Except the NETGEAR doesn't play in the enterprise space and Bluesocket's market share is negligible. Which means the market leaders are not winning the beauty contest!
Frank From: John Cox [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, January 17, 2008 8:33 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] The Aesthetics of 11n? Interesting question. I think it's only a matter of time, and probably not much time. Both NETGEAR and Bluesocket just recently have announced draft 2 11n products with integrated antennas (I think they might also have connectors for external optional antennas). NETGEAR is using a technology that lets them add more antennas, on top of those associated with the 11n silicon, printing them onto the circuit board. They're using this in a bunch of new and upcoming 11n products (obviously these aren't aimed at large-scale enterprises but it gives an idea of what to expect, I think). Here's a link to their just-announced AP/bridge http://www.netgear.com/Products/APsWirelessControllers/AccessPoints/WNHDE111 .aspx?detail=Specifications Bluesocket also has an embedded antenna array (which I think they've had with their current ABG WLAN gear also): http://www.bluesocket.com/products-access-points.htm FYI, our stories on these are here: Bluesocket http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/120407-bluesocket-wlan-architecture.ht ml NETGEAR http://www.networkworld.com/news/2008/010708-ces-netgear-wireless-pricing.ht ml Not quite on-topic but I thought of this as an example of eyecatching industrial design (though probably not what Lee had in mind!): ZyXEL is using Sequans WiMAX chipset in a brand new customer premises WiMAX modem designed exclusively for Sprint's Xohm WiMAX net. I saw it at CES but just didn't have time to write it up. Here's a link to a picture and write-up at gizmowatch: http://www.gizmowatch.com/entry/ces-2008-sequans-and-zyxel-introduces-first- xohm-product/ Regards, John Cox Network World _____ From: Lee H Badman [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, January 17, 2008 9:04 AM To: [email protected] Subject: [WIRELESS-LAN] The Aesthetics of 11n? At risk of sounding silly- is anyone wrestling with the appearance of early 11n products? Contrast any of the current offerings with the MIMO antennas versus the likes of the Cisco 1130 (integrated antennas) from an aesthetics perspective, and the 11n stuff seems ugly and utilitarian. For us, we often need to get the architect's blessing on "fixtures" like this in new spaces, and the 1130 has been an easy sell because it's not more obtrusive than a smoke detector. I don't see any of the current crop off 11n APs being considered visually appealing to anyone other than us geek types. I wonder if 11n future APs will be able to do MIMO but still be "pretty"? Lee Lee H. Badman Wireless/Network Engineer Information Technology and Services Syracuse University 315 443-3003 ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/.
