Aruba joins the enterprise dual-mode fray

Interesting announcement just arrived from corporate WiFi specialist Aruba. It's not yet up on their website PR page as I write this, but among other things it's announced its intention to support SIP-based WiFi/cellular handover from inside their WLAN AP controller. This is quite interesting as it's another spin on the enterprise-controlled approach - others tend to put the mobility functionality in the PBX (eg Cisco, Avaya), or to have a standalone unit (eg Divitas).

As with the others, Aruba is working on a handset client, although as yet it's unclear what software platforms it will support. It will be interesting to see if it's an inhouse development, or if the company is working with someone like Firsthand or Cicero. Either way, Aruba's targetting a Q4 launch. I wonder if it'll manage to really manage to work out the vagaries of user experience, such as handset UIs by then....

Key challenges for Aruba will be the ability to contend with different operator-customised variants of phones, plus my usual question about SMS support, which most participants try to ignore on their first attempt as it's too difficult...

I'll see if I can chat to Aruba at this week's Wireless Event & Mobile Broadband Congress in London and get some more details....