Motorola Helps Retailers Calculate the Hidden Costs of Wireless LAN

NEW YORK, Jan. 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- NRF 2010 (Booth # 1623) -- The Enterprise Mobility Solutions business unit of Motorola, Inc. (NYSE: MOT) today announced a new Wireless LAN Cost Calculation Service that enables customers to correctly calculate the complete costs of their investment in wireless LAN (WLAN) infrastructure and wireless services on a per-square-foot basis.

Offered as a free service to customers, this innovative cost calculation service can help margin-sensitive retailers assess the hidden costs of wireless operations and improve network planning, budgeting and operations. It provides an analysis of the total cost of ownership by square foot and makes comparisons to several solution options to assure customers have the lowest total costs for their wireless network requirements.

"Enterprises continue to look to expand their use of wireless at the edge of the network. In vertical markets such as retail, they are looking for better ways of cost-justifying their lifetime wireless infrastructure expenses," said Tim Zimmerman, principal analyst, Network Services & Infrastructure, Mobile & Wireless, Gartner, Inc. "Enterprises are also looking to leverage tools and services to make migration and management easier to gain a better picture of their total cost of ownership."

Rather than basing prospects' wireless infrastructure outlays on fixed costs alone, Motorola's Wireless LAN Cost Calculator analyzes retailers' fixed and variable costs to provide a true prediction of the total cost of wireless LAN operations on the network. The information can be used to help determine how various architecture and options, such as 802.11n or remote PCI compliance solutions, can affect the costs of operation.

"The value of a mobility solution to a retailer is based on its ability to facilitate better operations and services while decreasing costs, yet retailers often struggle to predict just how much their wireless network decision will cost them and how it will affect their profitability," said Sujai Hajela, vice president for Wireless Network Solutions, Motorola Enterprise Mobility Solutions. "Motorola's new service helps customers and channel partners create 'what if' scenarios that demonstrate just how affordable wireless LANs can be and ensure the best investment decision for their operation."

Backed by a broad enterprise mobility portfolio and expertise gained through long-term relationships with retail partners worldwide, Motorola is uniquely positioned to offer this Wireless LAN Cost Calculation Service. With the most complete WLAN proposition in the industry, optimized for wireless services such as video, voice and wireless security, and including many enterprise-class features in a standard product configuration, Motorola can help customers address the potential hidden costs of WLAN operations and provide solutions that will help them maximize the return on investment (ROI) and reduce the total cost of ownership (TCO) of their network. For example, Motorola is offering customers a flexible access point (AP) licensing model that allows additional licenses to be added to controllers in the field for better scalability. This also enables multiple controllers to share licenses for load balancing and active redundancy. In addition, Motorola's high-powered APs provide a wider coverage area, resulting in a lower number of APs required. The ability to run 802.11n APs at near-maximum throughput using standard 802.3af Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) makes wired infrastructure upgrades entirely optional.

Motorola relies on a worldwide network of best-in-class partners to deliver enterprise mobility solutions that provide real-time information for better decisions and better results. With a level of industry experience and business acumen that can only be garnered through in-the-field experience, our partners add significant value to enterprise mobility solutions. Retail customers in North America can take advantage of the free Wireless LAN Cost Calculation Service through Motorola channel partners and Motorola sales beginning in January 2010.

Motorola delivers seamless connectivity that puts real-time information in the hands of users, which gives customers the agility they need to grow their business or better serve and protect the public. Working seamlessly together with its world-class devices, Motorola's unrivaled wireless network solutions include indoor wireless LAN, outdoor wireless mesh, point-to-multipoint, point-to-point networks and voice-over-WLAN solutions. Combined with powerful software tools for wireless network design, best-of-breed security, management and troubleshooting, Motorola's solutions deliver trusted networking and access anywhere to organizations across the globe.

To learn more about Motorola's enterprise mobility retail solutions or to follow Motorola at NRF, please visit retail.motorola.com.

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About Motorola

Motorola is known around the world for innovation in communications and is focused on advancing the way the world connects. From broadband communications infrastructure, enterprise mobility and public safety solutions to high-definition video and mobile devices, Motorola is leading the next wave of innovations that enable people, enterprises and governments to be more connected and more mobile. Motorola (NYSE: MOT) had sales of US $30.1 billion in 2008. For more information, please visit www.motorola.com.

MOTOROLA and the Stylized M Logo are registered in the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. All other product or service names are the property of their respective owners. © Motorola, Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.

SOURCE Motorola, Inc.