An application-specific integrated circuit, ASIC, comprising: switch circuitry for receiving a data frame at a link to a network and forwarding it to a predetermined port of a plurality of ports (52, 54), the predetermined port connected to a selected wireless access point; conversion circuitry in communication with the switch circuitry for converting the data frame between a first protocol and a second protocol; inspection circuitry for inspecting attributes of the data frame; decision circuitry for instructing the switch circuitry to forward the data frame based on the attributes; and a memory for storing the converted data frame; a forwarding table for each of the plurality of ports that maintains a list of MAC addresses of wireless clients associated with the wireless access point connected to the respective port so that when a wireless client roams, the MAC address can be added/removed from the forwarding table for the appropriate port; wherein the switch circuitry acquires a MAC destination address for a particular wireless client from the converted data frame and determines from the forwarding table the selected wireless access point associated with the wireless client and hence the predetermined port to which the selected wireless access point is connected, and sends the converted data frame to the selected wireless access point via the predetermined port according to the instructions from the decision circuitry, wherein the converted data frame remains in the memory until after the converted data frame is received by the selected wireless access point and transmitted to a wireless client of the selected wireless access point and receipt thereof is acknowledged by the wireless client. switch circuitry for receiving a data frame at a link to a network and forwarding it to a predetermined port of a plurality of ports (52, 54), the predetermined port connected to a selected wireless access point; conversion circuitry in communication with the switch circuitry for converting the data frame between a first protocol and a second protocol; inspection circuitry for inspecting attributes of the data frame; decision circuitry for instructing the switch circuitry to forward the data frame based on the attributes; and a memory for storing the converted data frame; a forwarding table for each of the plurality of ports that maintains a list of MAC addresses of wireless clients associated with the wireless access point connected to the respective port so that when a wireless client roams, the MAC address can be added/removed from the forwarding table for the appropriate port; wherein the switch circuitry acquires a MAC destination address for a particular wireless client from the converted data frame and determines from the forwarding table the selected wireless access point associated with the wireless client and hence the predetermined port to which the selected wireless access point is connected, and sends the converted data frame to the selected wireless access point via the predetermined port according to the instructions from the decision circuitry, wherein the converted data frame remains in the memory until after the converted data frame is received by the selected wireless access point and transmitted to a wireless client of the selected wireless access point and receipt thereof is acknowledged by the wireless client.