AirMagnet Unveils Distributed Wireless Network Integrity Management System.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

NetWorld+Interop 2003 Las Vegas

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 21, 2003

Distributed Architecture Ensures Security, Reliability and

Performance for Enterprise-Wide Wireless LANs

AirMagnet, Inc., the leading developer of wireless network management and assessment solutions, today unveiled "AirMagnet Distributed 1.0," the first wireless network integrity management solution that lets IT professionals confidently deliver the highest levels of reliability, performance and security for their wireless networks. AirMagnet Distributed allows enterprise-wide monitoring and administration of wireless LANs via a mobile console that communicates with intelligent "sensors" dispersed across office or facility locations. The new product extends the functionality and expands on the success of AirMagnet's award-winning(1) handheld and laptop-based analyzers, which, in less than a year on the market, have been purchased and deployed by more than 1,000 customers.

"AirMagnet has taken a significant step ahead of its competitors with AirMagnet Distributed," said Michael DiSabato, analyst for the Burton Group. "This product incorporates the AirMagnet WLAN functionality that so many enterprises are using today into a distributed architecture. Competitor solutions are more expensive and not as comprehensive. AirMagnet's considerable penetration in the enterprise market and network managers' familiarity with and dependence upon AirMagnet's functionality should make AirMagnet Distributed a hot item in 2003."

Universal Health Services, Inc. (UHS) is evaluating AirMagnet Distributed to provide the critical wireless management and security required in their network enterprise. UHS is one of the largest for-profit hospital operators in the United States and owns 26 acute care hospitals, about 20 ambulatory surgical and radiation therapy centers and more than 40 behavioral health centers. UHS's medical facilities include the highly renowned George Washington University Hospital. UHS will participate in testing the usage of AirMagnet Distributed to ensure maximum security, unfailing reliability and optimal performance of its WLAN solutions to help hospital managers, administrators and physicians provide superior patient care.

"We're deploying wireless networks in most of our facilities," said Linda Reino, chief information officer for Universal Health Services. "We need a way to monitor the security and performance of all wireless networks 24/7 while being as cost effective as possible. AirMagnet Distributed presents a scalable solution that will allow us to view our entire growing network of medical facilities from a central location, without requiring the purchase of extra, unnecessary equipment. AirMagnet Distributed has a direction that will allow us to ensure the privacy of our patients' information through security checks and intelligent rogue access point detection, while pre-emptively monitoring performance for reliability obstacles that might create problems for our networks, before they become problems at any of our hospital locations."

"Wireless LAN growth continues to accelerate, and now, more than ever, enterprises are taking a hard look at how to safely and responsibly apply Wi-Fi connectivity to aid business productivity," said Dean Au, chief executive officer of AirMagnet. "The popularity of our handheld and laptop-based products has been largely based on our customers' need to make their LANs secure and reliable and optimize their performance. We built AirMagnet Distributed at the behest of our largest customers. The new product takes our field-proven technology and puts it in a distributed architecture designed for extended enterprises, giving them a way to monitor and manage the security, reliability and performance of their entire network of WLANs remotely, 24 hours a day, seven days a week."

Going Beyond Security -- Integrity Management Includes Reliability and Performance

Enterprise-grade wireless LANS require management systems that do more than detect security issues. Even if a wireless LAN is fully secure, performance gaps may in fact keep users from being productive. Applications that require maximum throughput may be impractical or impossible. Additionally, a wireless network that is unreliable, though fast and secure, may be unusable. Integrity management addresses all three areas of wireless network criticality.

Local Management, Distributed Intelligence

AirMagnet Distributed's architecture includes a centralized, mobile management console, an efficient, scalable management server and dispersed intelligent sensors. Engineered specifically to address the management needs of wireless networks, AirMagnet Distributed is deployed as a simple, cost-effective overlay to existing WLAN equipment.

