Brocade Mobility RFS Controller System Reference Guide (Supporting software release 5.5.0.0 and later) - Manual (Page 13)

Brocade Mobility RFS Controller System Reference Guide 1
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Chapter
1
Overview
Brocade’ family of Access Points, RFS series controllers and service platforms provide a centralized
distribution of high performance, secure and resilient wireless voice and data services to remote
locations with the scalability required to meet the needs of large distributed enterprises.
Brocade controllers and service platforms provide a single platform capable of delivering wireless
voice and data inside and outside the enterprise for small, medium and large enterprise
deployments. Improve operational efficiency and reduce the cost of mobility with a powerful
comprehensive feature set including adaptive AP, which delivers unmatched performance, security,
reliability and scalability to enable networks for business mobility at a low cost of ownership.
Controllers and service platforms provide local centralized management and control of 802.11n
Access Points. The Access Points themselves provide the necessary core switching and routing
needed to eliminate additional routing and switching infrastructure.
802.11n is the next generation WLAN standard that provides improved performance and coverage
compared with previous 802.11 specifications. 802.11n provides enhancements to support
throughput up to 450 Mbps. With these enhancements Brocade' next generation 802.11n Access
Points offer client data-rates of up to 300Mbps.
The network uses 802.11n Access Points and peer controllers and service platforms to adapt to
the dynamic circumstances of their deployment environment. The architecture provides a
customized site-specific deployment, supporting the best path and routes based on the user,
location, the application and the best route available (both wireless and wired). Brocade Mobility
managed network assures end-to-end quality, reliability and security without latency and
performance degradation. The network supports rapid application delivery, mixed-media
application optimization and quality assurance.
Deploying a new Brocade Mobility managed network does not require the replacement of an
existing Brocade wireless infrastructure. Mobility enables the simultaneous use of existing
architectures from Brocade and other vendors, even if those other architectures are centralized
models. A wireless network administrator can retain and optimize legacy infrastructure while
evolving to Mobility as required. Adaptive Access Points can operate in a dependent environment
and are field-upgradable.
The Brocade Mobility architecture is designed for 802.11n networking. It leverages the best
aspects of independent and dependent architectures to create a smart network that meets the
connectivity, quality and security needs of each user deployment and their application
requirements, based on the availability of network resources, including wired networks.
By distributing intelligence and control between the wireless controllers and Access Points, a
Mobility managed network can route data directly using the best path, as determined by factors
including the user, the location, the application and available wireless and wired resources. As a
result, the additional load placed on the wired network from 802.11n is significantly reduced, as
traffic does not require an unnecessary backhaul to a central controller.