AirMagnet, Bandspeed Interoperate to Streamline Wi-Fi Security and Performance; Bandspeed Using AirMagnet Products for Wireless LAN Troubleshooting.Business Editors/High-Tech Writers SUNNYVALE, Calif. & AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 20, 2004 AirMagnet, the leader in wireless LAN security One issue with corporate wireless networks in general, and WLANs in particular, involves the need for security. Many early access points could not discern whether or not a particular user had authorization to access the network. and performance solutions, and Bandspeed, which is shipping the world's first and only product that enables access point (AP) switches for 802.11 wireless infrastructure, today announced that their products interoperate to address a variety of wireless performance, scalability and security problems. "Making better use of the airwaves airwaves Noun, pl Informal radio waves used in radio and television broadcasting via RF spectrum monitoring and advanced management technologies is a critical element in the future success of the wireless LAN A local area network that transmits over the air typically in the 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz unlicensed frequency band. It does not require line of sight between sender and receiver. Wireless base stations (access points) are wired to an Ethernet network and transmit a radio frequency over an area industry," said Craig Mathias, a Principal with the wireless advisory firm Farpoint Group (Ashland, MA). "It's great to see two industry leaders working together to push this front forward, with clear performance benefits for enterprise users." Bandspeed's 940K Series Gypsy(TM) Wireless Access Point Switch can support an area and capacity equivalent to six 802.11 access points in capacity mode, and provides up to 36 times the coverage of conventional access points in range mode. Bandspeed has also created "Listen+Learn(TM)" technology to automatically adapt radio profiles to the surrounding RF environment. Bandspeed is using AirMagnet's products in lab and customer settings to address a broad set of troubleshooting scenarios including: -- Physical location of rogue devices identified by Bandspeed's technology -- Identification of Denial of Service attacks An assault on a network that floods it with so many additional requests that regular traffic is either slowed or completely interrupted. Unlike a virus or worm, which can cause severe damage to databases, a denial of service attack interrupts network service for some period. against Bandspeed products and end user stations -- Identification of stations with misconfigured security (including problems with 802.1x, WPA WPA: see Work Projects Administration. WPA in full Works Progress Administration later (1939–43) Work Projects Administration U.S. work program for the unemployed. , WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) An IEEE standard security protocol for wireless 802.11 networks. Introduced in 1997, WEP was found to be very inadequate and was superseded by WPA, WPA2 and 802.11i. , LEAP and other protocols) -- Detailed views of real-time Wi-Fi traffic at the packet, RF and device levels "Wi-Fi is a very different animal than traditional wired networking, and presents a litany of performance and security challenges," said Blaine Kohl, vice president of marketing for Bandspeed. "AirMagnet can diagnose a broad range of issues external to the AP infrastructure, and present real-world, real-time solutions, which makes our products more secure and reliable." Wi-Fi networks, or wireless LANs, have the potential to vastly improve efficiency in the workplace, but as a secure, standardized technology Wi-Fi is a work in progress. Security protocols like Wi-Fi Protected Access (networking, security) Wi-Fi Protected Access - (WPA) A security scheme for wireless networks, developed by the networking industry in response to the shortcomings of Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP). (WPA), 802.11i and the various flavors of the Extensible Authentication Protocol Extensible Authentication Protocol, or EAP, is a universal authentication framework frequently used in wireless networks and Point-to-Point connections. It is defined by RFC 3748. (EAP (Extensible Authentication Protocol) A protocol that acts as a framework and transport for other authentication protocols. EAP uses its own start and end messages, but then carries any number of third-party messages between the client (supplicant) and access control ) continue to be proposed and updated, and individual vendors are creating additional complexity with their own proprietary security and management techniques. Users are also constantly finding new applications for wireless LANs, like voice-over-IP (VOIP (Voice Over IP) A digital telephone service that uses the public Internet as well as private backbones instead of the traditional telephone network. Many companies, including Vonage, 8x8 and AT&T (CallVantage), typically offer calling within the country for a ) delivery, which create a new set of security and performance challenges. AirMagnet's interoperability efforts are designed to make its products the most comprehensive available for wireless LAN troubleshooting. "Wi-Fi infrastructure is constantly being improved upon, and we've attempted to make the developments more useful to our customers through interoperability with all the latest designs," said Rich Mironov, vice president of marketing for AirMagnet. "The Bandspeed 940K offers the capacity of six discrete access points with a single product that is less than a cubic foot in volume. The device is remarkably simple to deploy and use." About Bandspeed Bandspeed, a privately held, Austin, Texas-based technology company, has developed the world's first wireless solution that enables the deployment of spatial division multiple access (SDMA (Spatial Division Multiple Access) A satellite communications method that transmits within the same frequency to different receiving zones on earth. It takes advantage of the narrow beams that can be transmitted by the satellite to dish antennas and allows ) sectorized switching inside IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, New York, www.ieee.org) A membership organization that includes engineers, scientists and students in electronics and allied fields. 802.11a, b, and g wireless LAN access points. The Gypsy Wireless Access Point Switch architecture provides a versatile architecture for deployment of standards compliant 802.11 wireless services and is perfect for any application where increased coverage or bandwidth is required. Suitable for both indoor and outdoor operation, the Gypsy wireless LAN switch architecture is a leap in technology that allows system administrators to intelligently deploy easy-to-manage multi-node networks that far exceed the performance capabilities of current wireless LAN products. For more information on Bandspeed and its Gypsy technology, and the 940K product, please visit Bandspeed's website at http://www.bandspeed.com./ About AirMagnet Founded in 2001, AirMagnet, Inc., provides the most trusted WLAN See wireless LAN. WLAN - wireless local area network management and security software systems for the enterprise in handheld, laptop and distributed configurations. Used by IT professionals at more than 1,500 companies worldwide in manufacturing, financial, retail, service, health care, utility, transportation, education and government sectors, AirMagnet solves Wi-Fi connection problems, tracks down unauthorized access, simplifies site surveys, and locks in unprecedented levels of network performance, security and reliability. Unlike traditional packet scanners and protocol analyzers that have been adapted from their original purpose to analyze wired networks, AirMagnet solutions were designed specifically for wireless LANs. Additional information about AirMagnet and its products is available on the Web at www.AirMagnet.com. AirMagnet(R) and AirWISE(R) are registered trademarks of AirMagnet, Inc. Pocket NOC (Network Operations Center) A central or regional location for monitoring a large network. Also called a "network management center" (NMC), "service management center" (SMC) or "network control center" (NCC), a NOC may be used to manage a large enterprise network, and the AirMagnet logo are trademarks of AirMagnet, Inc. All other products names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective companies. Gypsy(R) and Listen+Learn(R) are registered trademarks of Bandspeed, Inc. |
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