This week at Interop, Symbol Technologies introduced a multi-access RF switching platform that integrates WLAN and RFID along with other data and voice access technology.

Called the Wireless Next Generation (Wi-NG) platform, the architecture consolidates the switching, routing and management functions of WLAN data and voice, RFID, enterprise mesh networks and even WiMAX into a single box, said Chris McGugan, senior director of marketing for the wireless infrastructure division.

There are already several vertical industries that use both IEEE 802.11 technologies and RFID, but are forced to use separate networks even though many of the RFID scanners are connected via WLAN, McGugan said. Furthermore, there are many enterprises that already have extensive WLAN assets that want to deploy RFID, but do not want to take on the burden of managing an entirely new network, McGugan said.