Interop Sets A High Bar For Tech VendorsInterop Sets A High Bar For Tech Vendors

Large industry shows like Interop Las Vegas are a great place for vendors to launch new products, for end users to find what they need to improve their business processes, and for us journalists to gather story ideas and to network. But what became obvious to me this time around is that vendors use these shows to test the limits of their technologies."If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere," said Bruce Miller, director of product management at Xirrus, while I was visiting their booth at the Interop exhibit floor. Xirrus is the official Wi-Fi provider to Interop attendees and already has attracted more than 400 users-all connected to its network.

There are over 900 wireless access points set up at the show by different providers. "We're finding that our [Wi-Fi technology] is handling the load well and luckily we're avoiding interference with other Wi-Fi networks, which is a true test," Miller said.

Xirrus is also testing its technology with that of other vendors. Today it announced successful integration with a mobile-to-mobile convergence (MMC) system from DiVitas Networks that allows seamless roaming between Wi-Fi and cellular on mobile devices.

This year's InteropNet, the name of the main Interop Wi-Fi network, is made up of Xirrus' Wi-Fi Arrays, DiVitas' MMC system, which includes an appliance and a mobile software client, and mobile devices from makers like Motorola and Nokia. "The official InteropNet show network was built by hand-selected, innovative vendors who have combined efforts to demonstrate the ultimate networking challenge-mobile-to-mobile convergence and seamless roaming," according to Glenn Evans, InteropNet lead network engineer.

A real-world example of convergence (that works) is definitely promising, considering it's still a new concept for many people. The challenge for businesses is to prepare their networks to be able to handle such a deployment. Unfortunately consumers will have to wait for cellular carriers to embrace dual-mode devices before they can truly experience convergence.