Are You Prepared For 802'11n

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Are You Prepared For 802.11n?

• TRAPEZE NETWORKS
• MATT HANNA
• SENIOR SYSTEMS ENGINEER

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802.11 Location Based Services
LA-200 Dashboard
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Agenda

• 802.11n Drivers
• 802.11n Background, Status and Fundamentals
• Radio Network Design with 802.11n
• Your Evolving Wired Network
• Summary

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Agenda

• Why 802.11n for the Enterprise?
• Technical Primer
• Key Considerations in Deploying 802.11n
• The MP-432 Trapezes 802.11n Access Point
• Comparison of Approaches to 802.11n
• Summary

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Why Do Enterprises Want 802.11n?

• Speed
• Dramatically faster data rates
• From 54 Mbps today to 600 Mbps with 802.11n

• Throughput
• Dramatically higher capacity
• From 24 Mbps today to 400 Mbps real throughput
  with 802.11n

• Range
• Dramatically larger range and coverage area
• From 100 ft today, to 300-500 ft with 802.11n

• Applications
• Video broadcast and streaming
• Ethernet to the workstation replacement
• Wireless backhaul/ mesh
• Voice over Wi-Fi

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802.11n Technical Primer

• What is 802.11n?
• Task Group (TG) n of the IEEE (Institute of
  Electrical and Electronics Engineers) 802.11
  committee
• How does it work?
• Multiple Input/ Multiple Output (MIMO)
• Multiple simultaneous radio streams (spatial
  streaming)
• More efficient MAC (better throughput for each
  data rate)
• Wider channels (20 MHz vs 40 MHz)
• When does it happen?
• Wi-Fi Certification of 802.11n draft 2.0 products
  end June 2007
• Final standard Sep-2008
• How do you get there?

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802.11n Data Rates
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802.11n Fundamentals

• Higher Data Rates
• Multiple-input/multiple-output (MIMO) radio
  technology
• Independent RF chains (amplifier, demodulator,
  FFT) multiplex for parallel throughput
• Data rates as high as 600 Mbps with four RF
  chains in wide channels, though a more typical
  rate is 130 Mbps
• Efficiency (MAC Enhancements)
• Frame aggregation to spread physical overhead
  across multiple packets
• Example Five 1500-byte frames take 508 µs when
  aggregated into one big frame, but would take
  660µs if sent separately (plus
  channelcontention overhead of gt64 µs andACKs)
• Frame exchanges to calibrate transmission to the
  particular receiver by testing the radio
  channel first

Over-head
Data Frame
Over-head
Data Frame Aggregation
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Key Considerations in Deploying 802.11n
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802.11n Network Design.. Or Is That Re-Design?
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Radio Network Design Changes

• MIMO designs are superior receivers
• Better range at a given speed
• Coverage areas will get larger for a given
  transmission power
• Use fewer APs with 11n for identical coverage
  area, or increase quality by providing higher
  speeds over the same area
• New channels / old channels or..
• Existing 802.11a/g networks use 20 MHz channels
• Wider 40 MHz channels are an option in the
  current drafts
• Trade-off Twice the radio spectrum usage for
  twice the speed
• Move to 5 GHz radio spectrum
• There is much more available spectrum at 5 GHz,
  and it is not crowded with existing devices
• The ability to run .11n in the 5 GHz band will be
  a hardware differentiator for enterprise-class
  APs!

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Planning for 802.11n Before .11n Layout

• Prior to .11n, there is some overlap to allow
  roaming
• Overlap is enough to allow for roaming, but APs
  on the same channel are prevented from
  interfering with each other

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Planning for 802.11n After .11n Layout

• Longer range means there is much greater overlap,
  and potentially, interference
• Need to re-tune power to get back to the picture
  of the previous slide

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Capacity Planning

• Service quality depends on having adequate
  capacity
• In wired networks, capacity is the number of
  drops to an area, provided there is appropriate
  backbone capacity
• Wireless networks have a shared user interface
• Unloaded networks behave well, but they break
  down at the saturation point
• The appropriate measure of capacity is megabits
  per second per unit area

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Wired Network Considerations
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802.11n Wired Network Considerations

• Access point is gigabit-capable (and support
  .11n)
• 802.11n has more than 100 data rates, many of
  which are over 100 Mbps
• Network must be gigabit capable
• Need for gigabit-capable infrastructure Cat 5E
  wiring, gigabit edge switches
• Upgrade your WLAN switch?. . . . . . . . . .
• Current WLAN switches are made to support 54 Mbps
  APs
• What happens when those APs support 500 Mbps?

