WLANkerros

WLANkerros is a Finnish term used in information technology to denote the layer of a network that is responsible for wireless local area network connectivity and related services. In enterprise architectures it sits between the wired LAN and the wireless endpoints, providing access, mobility, and policy enforcement for wireless devices.

It encompasses hardware and software elements such as access points, wireless controllers or cloud-managed WLAN platforms, authentication servers (such as RADIUS), and the network infrastructure that carries traffic on VLANs assigned to SSIDs. The WLAN layer handles radio frequency planning, access point placement, channel and power management, roaming and handover, quality of service, and security policy distribution.

Standards commonly involved are the IEEE 802.11 family (a/b/g/n/ac/ax) along with enhancements for mobility and management such as 802.11e, 802.11k, 802.11v and 802.11r. Security typically relies on WPA2-Enterprise or WPA3-Enterprise with 802.1X authentication, EAP methods, and often a PKI for certificates. Guest access, captive portals, and segmentation through VLANs or software-defined access are typical WLAN-layer tasks.

Deployment models vary from centralized controllers to controllerless (local switching) and cloud-managed solutions. Operational issues include RF planning, interference management, scalability, guest access provisioning, monitoring, and reporting. The WLAN layer is designed to be resilient to mobility across multiple access points and supports roaming across network boundaries when properly integrated with the core network.

In Finnish IT contexts the term WLANkerros may be used in architectural documentation to distinguish wireless access from the wired network layer and the application layer, emphasizing the specialization of wireless access and security policies within enterprise networks.