Enterasys this week is expected to announce integration of the Siemens Enterprise Communications WLAN portfolio with its switches and management systems.

Enterasys and Siemens Enterprise Communications are combining as a result of a $550 million joint venture between Gores Group, owner of Enterasys, and Siemens. The integration, which Enterasys says too 45 days, is another indicator of demand for unified wireline/WLAN products that can be configured, administered, operated and maintained from a single interface.

Indeed, HP ProCurve just announced that the WLAN products obtained from its acquisition of Colubris can now be discovered and managed as part of an HP ProCurve network.

Enterasys is now offering Siemens Enterprise Communications' HiPath 802.11n products. Enterasys is also unveiling a wireless controller network expansion module, which integrates wireless switching into the Enterasys Matrix N-Series LAN switches.

The new C20N wireless controller is a daughtercard within the switch so it does not occupy a chassis slot, Enterasys says. The C20N is an addition to the current C20, C2400C and C2400E controllers Enterasys already offers for office, campus and enterprise deployments.

Enterasys says users can now configure and power dual-band 3x3 MIMO 802.11n HiPath access points via a standard IEEE 802.3af PoE port found on many deployed LAN switches. Integration between Enterasys' NetSight software and the HiPath products provides visibility of HiPath access points, controllers and wireless clients from a NetSight console, Enterasys says.

Enterasys says it also now provides integrated wired and wireless security management by now including Siemens' HiGuard software, which provides embedded wireless intrusion prevention and location-based services; and by unifying NAC identity-based policy privileges across the wired and wireless infrastructure to deliver role-based access control.

The C20N wireless controller costs US$10,995. It can support of up to 64 access points per blade -- or 7,000+ users per chassis -- in a high-availability deployment, or 32 access points per blade in a standard configuration, Enterasys says.

HiPath Wireless Manager licensing starts at US$1,500 with the integration component for Enterasys NetSight included as part of the annual maintenance agreement.