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Intel and Cisco resolve incompatibility problems with wireless LAN security

"Business Class Wireless" is what the two giants call the process of ironing out incompatibilities between Cisco's Intel calls its Network Admission Control, and Intel's Active Management Technology.

The two companies announced this BWCS (Business Class Wireless Suite) at the Intel Developer Forum yesterday, selling the idea as a sort of industry-wide initiative to create standards.

In fact, although Cisco calls NAC an "industry effort led by Cisco" Intel is actually the first silicon manufacturer to join this effort. Similarly, the Active Management Technology, which is part of the under-publicised Intel Digital Office initiative, will be seen by specialist wireless network management companies as "Intel playing catch-up" rather than a sparkling new development.

Key to the value of the announcement probably lies in the expanding of Cisco's new technology, acquired with the purchase of Airespace last year, to make those features Intel-supported. Till now, Airespace technology was pretty much an in-house feature of Cisco WLAN offerings, enabling it to compete with products from Aruba and Trapeze networks.

The two companies did mention the Cisco Compatible Extensions (CCX) attempt to railroad the WLAN industry into abandoning non-Cisco access points as part of the foundation of the new initiative - probably, a poor judgement call, given the universal hostility that CCX (originally, Cisco Client Extensions) generated when Cisco first revealed it.

"Business Class Wireless Suite provides an enhanced set of capabilities that makes wireless LANs more robust for the enterprise, supporting enhanced roaming and business applications such as Voice over IP. Business Class Wireless Suite reinforces the previous efforts between Intel and Cisco with regard to the development of the Cisco Compatible Extensions (CCX) program for wireless LAN client interoperability," said the official announcement.