Interop 2006: Symbol Technologies announces "4th generation" wireless plan

Las Vegas (NV) - Symbol Technologies today announced plans for its "Wireless Next Generation (Wi-NG) architecture. The company said the architecture enables the consolidation of Wi-Fi, RFID, VoWLAN (Voice over Wireless LAN), mesh and WiMAX networks in what it says is the industry’s first integrated RF switching platform.

The Wi-NG architecture uses a modular Linux-based operating system at its core that provides a separation between infrastructure, services, application and management layers and includes integrated RF management features. The architecture also enables Layer 3 roaming to handle deployments over large physical areas.

An interesting feature is support for large RFID deployments. Symbol said that Wi-NG will enable deployment of RFID systems that have the security and scalability of a Wi-Fi network.

The new architecture also will enable Fixed-Mobile Convergence (FMC) by supporting broadband wireless technologies, including 802.11n, WiMAX, GPRS, EV-DO.

Symbol’s WS5100 wireless switch will be the first product to include the Wi-NG architecture via an upgrade later this year.