Symbol Technologies unveils RFS7000 RF Switch and WS5100 wireless switch’s new version
Symbol Technologies , the Enterprise Mobility Company, has unveiled its RFS7000 radio frequency switch and a new version of its award-winning WS5100 wireless switch.
Symbol’s RFS7000 RF Switch is industry’s first radio frequency (RF) wireless switch that bridges the gap between Wi-Fi, RFID and other key RF technologies. The RFS7000 RF Switch leverages Symbol’s Wireless Next Generation (Wi-NG) architecture, and is designed to support and consolidate Wi-Fi and emerging RF technologies such as RFID, 802.11n, mesh, Voice over Wireless LAN (VoWLAN) and WiMAX. Businesses will now be able to efficiently and cost-effectively deploy and centrally manage wireless voice, data and infrastructure devices across the RF spectrum.
The convergence of voice, video, and data, effectively pushes the new mobile edge from the wired to the wireless touch point, which requires the network to adapt to the changing needs of new mobile devices and applications. The industry’s first RF switch will provide the platform to integrate and manage current and future mobile devices and wireless technologies.
The RFS7000 RF Switch provides robust, highly scalable support for enterprise mobility, and is ideal for manufacturing facilities, hospitals, warehouse and supply chain industries, educational and government institutions, and service providers with high-bandwidth requirements and mission-critical applications.
Businesses want to move away from piecemeal RF technology installs, and be able to leverage their wireless network investment on an ongoing basis, rather than rip and replace hardware to keep up with technology changes. Designed to evolve and mature as business requirements continue to change, the RFS7000 RF Switch will enable simultaneous, centralised management of RFID readers and Wi-Fi network infrastructure, creating a streamlined connection to business logic and back-end application systems.
The innovative RFS7000 RF Switch leverages a modular Wi-NG-based architecture, running on a Linux operating system that provides separation between infrastructure, services, application and management layers. This engineering conceptual leap takes advantage of multiple hardware platforms and multiple-processor systems to enable scalable, high-performance wireless solutions required by the next generation of enterprise mobility.
Symbol’s WS5100 wireless switch is also based on the Wireless Next Generation (Wi-NG) architecture, providing enhanced support for enterprise mobility and multimedia applications, security and manageability.
Version 3.0 of the Symbol WS5100 wireless switch enables flexible deployment of access ports in either Layer 2 or Layer 3 networks and seamless campus-wide roaming of mobile users for true enterprise mobility, as well as switch clustering for high-performance wireless networking, resiliency and scalability.
New security features include integrated enhanced intrusion detection and RF monitoring, an IPSec VPN (virtual private network) gateway and secure guest access provisioning.
Available on the new WS5100 wireless switch, Layer 3 mobility allows mobile users to maintain seamless connectivity to applications such as voice and video as they roam throughout the enterprise campus.
Layer 3 mobility, with clustering capability, allows the WS5100 wireless switch to be cost-effectively deployed in large enterprise campuses. In addition, Wi-Fi Multimedia (WMM) with power save extensions also provides additional voice capacity and battery life savings of WMM-capable mobile devices.
As businesses continue to realise cost savings, and productivity increases from the deployment of enterprise mobility solutions, the role of the wireless network takes on more importance now and in the future. Business needs should dictate network coverage, not the other way around. The new software on Symbol’s WS5100 wireless switch supports mobile workers and takes enterprise mobility to the next level.
Integration with Symbol’s RF Management software provides monitoring and management of wireless devices throughout the spectrum to help ensure maximum up-time and peak performance of the network system, as well as the ability to plan, evaluate and monitor the network.
Symbol’s RF Management software suite includes a location engine and Wireless Intrusion Protection System (Wireless IPS) that enables businesses to securely deploy applications, and track assets. Statistics including RF coverage, load balancing, redundancy, and security threat level and network utilisation, are graphically displayed, which allows IT managers to instantly assess network status.
Product availability
A software upgrade to the new version of the WS5100 wireless switch will be available shortly to customers with a Symbol Services support agreement.
The RFS7000 RF Switch and the WS5100 wireless switch will be available with Symbol On Site system support services and Service from the Start programmes for multi-year coverage.
The Symbol RFS7000 RF Switch and WS5100 wireless switch will be available beginning in the first quarter of 2007, in select regions through Warp Systems and Vantex. Both products will be available through Warp Systems and Vantex.
12-Dec-2006