Bluesocket 'Bluesockets' 200+ Campuses with Wireless LAN Security and Management Systems.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

EDUCAUSE

ANAHEIM, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 4, 2003

Secure Wi-Fi from Bluesocket gives universities classrooms without walls and anywhere, anytime learning

Bluesocket Inc., (www.bluesocket.com) -- the leading vendor of open-systems Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) management and security solutions today announced its have been deployed on more than 200 campuses at colleges and universities worldwide. Features cited most often by University IT administrators include the ability to control access to Web and application servers by time of day and by user or group; the ability to maintain persistent connections as end-users roam about campus; bandwidth QoS management, authentication and enterprise-class security.

"We chose Bluesocket Gateways as the best out-of-the-box solution for our campus," said Amy Lyn Edwards, Senior Systems Support Specialist, University of Georgia. "We have deployed almost 30 gateways around campus to support wireless and controlled wired access to PAWS (Personal Access Wireless/Walkup System). The gateways work with any access point, administration can be centralized or distributed. They also provide secure authentication against our central authentication server, and they give us fine-grained access control. It is a great appliance."

In Georgia, football is the name of the game. The University of Georgia has also deployed Bluesocket Wireless Gateways at Stanford Stadium (capacity 86,520) for use by members of the press for use during Saturday football games.

Another application of wireless at the University of Georgia is a new Student Learning Center, a vast 200,000 sq ft building with 26 general classrooms (2,200 seats), four state-of-the-art Advanced Learning Labs, 96 group study rooms, 500 computer workstations with access to library resources, and Bluesocket-enabled wireless access throughout the building and outside, supporting over 2,000 computer drops in the building that are also secured behind Bluesocket gateways.

The cost savings of using wireless technology appeals to universities. According to a Buena Vista University (Iowa) study, the cost to wire 41 classrooms would amount to more than $5,000 per room, whereas providing a wireless access alternative would cost well under $900 per room.

"Bluesocket has been an essential partner in our IT initiative for a wireless campus," said H. O'Neal Smitherman, vice president for information technology & CIO, Ball State University. "Our students, faculty and staff can be assured that their communications are private and their data is secured against intrusions. We like Bluesocket's strong policy-networking features which let us control and deliver appropriate wireless access based on individual's role within the university. Bluesocket plugs into our Cisco-based infrastructure to give us centralized management over all wireless users on campus to deny or permit access to University servers, partition bandwidth, even let alumni or parents check their e-mail while visiting the campus." said Smitherman.

"One of the biggest reasons we selected Bluesocket is because it best fit our long-term plans for wireless," said Chris Marshall, Network Systems Engineer, of Denison University. "We can offer secure access to all members of our community--from students and staff to administrators and guests--while ensuring that access and bandwidth rights are distributed based on each user's role within our community. With Bluesocket gateways in place, we're able to offer services that we otherwise wouldn't even

consider offering over a wireless network for obvious security reasons."

Other universities and colleges that have Bluesocketed their campuses include:

-- Bowling Green University

-- Harvard University

-- Hong Kong Baptist University 

-- Hunter College/CUNY

-- London School of Economics (UK)

-- National Yulin University (Taiwan)

-- Neuchatel University (Switzerland)

-- Nihon University (Japan)

-- Northeastern University

-- North Carolina State University 

-- Ohio University

-- Open University (UK)

-- Rutgers (The State University of New Jersey)

-- Singapore Polytechnic

-- UCLA

-- Universitat Rostock (Germany)

-- Universite de Marseilles (France)

-- University of Edinburgh (Scotland)

-- University of Florida 

-- University of Lancaster (UK)

-- University of Michigan 

-- University of Pennsylvania 

-- University of Queensland (Australia)

-- University of Rochester 

-- University of Texas

-- University of Western Ontario (Canada)

-- Wayne State University 

"IT departments at higher-education institutions around the globe are faced with the challenge of enabling collaboration among students, faculty and administrative staff via wireless technology," said Eric Janszen, Bluesocket CEO. "Educators want to let the student body roam and work on Internet-connected computers throughout the campus while ensuring proper safeguards are in place. Bluesocket's family of Wireless Gateways ensure that wireless networks are fully secured, managed and accessible throughout the campus."

About Bluesocket Wireless Gateways

Bluesocket's Wireless Gateways deliver an open-systems approach to secure and manage WiFi networks and provide authentication, Secure Mobility (TM), policy and bandwidth management through unparalleled interoperability with legacy infrastructure and WLAN standards. Bluesocket Wireless Gateways have received numerous awards including 'Editors' Choice Award' (Communications News), 'Best Indoor/Campus Wireless' (TiECon 2003), 'Product of the Year' (Mass Telecomm Council), 'Best Security Product' (Networking Industry Awards), 'Readers' Choice Award' (InfoWorld), and 'Best Product in Show' (N+I/Sydney).

About Bluesocket

Bluesocket, Inc. (www.bluesocket.com) is a leading manufacturer of systems to control and secure wireless local area networks (WLANs) in enterprises, institutions and public hotspots in 40 countries worldwide. Bluesocket provides hundreds of organizations including the National Security Agency, ATOS KPMG Consulting, Harvard Medical School and Best Western Hotels with an elegant open-systems solutions to secure, manage, and profit from their WLANs. With offices in the U.S., U.K., and Asia, Bluesocket, Inc. is a private, global corporation managed by executives from BT, Cisco, GTE, Ericsson, Intel, NetScreen, Nortel; other industry leaders.