Each product offered several ways to control the access point. The vendors that offered proprietary management consoles usually didn't offer a Web console. Enterasys told us that a Web interface couldn't have the richness of its proprietary console. We preferred using a Web interface because it meant we didn't have to install another set of vendor-specific software on our machines. System managers seem to reinstall more often than most, so a Web interface means we don't have to keep track of the vendor's CDs and reinstall the proprietary client again.
Access lists are a step up, but there are some management issues.
An access list is a table of the MAC addresses of NICs that are allowed to connect to the network. The list takes up memory in the access point, so there is a limit of how many nodes an access point can support. By default, Cisco supports 2,048 nodes, but that number can be increased to as many as 64,000, although the unit could run out of memory if this is done. Lucent comes in second with 497. After that, the numbers drop off quickly.