Patent ID: 7532604

Claim:
A network with wireless access capability comprising: a plurality of wireless access points; at least one Ethernet aggregation switch, ones of said plurality of access points being connected to each said at least one Ethernet aggregation switch, each said Ethernet aggregation switch being virtual LAN (VLAN) aware and matching client traffic from connected said access points with access VLANs; a free-form virtual network switch having at least one access port connected to each said at least one Ethernet aggregation switch and at least one core port, said free-form virtual network switch passing client traffic between access ports and core ports, said free-form virtual network switch further associating each frame of said client traffic with two VLANs, said two VLANs including an access VLAN at a respective said access port and an appropriate core VLAN at a respective core port; a router connected to a core port and routing traffic on core VLANs between said free-form virtual network switch and a public network; a dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) server managing connection between said free form virtual network switch and said public network; and a gateway providing access control, network address translation and firewall security at said public network.