. It uses the Cisco MIMO (multiple input, multiple output) architecture to enable data rates as high as 300 GBPS in an 802.11n mode and includes a Gigabit Ethernet interface The Aironet 1250 is designed to operate in high-noise environments, with existing 802.11 a/b/g agents and is intended to enable future upgrades as new wireless standards are adopted.

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Preliminary analysis of the data for Nemertes forthcoming Security and Information Protection benchmark shows that approximately 63% of participants want to deploy (or more broadly deploy) technologies that they felt they could not, for security reasons. Of those, half named wireless as the technology in question, and over a quarter named collaborative tools, especially IM.

By Christopher J, Kardish, Principal Research Analyst

This week, Sprint (NYSE: S) and Motorola (NYSE:MOT) released two phones designed to work on both the Sprint and Nextel wireless networks.

While WiFi-cellular dual-mode phones are nothing new – T-Mobile (NYSE: DT) has been trialing their HotSpot@Home service in Washington state since October – cellular-cellular dual-mode phones are something of an anomaly.

In this case, Sprint is trying to wean its Nextel customers off Nextel’s iDEN walkie-talkie network onto Sprint’s CDMA network, which will soon sport high performance push-to-talk.

By Johna Till Johnson, Network World, 02/27/06

Last week we brought up some of the most critical telecom policy issues for 2006. Top of the list is net neutrality. Congress started hearings on the topic a few weeks back, and both telcos and content providers are lobbying hard.

October 19, 2004

By Melanie Turek, Principal Research Analyst, Nemertes Research LLC

The announcement by Microsoft (NYSE: MSFT) that it will adding improved presence and telephony capabilities to its IM client supports Nemertes’ prediction that instant messaging, telephony and presence are converging within applications, and creating new competition for the desktop.

By Johna Till Johnson, President & Chief Research Officer, Nemertes Research, johna@nemertes.com

Last week, privately-held Guardium Inc. landed $5 million in a second round of funding led by founding investor Cedar Fund and including Veritas Venture Partners and Stage One Ventures. Guardium provides an appliance that continually monitors and logs database accesses, providing detailed, searchable information about who has seen and modified data.

By Robin Gareiss,
Nemertes' principal research officer

Despite appearances, Cometa Network’s demise last week does not translate into the demise of the WiFi hot spots business model. AT&T and IBM formed Cometa two years ago with financial backing from Intel Capital, Apax Partners, and 3i, with aggressive plans to install 20,000 hot spots by this year (It has about one-tenth of that amount now.). The business model: Cometa would build hot spots and sell wholesale service to restaurants, airports, coffee shops, and wireless providers, and carriers.

We do not believe that Cometa’s demise indicates an inherent problem with the Wifi hot-spot business model. In Nemertes’ research benchmark series, “WiFi: New Markets, Challenges, Opportunities,” we found that nearly one-third of companies use hot-spot services today, and 47% plan to in the coming year. Couple that with the growing number of consumers using hot-spot services, as well as the number of wireless-enabled devices available, and the market potential remains promising.

Today, 74 percent of companies have WLAN, although many are still in early phases of deployment. IT executives are eager to expand those rollouts, but delay them because of security concerns, perhaps needlessly, says Robin Gareiss, an analyst with research firm Nemertes.

"There really is a gap in the perception of Wi-Fi security and reality," she notes. "Right now, the perception among IT executives is that you cannot secure wireless networks to a level acceptable to the enterprise. But you can--it might just be a lot more detailed than they want to deal with at this point."

Companies have the option of VPNs or secure network appliance gateways from such companies as Vernier Networks or Bluesocket. "But that adds more cost, complexity [and] management," says Gareiss.

Robin Gareiss, an analyst at New York-based Nemertes Research, said the LEAP vulnerability "damages Cisco's credibility" since the company has marketed it heavily as a secure system. According to a recent independent study done of the enterprise wireless LAN market by Nemertes, 46% of the IT executives surveyed said their companies use LEAP.

The LEAP problems could also affect Cisco's efforts to market to new customers, she said. According to Gareiss, a survey she conducted of 60 top executives from Fortune 500 companies showed that a number of those looking to deploy WLANs "were assessing Cisco products."

NEW YORK … Sept. 17, 2003 – Finding a company that’s 100% wired isn’t as easy as it seems: 92% of IT executives said they’re using or planning to use wireless LAN technology either in the office or at public hot spots, according to a 110-page Nemertes Research report released today. But most of them are running trials or limited deployments, and a few key factors are preventing expanded rollouts.