Aruba Launches Wireless Research Lab

Aruba Networks on Wednesday publicly launched Aruba Labs, a research and development endeavor that focuses on Wi-Fi networks, unwired enterprises, and impact these have on the environment.

The environmental impact of an all-wireless workplace will be the main focus of the Green Island Project. The multi-disciplinary project will sponsor research, primarily in the university setting, that address the social ramifications of an increasingly mobile society.

"Moving to an all-wireless workplace reduces energy and copper consumption, yielding a trail of benefits that starts at coal and copper mines and ends at the waste dump," said CTO Keerti Melkote, in a statement. "Likewise rules for space planning change profoundly when workgroup collaboration can occur anywhere, not just at a wired PC or phone. Working in conjunction with participating educational institutions and companies, we seek to quantify the effects of this transformation, to paint a picture of the broad array of technological and societal consequences."

The Green Island Project will be open to all K-12 and higher education institutions that are Aruba customers, but the company said exceptions can be made on a case-by-case basis.

Aruba Labs also includes a developer's program that aims to improve Wi-Fi networks. The program distributes open-source software development kits and application programming interferences to students, faculty, and corporate researchers.

Aruba said the program, which has been in stealth mode, is already being used in experiments that use Wi-Fi for energy monitoring, emergency weather notification, and building automation.

"By making available ready-to-use toolkits and a forum for discussing findings, Aruba Labs is helping to accelerate the pace of research on wireless networks and applications," Melkote said.

The third initiative is the Advanced Directed Research Program, which Aruba said is aimed at tackling "blue sky" problems and explore the boundaries of wireless networking. In this program, partners would collaborate with Aruba engineers on sponsored research, joint development work, and grant-funded programs.