D&H Focuses on Wireless Mesh Networking

Wireless mesh networking represents a significant advance in that it makes managing wireless networks easier while at the same time making the overall networking environment more resilient. Multiple access points are treated as one logical entity, and if any one of them fails the other access points will pick up the traffic. IT organizations and managed service providers (MSPs) can also route traffic volume based on policies they define to prevent any single access point from being swamped.

To help solution provides tap into this emerging network trend D&H Distributing has created a program around the portfolio of wireless networking products and services it makes available on behalf of, for example, Aruba, a unit of Hewlett-Packard Enterprise (HPE), and Cisco.

The basic idea is to make it simpler for solution providers to navigate the mess of networking products and services optimized for different types of use cases, says Peter DiMarco, vice president of VAR sales for the computer products division of D&H.

“What solution we recommend is based on cost and the amount of channel support the partner needs,” says DiMarco.

In general, DiMarco says D&H is trying to be agnostic as possible. But the more a vendor makes resources available via D&H, the more the distributor is likely to view that manufacturer as being able to provide the appropriate level of support for its channel partners customers, says DiMarco.

In general, DiMarco says most partners are still primarily focused on reselling wireless networking products. But a much larger percentage of this partners are now also adding managed services for wireless networks to their portfolios as they continue to move beyond basic “break/fix” services.

It may take a while for wireless mesh networks to supplant legacy wireless networks. But as wireless networks continue to supplant traditional wired networks as the primary means through which end users are accessing backend applications it’s now only a matter of time before wireless mesh networks become dominant.