Taking the silver medal in this year's mobile management competition is the Nortel WLAN 2300.

This latest entry from the Canadian networking vendor was designed specifically with voice, data and multimedia in mind in an effort to "ensure transparency from wired to wireless environment and back again." And the WLAN 2300 does just that.

By complying with virtually all currently recognized industry standards, including WPA, WPA2, 802.11i/802.1x, WMM and SVP, integration of the WLAN 2300 into existing networks is virtually seamless.

Also earning the Nortel WLAN 2300 high marks was its scalability capabilities. It supports RADIUS-based user policies, which allows for centralized control of QoS and security services. Thus it can scale to network-wide upgrades, whether minor or complex.

The WLAN 2300 series can also aid net admins and managers with all aspects of WLAN project management, including planning, configuration, monitoring and reporting. It can help build maps of optimal access point placement and radio coverage, provide billing estimates and allow configurations and policy changes to be implemented on numerous devices with the push of a button.

Jeffrey Kelly