As a growing number of devices, applications and guest users connect to enterprise wireless LANs, network administrators need flexible options for delivering secure network access. 

Wireless LAN vendor Meru Networks is offering its new MobileFlex architecture to give its customers a new context-aware networking policy engine. Meru is also adding support for Apple's Bonjour protocol, new 802.11ac access points and cloud readiness.

Context-aware networking: Prioritizing traffic, easing management

Meru's wireless LAN architecture has always been a little different from its peers. Rather than segmenting the network with each access point running a different channel, Meru assigns a class of users to a specific channel that runs across all access points, with policies and access that follow them across the network, said Rohit Mehra, vice president of network infrastructure research at Framingham, Mass.-based IDC.

Meru's new MobileFlex architecture includes a new Flex Access context-aware networking policy engine that builds off of Meru's original architecture by offering context-aware application layers (CALs)., said Manish Rai, vice president of product marketing for Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Meru.

Flex Access will still provide the same performance management flexibility though multi-channel deployment modes, but the new CALs will allow for context-based segregation of both enterprise-grade and consumer-grade application traffic