1. Power management. Mobility Enterprise APs (Access Points) are engineered with power management for Mobile Units (MUs) in mind. There is a polling that takes place between the AP and the MUs (Mobile Units) that allows them to remain in a sleep mode when they are not being used. Only when packets are waiting to be sent to the MU will the AP wake up the MU. That is not so on most Lucent, Cisco or Linksys APs. There are plenty of other examples we could give. But, basically, 3rd party vendors do not engineer truly mobile device awareness into their access points.
2. Network traffic. MUs determine (in an Mobility Enterprise shop) what AP to connect to. In a 3rd party vendor AP shop the APs will attempt to discover where the MU is. This "discovery" traffic can bog down a network, especially if there are a number of APs and MUs. There are other network traffic issues here as well. We've just mentioned one.
3. Security. With a Mobility Enterprise access point you cannot crack into the network without a sophisticated technical infrastructure. 128-bit encryption can be broken without a great deal of sophistication. Enterprise level encryption cannot. Further, Enterprise wireless devices, such as Intermec's WA21, support WPA, 802.1x, EAP/TLS and EAP/TTLS authentication and an embedded RADIUS server. You simply do not find such features on most inexpensive access points.
4. Finger-pointing. If you have two different vendors involved in an install you will split up your support. 802.11b, for example, is a industry connectivity standard. But that standard is not designed to govern proprietary features such as encryption, tunneling, roaming, sleep time-outs, etc. of different manufacturer's devices.
5. Better radios. Enterprise access points typically have 100mw or greater radios. Many third party access points use 30mw or less radios. Intermec's WA21 will state that a 1MB connection can be maintained up to 1750 ft. away from its antenna. Linksys or D-Link access points are considerably less.
6. Antenna choice. Most inexpensive access points do not allow you to swap out their antennas for more powerful antennas which provide much greater gain. A Yagi directional antenna on an Enterprise access point can bridge two buildings' networks that are more than a mile apart. Dish antennas have been tested to 20 miles line-of-sight.
7. Roaming times. With Mobility Enterprise tunneling protocols you can roam between subnets: it's called IP tunneling. This is not so with many third party access points. Further, if the third party switches are not 802.1d compliant you cannot run your portable terminals between switches -- it will toss the PDT off the network altogether. Typically "legacy" systems (like older Cisco bridges) are not 802.1d compliant. Mobility Enterprise access points have the fastest, most reliable roaming times in the industry. For NetGear to say that it "supports" roaming is not the same as saying it has the fastest roaming times available.
8. True mobility engineering. Roaming devices in a wireless network were not an "after thought" with Mobility Enterprise access points. They were designed from the ground up for connecting to a highly mobile environment.
9. Functionality. Cisco, for example, requires a different access point for use as a bridge. Intermec and Symbol allows you to configure their "intelligent" access points as bridges without having to purchase a separate device. Keep in mind, however, that newer Symbol Mobius access "ports" are "dumb" devices. But even here the switch allows bridging and many more function options that most access points do not.
10. ROI. Return on investment translates to more uptime and fewer configuration hassles. In the long run it costs much more to support a low-cost wireless solution in an enterprise network. Properly implemented here are some typical industry results for wireless AIDC networks:

• Increase On Time Deliveries 10-20%
  
• Improve Capacity Utilization 5-10%
  
• Decrease Direct Transportation Spend 5-25%
  
• Reduce Warehouse Labor Hours 10-30%
  
• Trim Inventory Write-offs 5-10%
  
• Reduce Total Inventory 5%
  
• Eliminate 80-100% of Shipping Errors
  
• Cut Management Time by 50%
  
• Decrease Inventory Counting Hours 80-100%

Sources: Lilly, Intermec, eSync, and Tompkins