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Network Edge Redesign
Centralized switching works well with current
standards.
802.11n brings a breakdown in centralized
switching.
Ka Boom!
.11g
.11g
.11g
.11g
.11g

• Existing dual-radio devices are 45-60 Mbps
• High speed and low delay applications not yet
  prevelant

• 11n creates up to 10x increase in throughput
• Throughput exceeds controller
• expensive HW upgrades possible

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Network Edge Redesign
Add more controllers!
Buy a BIGGER controller!

• Add more controllers
• 100 AP controller cost is 20k-40k
• Add more management

• Go BIG!?
• Two controllers for redundancy?
• Legacy controller supporting 10 APs somewhere?

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802.11n Problem and Solution
Breakdown in Centralized-Only Switching
Smart Mobile Intelligent Switching
Smart MobileIntelligent WLAN controller
Offered load exceeds controller capacity
X
Offered load increases up to 10x
Offered load increases up to 10x

• 802.11n creates up to 10x increase in throughput
• Throughput exceeds controller capacity
• Cannot scale without expensive hardware upgrades

• Forwarding occurs at the AP, not through
  controller
• No impact on controller
• Scales in place without expensive forklift upgrade

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802.11n-Ready Smart Mobile Architecture
Smart Mobile Distributed Forwarding

• 802.11n-ready before a single enterprise-grade AP
  has shipped
• Uses existing switching infrastructure to
  transport higher-speed traffic
• Distributed security processing, so wireless
  encryption runs at the air rate in the future

Intelligent WLAN controller
Offered load increases with 802.11n

• Forwarding occurs at the AP, not through
  controller
• No impact on controller
• Scales in place without expensive forklift upgrade

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Smart Mobile Can Do More
Voice over Wireless Latency Sensitive Applications
Guest Access Security Sensitive Mobility
Applications
.11n Ready Today Tomorrows Applications
Distributed
Centralized
Distributed
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About Trapeze Networks
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Trapeze Networks Overview
2,000 organizations worldwide deploy Trapeze
WLAN technology

• Founded March 2002
• Fully capitalized 102.5 million in venture
  capital raised to date
• Trapeze technology successfully deployed at the
  largest global enterprises
• 2,000 direct OEM end-customers worldwide
• 180 employees
• Growing patent portfolio 30 filed to date
• Shipping since July 2003

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Strategic Partnerships with Industry Leaders

• Global leader in voice technology
• Trapeze was chosen by NEC to co-develop
  next-generation, voice-optimized architecture

• Global wireless technology leader partnering with
  Trapeze to integrate WLAN and handset technology
• Strategic investor in Trapeze
• Customer Trapeze is global WLAN standard

• Leading provider of enterprise network solutions
• Partnering with Trapeze to develop secure
  wireless solutions
• Strategic investor in Trapeze

• Global communications technology leader
• Strategic investor in Trapeze
• Trapeze OEM partner

• Networking solutions leader
• Trapeze OEM partner

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Smart Mobile Product Family

• The Trapeze Mobility System
• Mobility Exchange
• Mobility Point
• Mobility System Software
• RingMaster

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Smart Mobile Enterprise WLAN Leader

• WLAN Security leader
• Comprehensive study of top 11 WLAN vendors
• Trapeze ranked 1 December 2006

20 page report available

• WLAN Performance leader
• Trapeze outperforms Aruba and Meru
• Same criteria as Network World test (11/06)
• VeriWave certified test results

certified results available

• WLAN TCO leader
• Commissioned research by Yankee Group
• Trapeze delivers lowest TCO over Aruba and Cisco

In-depth TCO study available

• WLAN Architecture leader
• Next generation WLAN architecture
• Application-driven intelligent switching
• 802.11n ready, voice optimized

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Thank you!

• MATT HANNA
• SENIOR SYSTEMS ENGINNER