The battle for the enterprise wireless LAN market continues in the run-up to the Networld+Interop conference next week, and between now and the start of N+I, seven companies are slated to introduce WLAN systems that put the management of dumb access points (AP) at the core of the network.

Chantry Networks Inc. introduced a router-based WLAN in a field crowded with start-ups and industry veterans pushing switched-based WLAN gear.

Boston-based Chantry believes its router- and IP-based WLAN hardware provides even better and cheaper wireless LAN management than other products on the market, since it doesn't require wiring switches into the network, according to Peter Vicars, the company's president. Vicars said Chantry's router-based technology allows IT managers to control a network of thousands of its dumb APs from a central location.

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