Harmony's design makes migration to new standards easier and less costly than other solutions. Because 802.11a offers faster, lower-interference wireless connections, we believe many enterprises will progress to 802.11a. Harmony will see them through this transition easily, at their own pace and without any hidden IT costs. The flexible Harmony design allows the addition of inexpensive 802.11a access points while retaining the investment in the Harmony Access Point Controller for management and security services for all access points. Because installation, configuration and management of both types of access points occur through the same interface, administrators do not have to re-train personnel.
Harmony also avoids the most common oversight in other migration techniques.
Competing designs accommodate both 802.11b and 802.11a PC cards in one multi-slot access point, but 802.11a covers a shorter range than 802.11b. As a result, administrators who simply add 802.11a cards to their current multi-slot 802.11b access point implementation will find significant holes in coverage. Harmony, on the other hand, uses less expensive, single-card access points that can be placed appropriately for their range with no disruption of service to the existing 802.11b installation. In a related release , Proxim today announced enhanced features and sales initiatives for Harmony, the flexible, multi-standard wireless networking solution for enterprises. The 802.11a standard will offer the fastest wireless networking available for in-building applications.