Trapeze Networks’ Mobility System Chosen By Finisar Corporation For Second Generation Wireless Implementation
PLEASANTON, Calif. – Jan. 3, 2005 – Trapeze Networksâ„?, maker of award-winning wireless local area networking (WLAN) systems, today announced that Finisar Corporation, a leading manufacturer of fiber optic subsystems and network performance test systems, has chosen the Trapeze Mobility Systemâ„? to provide enterprise-class wireless access to meet their employees mobility needs.
Finisar had been using an older first-generation wireless system but later determined that it could not scale to provide enterprise-class features and functionality. The company decided to look at Trapeze, along with Airespace and others, ultimately choosing Trapeze for the breadth of its wireless LAN Mobility System.
“After the initial testing, we determined that Trapeze was the strongest, most secure wireless LAN solution we’d seen,” said Chip Greel, senior network architect at Finisar. “Trapeze’s RingMaster tool suite, advanced feature set and roaming capabilities made it the hands-down winner.”
Finisar has two buildings in its Sunnyvale, Calif. facility that houses about 300 employees. The company has several dozen Mobility Pointâ„? (MPâ„?) access points and MX-8 and MX-20 wireless LAN switches. A key benefit of the Trapeze system is its ability to seamlessly integrate with any existing network infrastructure.
“The Trapeze Mobility System worked seamlessly with our existing infrastructure, which includes an Extreme Networks backbone, plus Active Directory and Microsoft Internet Authentication Service (IAS) servers,” said Greel.
Finisar employees had wanted wireless access for some time, citing mobility as a convenience and productivity enhancer. With Trapeze, employees retain their wired access rights and privileges as they roam from building to building with laptops and PDAs, staying connected the entire time. Finisar also plans to test SpectraLink voice-over-wireless phones.
Another unique application running on the Trapeze Mobility System at Finisar involves mobile audio/video carts with self-contained videoconferencing equipment. Sunnyvale employees use the videoconferencing equipment to hold spot training and product line meetings with Finisar facilities in Texas, Malaysia, Germany and Singapore.
Trapeze’s RingMaster tool suite has been a huge time saver for Greel, from the initial planning stage to configuring the network, to setting up Mobility Domains and monitoring the network for rogue users and ad hoc networks.
“RingMaster was instrumental in every aspect of our wireless deployment,” Greel noted. “With RingMaster, we don’t waste time walking around the building looking for rogues and deploying wireless LAN configurations is quick and easy.”
“We also like the ability to provision wireless access for guests,” added Greel. “It’s a simple procedure that ensures security by keeping visitor traffic separate from employee traffic. Although guests and employees share the same wireless infrastructure, every group retains the access rights and permissions we’ve assigned to them.”
About Trapeze Networks
Trapeze Networks delivers the power of business applications and services to the mobile enterprise workforce. The company’s wireless LAN Mobility System enhances productivity, introduces new efficiencies and accelerates business response time by delivering secure mobility for roaming users and sophisticated services for both users and IT, all while offering the lowest total cost of ownership of any WLAN infrastructure provider. Trapeze announced a partnership with 3Com Corporation (Nasdaq: COMS) in August, 2004 and has been the recipient of eight industry awards in recognition of its product and technology strength. Founded in March 2002, Trapeze raised $50 million in venture funding to date and is headquartered in Pleasanton, Calif., U.S.A. For more information, please visit www.trapezenetworks.com.