ReefEdge Networks was founded in June of 2000, and is a pioneer in the wireless LAN systems market. The company established a strong reputation as a WiFi gateway provider, and has most recently created a lot of excitement in the industry by launching their new ReefSwitch product line of WiFi switches that seamlessly delivers wireless services across the entire enterprise. ReefEdge has strong venture capital backing with over $40M raised to date from top-tier VCs. ReefEdge has earned numerous industry awards and distinctions over the past few years, most recently winning the Best of Show Award in the WLAN Switch category at the WiFi Planet Conference in December 2003.

Mr. Gopal and I chatted on January 24, 2004. Ajei brings twenty years of expertise in technology and executive management to his position as CEO and co-founder of ReefEdge. Prior to ReefEdge, Ajei served as Chief Technology Officer for IBM’s Pervasive Computing Division. He held a variety of senior roles during his career at IBM, where his contributions were also recognized by election to IBM’s prestigious Academy of Technology. Ajei holds a Ph.D. from Cornell University and a B.Tech. from IIT Bombay. He is the author of dozens of publications, and has over 20 patents awarded or pending.

The Interview

Ajei: Hi Nick, I´m happy to be speaking with you today.

Nick: My take is WiFi has stalled in the enterprise. Do you agree?

Ajei: I wouldn´t necessarily say that Wi-Fi has stalled. It is clear to me that WiFi is going through an adoption cycle that is fairly unique. Today, Wi-Fi represents a mission-critical technology being used in hundreds of ?¬¢‚Äö?ᬮ??¨vertical?¬¢‚Äö?ᬮ¬¨?? enterprises across multiple industries to provide data connectivity to wireless devices such as wireless cash registers, handheld barcode readers, wireless printers, scanners and laptops. What is interesting and perhaps unprecedented is that Wi-Fi started in the home and then
moved to the enterprise ?¬¢‚Äö?ᬮ‚Äö?Ñ?? because WiFi is an ideal solution to the problem of distributing broadband access in the home. The technology fit, sales took off, rapidly driving down the price points for access points and Wi-Fi access cards. The use of WLANs for general business applications will be fueled by the integration of Wi-Fi radios into the newest generation of laptops. For this segment of the market, we expect fullscale rollouts to begin in earnest in 2004.

Nick: There are other WLAN switch vendors in the market. What makes ReefEdge different?

Ajei: ReefEdge Networks targets ?¬¢‚Äö?ᬮ??¨multi-site?¬¢‚Äö?ᬮ¬¨?? enterprises, which have many geographically dispersed locations of varying size that are typically interconnected via a WAN. ReefEdgedelivers an open end-to-end WiFi solution for multi-site enterprises with support for different wireless connectivity requirements at each location. This includes multiple wireless devices and clients, access points and switches from multiple vendors, and support for central NOCbased management. ReefEdge further distinguishes itself through extensive security and management capabilities and comprehensive support for mobile users and devices. With a
continued focus on interoperability with other enterprise vendors, ReefEdge permits customers to maximize their current investments in access points, L2/L3 switches, and legacy wireless devices.

As a pioneer in this industry, ReefEdge has been successfully shipping products for over 2 years; many of our customers have deployed mission-critical WLANs with ReefEdge equipment running key business applications.

Nick: Securing wireless access has been a cause for pause for many network architects. What is ReefEdge´s network security strategy?

Ajei: Security is indeed still a cause for concern. However, most of the security issues associated with WLANs have been resolved by technology vendors like ReefEdge, and the biggest issue that remains is one of market education. ReefEdge recognized early on that security is a complex issue that needs to be addressed at multiple levels. Within our ReefSwitches, we provide comprehensive encryption alternatives to securely ?¬¢‚Äö?ᬮ??¨lock the air?¬¢‚Äö?ᬮ¬¨?? using 3DES, AES and other methods. ReefEdge was recently awarded FIPS 140-2 Level certification which permits government organizations, including the military, to use our products. We support multiple user and device authentication methods, including integration with corporate directory services, such as Active Directory. With comprehensive policy management of users, we can manage and control any individual user´s
WLAN experience, via access control, bandwidth management and quality of service. ReefEdge is committed to supporting standards. We implement 802.1x, which standardizes a user authentication framework and dynamic key management in WLANs. Further, we do not force an organization to pick a single security mechanism across the WLAN deployment. We are able to simultaneously, in a single deployment, support multiple encryption, authentication and policy management mechanisms.
This complete approach to security ensures that ReefEdge has the right Wi-Fi security solution for any organization deploying wireless.

Nick: Being able to manage wireless LANs has been an afterthought for many WLAN providers. How does ReefEdge Networks´ WiSe OS software plug into an existing enterprise management system?

Ajei: ReefEdge´s philosophy from the start has been to provide a complete and comprehensive end-to-end solution for enterprise WiFi deployments. This includes a number of management features, including management of users and devices, support for rapid multisite and large-scale rollouts, support for the deployment and management of access points, and the management and monitoring of the RF spectrum. It is important to understand that existing enterprise management systems alone should not be
relied on for system-level wireless management. It has taken us years to develop a set of tools IT administrators can use to cost-effectively manage their entire WLAN system. Frankly, we have a sizable lead on the competition in this particular area, and it is an important one. WiSe OS, the ReefEdge software loaded on all our hardware, provides both the operational ?¬¢‚Äö?ᬮ??¨line speed?¬¢‚Äö?ᬮ¬¨?? services and the management services needed for enterprise WiFi deployments. WiSe OS is fully compatible with established enterprise management platforms such as CA and Tivoli.

