A recent visit to the Intel Tech Museum in Santa Clara got me thinking about WLAN architectures. OK, I admit…I think about WLAN just about everywhere I go, but the Tech Museum gave me an apt analogy.
The history of WLAN architectures draws close parallels to the history of computing. Computing began with an electrically driven mechanical calculator, the Z1, in 1938. Then scientists realized the power of pooling and centralizing computing resources. That, combined with advances in semiconductor technology ushered in the age of mainframes. And then Moore’s law combined with the need to un-tether engineers from the mainframe brought along the era of distributed computing which we now live in. In this evolution, which has spanned decades, it is now established that both the centralized model and distributed models retain their relevance. Tablet computers are cool and convenient, but an iPad can never solve problems in quantum physics, climate research or space exploration or for that matter, beat Gary Kasparov at a game of chess. Each model is irreplaceable in its niche.
Ditto with wireless LAN. The early access points were disjointed and uncoordinated. While they provided basic access, they offered low throughput and were a management and security nightmare. Then came the controller-based WLAN solutions that reduced the role of access points to mere radios. For the first time, WLAN offered performance, scalability, manageability, security and most importantly, mobility! As the CPU on the APs scaled from MHz to GHz and RF technology scaled from 11 Mbps to 450 Mbps (and beyond, soon) it is inevitable that the AP will be able to shoulder more of the functions traditionally performed by controllers. But that does not mean controllers will be artifacts of history. The overlay model that made centralized architectures immune to messy underlying wired networks will continue to be a huge driver for controller-based solutions. There are many more reasons in favor and against both architectures that I will address in a future blog.
As somebody who lived through the evolution from legacy to 802.11n, experienced the controller world and who now manages a controller-less product line, I am equally excited for the future of both architectures. I am just glad to be at a company which embraces both architectures and recommends to each customer what is best for them. At Aruba, we try not to re-shape the foot to fit the shoe ☺