Motorola Rolls Out WLAN Products

Motorola on Tuesday introduced a pair of products that it said will help an enterprise diagnose and maintain its wireless networks.

The Advanced Troubleshooting Solution is a way for companies to proactively identify and fix configuration issues remotely. Motorola said most troubleshooting relies on the infrastructure, which means the information can only be as good as the integration of the infrastructure. The company utilizes the sensors that are already being employed for its wireless security to check for connectivity issues.

The major advantage of this is saving on help-desk costs, as Motorola said it enables a low-level IT member to fix issues quickly through a Web-based portal.

"Minimizing operating expense is always important to network operations teams and especially so as wireless becomes the primary access for so many in the enterprise," said Craig Mathias, analyst with mobile advisory firm Farpoint Group, in a statement. "It's therefore critical that automation be applied to management tasks wherever possible."

The company also is rolling out its next-generation RF management technology with the Self-monitoring at Run Time Radio Frequency. Motorola described Smart RF as a "self-healing network on steroids," and said it responds to changes in the RF environment and automatically adjusts the power and channels on access points to make the network operate correctly. It also supports high-density deployments by automatically selecting channels and lowering power to minimize interference.

The Advanced Troubleshooting product is priced at $295 per sensor for new and existing customers who want to upgrade. Smart RF is included in the new RFS6000 and RFS7000 wireless LAN switches, and is available to existing Motorola customers who have purchased a service agreement.

Deploying a WLAN is a low-risk way for businesses of all sizes to increase their mobility and reap productivity gains. InformationWeek evaluated multiple WLAN setups for small and midsize enterprises, and the report can be downloaded here (registration required).