Aruba to use AirWave to drive its WLAN vision

Wireless LAN operator Aruba Networks has acquired AirWave Wireless, Inc for $37 million, effectively buying Airwaves multi-vendor client list. AirWave has more than 500 clients using its single management console to manage multiple vendors wireless infrastructures. Aruba strongly backed 802.11n as a disruptive technology, late last year, claiming the time had come for companies to abandon their wired networks.

Aruba strategic marketing executive Michael Tennefoss told me AirWave gives Aruba the opportunity to create relationships with enterprises not ready to dump their current infrastructure to start afresh with a fully wireless network based on the 802.11n standard.

Aruba is a true IP evangelist, but accepts that legacy and new networking equipment often need to run side-by-side, in some cases for several years, because of multi-year capital equipment purchasing cycles. Aruba hopes to exploit the relationships of clients using the AirWave platform to extend the life of existing capital investments to push their one box solution for companies seeking a totally wireless data and voice platform. Aruba hopes will give them the inside running against arch rival Cisco.

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