With its Advanced Directed Research Program, Aruba engineers work directly with partners to study wireless networking issues through sponsored research, joint development work and grant-funded programs. This "blue-sky" research includes studies such as a two-year project between Aruba and Dartmouth University that studied the vulnerabilities of large WLAN voice networks, Tennefoss said.

The newly launched Green Island Project will sponsor research on the economic, environmental and social effects of wireless computing. Aruba said it wants to quantify these effects, such as the impact of easier telecommuting made possible by wireless. The Green Island Project is open, by invitation only, to kindergarten-through-12th-grade schools and colleges and universities that are Aruba customers. On a case-by-case basis, other institutions and companies will be admitted. The idea is to make the project a community of researchers that shares findings rather than having some members simply commercialize them, Tennefoss said. There will be conferences, Webcasts and an online forum for sharing, he said.

Aruba isn't alone in advocating an all-wireless workplace. Motorola, for one, has argued that wireless can be less expensive than wired LANs over the long haul because of factors such as lower maintenance costs for wireless than for copper wiring. Some industry analysts are skeptical about these claims, but there are settings, such as historic buildings and brick or stone structures, where Wi-Fi has made it much easier to connect workers' PCs.

Enterprises are interested in saving money by cutting power consumption, but reducing switch size or port count by going all wireless wouldn't necessarily save power, according to Michael Kanellos, a senior analyst with Green Tech Media. Wi-Fi access points still have to transmit and receive packets from client computers, and through hardware integration, conventional wired Ethernet switches are getting smaller and more efficient, too, he said. Claims such as Aruba's would have to be proved, Kanellos said.

Aruba already has evidence that more wireless networking leads to lower power demands, but one purpose of Aruba Labs will be to study such questions further, according to Aruba's Tennefoss.