Aruba Wireless will today announce two partnership deals aimed at strengthening the global services and voice aspects of its wireless LAN switch story.

The San Diego-based startup has inked a global services and support contract with NCR Corp. Aruba has picked the IT giant to help provide services and support for its worldwide products; NCR will also act as a reseller of Aruba's boxes.

"The issue that we run into is that companies want to be sure they can get global support," says Pankaj Manglik, president and CEO of Aruba. "This [deal] puts us on a par with companies ten times our size."NCR will push Aruba's products at customers looking for security-focused wireless LAN systems.

Aruba is also teaming up with Avaya Inc. (NYSE: AV) to demonstrate voice-over-WLAN systems at the Comdex tradeshow in November. Aruba is combining its system with Avaya's VOIP gateway to offer mobile WLAN services at the show.

The Aruba boys clammed up a bit when Unstrung asked if the temporary partnership was the beginning of something more lasting. [Ed. note: A gentleman never kisses and tells.] Avaya already has a deal with rival switch partnership Airespace Inc. and NEC Electronics Corp. (see NEC Gears Up for WLANs).

Something else on the Aruba roadmap: a 24-port switch, says David Callisch, communications director at Aruba. So, stay tuned, eh?

— Dan Jones, Senior Editor, Unstrung