Extricom has unveiled draft 802.11n wireless access points both less than $1,000, that will let customers run 802.11n in either or both the 2.4GHz or 5GHz bands, while using separate radios to support existing 802.11bg and 802.11a clients.

Unlike a number of rivals, the Extricom access points can draw all the power they need from existing 802.3af power-over-Ethernet systems, without affecting 802.11n throughput or range.The result is an affordable device that can be substituted for an existing 2.4GHz WLAN access point, without redesigning the WLAN layout or changing access point positions, at least at first.

So corporate sites can phase in 802.11n with minimal disruption, says David Confalonieri, vice president of marketing and strategy, for Extricom. As companies begin using the 5GHz band, which doesn't reach as far as the 2.4GHz band, additional Extricom access points would have to be added, and some existing ones might have to be shifted, he says.

The two access points are the EXRP-30n, with two 802.11abgn radios and one 802.11abg radio, and integrated antennas; and the EXRP-40En, with two 802.11abgn radios, and two 802.11abg radios, with antennas packaged in a separate, flat, plastic rectangle, called the antenna bar, cabled to the access point. Each 802.11n chip support two spatial streams, each with a data rate of 150Mbps, over three transmit and three receive antennas (known as 3x3 MIMO).

The Extricom wireless LAN switches now have updated software to support 802.11n. Security is based on the Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 (WPA2) specification. One radio in either device can be dedicated to continuous radio frequency monitoring to detect rogue wireless devices. The entire system can operate fully on standard 802.3af PoE. (The only other vendor making that claim is Siemens.)

By replacing a group of existing access points with the new Extricom units, an enterprise could support today's 802.11g clients on one 20MHz, 54MHz in the 2.4GHz band, by means of one 802.11abg radio. Because 802.11n clients today also are in the 2.4GHz band, the Extricom access point can combine the two remaining 20MHz channels into one 40MHz, 300Mbps channel on a separate 802.11n radio, and dedicate it to 802.11n clients. The same kind of segregation is possible in the 5GHz band.

With the same physical access points, Extricom can create three or four separate, non-interfering WLANs that span an entire site, and dedicate each one to different clients or traffic types or user groups. Its approach is broadly similar to that of rival Meru Networks. Both vendors can assign the same channel to radios, eliminating the need to juggle channel assignments among access points. And both give the access points or switches more control over where and when clients associate and transmit.

In Extricom's case, all of the 802.11 logic is centralized on the switch, with the access point being reduced to just a group of radios and antennas. According to Extricom, there is no software on this "ultra thin" access point.

One added benefit of this approach is that it eliminates power-hungry CPUs from the access point, dramatically reducing the amount of electricity needed. That's a big reason why the Extricom 802.11n access points can run with existing 802.3af PoE systems, according to Confalonieri.

The access points will be available in June or July. The four-radio model is priced at $995 and the three-radio model at $895.

The original version of this article can be read online at the NetworkWorld website.