Netgear Gives Small Biz the Wi-Fi Controller Treatment

When big corporations (or schools or the like) with hundreds, if not thousands of employees (or students or the like) want a wireless network, they can't just toss out an access point (AP) and expect that to be enough. Big businesses embrace a controller architecture: That's when a centralized management system serves as the brains behind hundreds of APs at once. Controllers are not something small businesses typically consider, though, as the cost can be astronomical.

While Netgear has long had a controller that works with some of its APs, it was for businesses with 200 or more employees that access the wireless LAN. Later this year, Netgear is unveiling a couple of products that bring the central management paradigm to much, much smaller offices.