Trapeze Pulls Out All the Stops for Its “NonStop Wireless” Strategy

| Apr 24, 2008 | Enterprise Network Systems | Competitive Intelligence Reports

| Analyst: Michael Brandenburg

Current Perspective: Positive
Vendor Importance: High
Market Impact: High

Event Summary

April 22, 2008 -- Trapeze Networks has announced new hardware and software capabilities that enable “NonStop Wireless.” The NonStop Wireless announcement includes the following five elements: Mobility System Software MSS version 7.0 with advanced virtual controller cluster capabilities, WiFi certification for the MP-432 802.11n high-feature access point, the MX-2800 wireless controller with capacity for 12,000 active clients, RingMaster version 7.0 Wireless Management Tool Suite with 802.11n planning and deployment, and updates to the RM-200 scalable wireless management appliance capable of managing 5,000 access points and 1,000 wireless controllers in a single turnkey appliance.

Analytical Summary

• Current Perspective: Positive on Trapeze Networks’ announcement of its NonStop Wireless strategy, because the combination of the five highlighted elements works together to make Trapeze a more compelling solution for larger enterprises. While there are still some product gaps and OEM concerns, these announcements should resonate with large enterprise prospects.

• Vendor Importance: High to Trapeze Networks, because the company’s ability to scale to large enterprises has always been a competitive sticking point. With ramped-up controllers and management appliances, as well as clustering capabilities, Trapeze can go after a much broader base of customers with its “NonStop Wireless” message.

• Market Impact: High on the enterprise WLAN market, because any time a company makes this much of a concerted effort to move up market it poses a competitive threat to the incumbents. Competitors need to be ready with a marketing response and quickly match or beat Trapeze’s performance numbers.

Recommended Competitor Actions

• Competitors need to look at Trapeze’s NonStop Wireless announcement and attack it on a point-by-point basis, starting with the “nonstop” aspect and then moving on to the scalability aspects and then the automation aspects. For instance, many customers do not need (and will never need) the level of scalability that the Trapeze solution offers.

• Competitors that offer a full gamut of wired and wireless options (full-range vendors) should use the breadth and depth of their offering against Trapeze. Trapeze is a one-market vendor that cannot supply an enterprise with anything but WLAN, leaving that enterprise to deal with another company, with a different management scheme in order complete the entire network.

• Nortel Networks should reiterate its relationship with Trapeze, especially since there seems to be some confusion as to whether or not Nortel will continue to offer Trapeze’s products as part of its enterprise networking solution.

• Full-range vendors should point out that after the market rush for 802.11n, there will be very little room left for WLAN-only vendors to innovate and no way for them to truly integrate at a management level with existing wire-side switching systems. This means that WLAN-only vendors will either be marginalized, bought out, or disappear entirely in the long run.

• Competitors can call the “NonStop Wireless” announcement more marketing than technology by pointing out that some of the hardware in the announcement was announced nearly a year ago. For example, Trapeze’s MP-432 802.11n access point was announced back in April 2007.

Recommended End User / Customer Actions

• Customers with greenfield opportunities should consider Trapeze when selecting a wireless vendor, especially if there is a need to scale the WLAN to a very large number of APs. In addition, customers in this situation should consider using 802.11n at the onset, rather than older ABG technologies.

• Existing Trapeze customers should consider the new controller and software in this announcement when planning upgrades to their WLAN environment. Trapeze has significantly changed the capabilities in its offerings, especially when it comes to scaling the WLAN environment. Customers should consider the new capabilities when planning for the next year.

• Customers of other WLAN vendors should consider Trapeze when looking to upgrade the existing WLAN. Trapeze has made significant improvements that may outstrip the current WLAN vendor.

CLIENTS ONLY

Current Perspective

Competitive Positives and Concerns

Recommended Vendor Actions

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