Nick: Many network architects and planners are struggling with implementation such as RF and power management and site survey work. What is ReefEdge´s strategy around automated RF and power management?

Ajei: Nick, our new RF management tool, Air Manager, specifically addresses the RF and power management requirements. Our approach is particularly powerful, since we can dynamically manage power, channels and so on for standard 3rd party APs from the market leaders such as Cisco and Netgear. In contrast, other WLAN switch vendors can only manage the RF if the customer has deployed their proprietary access points.

Nick: There are so many 802.11 standards such as 802.11a, 802.11b and 802.11g and 802.11n. Two questions: First, how can network architects pick or choose the right WLAN standard to deploy?

Ajei: These standards refer to the over-the-air link. 802.11b provides 11Mbps of performance, which has proven to be adequate for many enterprise applications. 802.11a and g support higher levels of throughput; the ?¬¢‚Äö?ᬮ??¨n?¬¢‚Äö?ᬮ¬¨?? standard will further increase speed, but it is still in the definition phase. The choice of which standard really depends on the overall bandwidth and coverage requirements.

Nick: Second, how can network architects easily upgrade their WLAN deployment to take advantage of the availability of a new standard without throwing away their existing WLAN investment?

Ajei: It is important to realize that no matter what WLAN technology is chosen today, as needs change and as technologies evolve, most customers will deploy access points based on multiple over-the-air link technologies. Therefore, a customer must be sure that their WLAN infrastructure is compatible with existing standards, and that their vendor is committed to emerging standards. Committed as we are to standards, ReefEdge can support WLANs based on a heterogeneous mix of access points from multiple vendors using different technologies. This approach is in sharp contrast to many of the competitive WLAN vendors, who require the use of their proprietary APs for anything above basic connectivity. Looking beyond the access point, ReefEdge can support a large number of mobile devices, including legacy devices such as handheld terminals, etc. Once again, we did this so that a customer could upgrade their WiFi technology to the latest in the market, without having to purchase new devices or rebuild working applications.

Nick: ReefEdge has focused its implementations on specific verticals. Why is that?

Ajei: As we discussed earlier, the vertical industries such as retail, healthcare, etc., were the first to embrace WLANs as a strategic technology. Naturally, we focused our sales efforts on the verticals ?¬¢‚Äö?ᬮ‚Äö?Ñ?? that´s where the opportunity is largest at this time.
That said, we have built the ReefEdge EcoSystem to be a general solution for all multi-site enterprises, not just those in specific verticals. These multi-site environments have unique needs that are not satisfied by other WLAN Switch vendors.

Nick: There is much interest in voice over WiFi. What is ReefEdge´s strategy and direction on voice over WLANs?

Ajei: VoIP over WiFi has some unique requirements. For example, when roaming between subnets, handoffs must be accomplished at sub 50ms to ensure the integrity of voice quality. There are also requirements for managing the limited wireless bandwidth across voice and data applications. ReefEdge supports the mobility and performance requirements for VoIP
over WiFi. In general, we have found that customers see the WLAN as a potential backbone for a variety of voice, data, public access, and legacy application services. ReefEdge products provide the tools needed to manage this complex ?¬¢‚Äö?ᬮ??¨network utility?¬¢‚Äö?ᬮ¬¨??.

Nick: There is much discussion and confusion in the industry around thick vs. thin access points. What is ReefEdge´s strategy and direction?

Ajei: The thick vs. thin debate is really a vendor debate and not a customer debate. Some WLAN vendors, in an effort to distinguish their proprietary offerings from those of other vendors, are making the claim that ?¬¢‚Äö?ᬮ??¨thin?¬¢‚Äö?ᬮ¬¨?? access points are more cost effective than the ?¬¢‚Äö?ᬮ??¨thick?¬¢‚Äö?ᬮ¬¨?? access points available from vendors such as Cisco. This claim is very debatable, given the precipitous decline in the price of access points overall. ReefEdge supports both thin and thick access points from multiple vendors. Where possible, we take advantage of the features built into the access point; our ReefSwitches are able to compensate for features missing in individual access points.

Nick: What are the key issues the wireless industry needs to address to see wireless ports being 50% of wired?

Ajei: From an infrastructure perspective, the key is to develop the products and components that allow a WLAN to be deployed with the same degree of management and control available for a wired network. For security, the bar for the WLAN is even higher than for the wired network. From a device perspective, it is the integration of WiFi radios into laptops and PDAs. This is,
of course, already happening. Once this is done, the key to growth is the deployment of applications that leverage the
mobility and convenience afforded by WLANs. By the way, this isn´t a wired vs. wireless debate. I expect both wired and wireless networks to coexist in the enterprise, as there will always be a need for both.

Nick: That´s all the time and space we have, Ajei. Thank you for your time today.

Posted 2 February 2004 at 7:28 pm under Lippis Report, Enterprise Mobility. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.