D-Link, Trapeze Show Off High-Wireless Act

The two mobile system vendors entered into an agreement that effectively gives Fountain Valley, Calif.-based D-Link a way to instantly expand its midmarket channel into the enterprise space while extending Trapeze's enterprise channel south into the SMB sector, said Bruce Van Nice, vice president of marketing at Trapeze, Pleasanton, Calif.

"There are a hundred things that will emerge from this relationship," Van Nice said. But for now, only one product has been unveiled: a Trapeze-branded wireless access point modeled after Trapeze's signature "smoke detector" shape and style but with innards designed and built by D-Link, he said.

Scheduled for availability in April, the enterprise-class access point will be sold through Trapeze's channel, which accounts for 95 percent of its sales.

Pricing has not been revealed, and both vendors are tight-lipped about future products.

But the kinetic potential of a combined Trapeze and D-Link channel effort has partners fired up about the prospect of products that combine Trapeze's quality and D-Link's price.

"We're excited," said Paul Giobbi, president of Zumasys, a Trapeze partner in Lake Forest, Calif. "Trapeze's Mobility Points are a little expensive. We wouldn't have even thought about quoting Trapeze for a customer with only four [access points] until we heard about this deal coming. Now we plan on it."

Trapeze and D-Link also unveiled the Open Access Point Initiative, which invites third-party wireless system and software vendors to make their products compatible with Trapeze Mobility Exchange switches and Trapeze Mobility Points.

Keith Karlsen, executive vice president at D-Link, said increasing available products for the channel is at the heart of the agreement. "What it's all about is us working cooperatively on the development of products," he said.

Karlsen said it will have other effects as well. "I think it spells trouble for a lot of [companies] who think they can go it alone in expanding their technology," he said, referring specifically to competitor Netgear.