Introduced this week, Cisco System's Unified Wireless Network uses a centralized architecture for deploying WLANs across the enterprise. The devices come almost a year to the day after Symbol introduced the first device to the market, the WS 2000 Wireless Switch, in November 2004. Unlike Symbol and the competitors that followed, up until now Cisco's Wi-Fi solution required a network administrator to manage one access point at a time.

The change in approach follows by about eight months the acquisition of AirSpace, a company that developed a centralized management architecture.

According to Ben Gibson, director of marketing for wireless and mobility at Cisco, the introduction of the Unified Wireless Network comes as the market moves from using WLANs on a departmental scale to deployments on a company-wide scale.

"To secure an entire enterprise, offer guest access, and voice over WLAN, you need pervasive coverage versus selective coverage," Gibson said.

Taking the management focus one step further, Cisco also announced that the WLAN management modules will be integrated with its flagship enterprise and branch office switching and routing products.