A Powerful Management Console Unifies WLAN Management

AirMagnet Distributed allows any number of inter-networked wireless LANs to be monitored, analyzed and managed from a single, centralized console. The console can be fixed or mobile -- it can operate from a Windows or Pocket PC platform on a laptop, handheld device or desktop PC -- and allows remote one-touch drill-down into any element of an enterprise's WLAN, and troubleshooting of more than 60 different issues related to security, reliability and performance. The console interoperates with network management systems like HP's Openview, IBM Tivoli and Computer Associates Unicenter to seamlessly integrate an enterprise's wired and wireless network management functions.

An Infinitely Scalable Management Server Keeps Cost and Network Traffic Down

AirMagnet Distributed includes a highly efficient management server that collects vital information about WLAN security, performance and reliability from sensors deployed throughout an enterprise. The server delivers the information to the management console in a clear, value-ordered format that helps network managers identify problems immediately. Unlike alternative solutions that require an expensive hardware/software server in every enterprise location and flood the network with useless information, a single AirMagnet server can support an entire enterprise of any size, with any number of locations. It also distributes only information identified as problematic by intelligent sensors at the edge of the network, with a minimum of network management traffic.

Intelligent Sensors Do the Heavy Lifting at the Edge of the Network

AirMagnet Distributed sensors incorporate AirMagnet's patent-pending AirWISE(TM) analysis engine to provide an enterprise-wide view of any WLAN or inter-networked series of WLANs, no matter how large or dispersed. The sensors include all the functionality that have made AirMagnet's handheld and laptop-based products so popular with enterprises, including:

    --  Concurrent management and analysis of all current 802.11
        channels (802.11b, 802.11a and 802.11g)

    --  30+ Security Alarms

        --  Security Policy Enforcement, including WEP, 802.1x, LEAP,
            TKIP, MIC and VPN detection

        --  Rogue AP detection

        --  Crackable initialization vector (IV) in use

        --  Intrusion detection

        --  Denial-of-Service (DOS) detection

        --  Unprotected client WLAN connection

    --  24+ Reliability and Performance Alarms

        --  Channel congestion

        --  Packet error rate exceeded

        --  Radio Frequency (RF) interference

        --  Device improperly configured

        --  Hidden node syndrome

        --  Performance degradation detection

AirMagnet Reporter

AirMagnet Reporter is an optional addition to the AirMagnet Distributed system. Reporter aggregates information from the AirMagnet management server to create 40+ different types of WLAN management reports, including security threat summaries, rogue access point logs, critical network outage and performance degradation, bandwidth utilization trends, packet error and re-transmission rate trends, channel RF signal strength and signal-to-noise ratios across multiple frequency bands.

Pricing and Availability

AirMagnet Distributed systems start at $6,995. The starting price includes a management console, server software and four sensors. AirMagnet Distributed will be available on June 1. For additional information please call AirMagnet at 650-694-6754 or e-mail [e-mail].

Visit AirMagnet at N+I

AirMagnet will be demonstrating AirMagnet Distributed systems in booth 7151 at the Networld+Interop conference April 29-May 1 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. AirMagnet Distributed has also been selected by N+I's eNet to manage and secure the conference's own WLAN.

About AirMagnet

Founded in 2001, AirMagnet, Inc. provides complete wireless LAN management and security software systems for the enterprise. Used by IT professionals at more than 1,000 customers in the manufacturing, financial, retail, service, health care, utility, transportation, education and government sectors, AirMagnet tracks down unauthorized access, locks down approved access points and locks in unprecedented levels of network performance, security and reliability. Unlike traditional packet sniffers 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.

(C)2003 AirMagnet, Inc. All rights reserved. AirMagnet, AirWISE, the AirMagnet logos are trademarks of AirMagnet, Inc. All other products names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective companies.

(1) AirMagnet's handheld analyzer received Network World's World

Class award, Network Computing's Editor's Choice award and

Product PDA's Product of the Year award in 2003.