Switched Wireless Networks

Switched Wireless LANs are the latest advancement in wireless networking where simplified Access Points are controlled by a centralized Wireless Controller. The Access Points in this case have a simpler operating system designed to be of minimal complexity and the more complex logic is embedded in the Wireless Controller. The Access Points usually don't physically connect to the Wireless Controllers, but they're logically switched or routed through the Wireless Controllers. To support multiple VLANs, data is encapsulated in to a tunnel of some sort so that there is a direct logical connection from the Access Point to the Wireless Controller even if the devices are on different subnets. From a management standpoint, the administrator only needs to manage the Wireless LAN controller which in turn can control hundreds of Access Points. These Access Points can use certain custom DHCP attributes to figure out where the Wireless Controller is and automatically link to it to become an extension of the Controller. This vastly improves the scalability of switched Wireless LANs because additional Access Points are essentially plug and play.