Ascom, Enterasys Focus on High Quality Voice over WiFi

Enterasys has been on our radar quite a lot lately, most recently for its its focus on bringing more opportunity to channel partners including infrastructure and IP communications for mobile devices. Now, Enterasys is partnering with wireless communications company Ascom to provide just that: high-performance 802.11n voice-over-Wi-Fi (VoWiFi) communications, with an eye on health care and other big vertical markets. Read on for crystal-clear pin-drop details …

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen a drive to bring hard-wire quality to Wi-Fi. Aruba announced a similar offering, but the partnership between Enterasys and Ascom is set to focus less on UC and more on wireless handsets in an IP communications environment. The partnership is a result of both companies each having a sizable base of customers demanding the same thing: high-quality mobile wireless solutions.

To bring it together, Ascom took its wireless handset, The Ascom i62, and made sure it was fully 802.11n certified and interoperable with Enterasys WLAN 3600 series access points. But what makes this partnership more special than the traditional interoperability you’re used to seeing (or hearing) is that Enterasys and Ascom both promise this gadget marriage exceeds the Wi-Fi interoperability standards typically required for the certification. Both companies put the solution through torture tests, making sure security, quality voice connectivity and more met tight performance benchmarks.

This partnership isn’t a one-off, as both Ascom and Enterasys plan to perform “ongoing interoperability testing” as new product tweaks or software updates roll out. Partners and customers of both Ascom and Enterasys will likely enjoy better product interoperability in the future, too, allowing for more best-in-breed technology rollouts and the interoperability in large-scale vertical environments that is so exceedingly important.

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