Chantry Networks Launches World's First Large-Scale Routed Wireless LAN Solution.Business Editors/High-Tech Writers BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 21, 2003 BeaconWorks(TM) Family of 802.11 Products Couples Unprecedented Scalability and Availability with WLAN See wireless LAN. WLAN - wireless local area network Virtualization An umbrella term for enhancing a computer's ability to do work. Following are the ways virtualization is used. Hardware Virtualization Partitioning the computer's memory into separate and isolated "virtual machines" simulates multiple machines within one physical computer. Chantry chan·try n. pl. chan·tries Ecclesiastical 1. An endowment to cover expenses for the saying of masses and prayers, usually for the soul of the founder of the endowment. 2. Networks today unveiled its BeaconWorks family of 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 (WLAN) products - the world's first routed WLAN solution. By building BeaconWorks around a routed IP architecture - the same architecture that serves as the foundation for the Internet - Chantry is able to deliver scalability and availability far in excess of anything previously available. "Until today, state-of-the-art wireless LAN solutions have all been built around switching technologies that, inherently, can't scale beyond a few dozen access points," said Peter Vicars, president and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. of Chantry Networks. "Today, BeaconWorks leapfrogs all existing solutions by offering the first wireless LAN solution to be built around IP routing technology. This breakthrough lets us scale from tens to literally thousands of access points and hundreds of thousands of simultaneous users, while also providing self-healing and resilient connection technologies that ensure maximum availability." The initial products in the BeaconWorks family are the BeaconMaster(TM) controller and the BeaconPoint(TM) access point. In Chantry's unique architecture, BeaconMaster controllers aggregate all access points - BeaconPoints, as well as third-party access Third party access policies require owners of natural monopoly infrastructure facilities to grant access to those facilities to parties other than their own customers, usually competitors in the provision of the relevant services, on commercial terms comparable to those that would points - into what appears to the rest of the network as individual, centrally managed IP subnets. As a result, network management, which is centralized at the BeaconMaster, is greatly simplified, obviating ob·vi·ate tr.v. ob·vi·at·ed, ob·vi·at·ing, ob·vi·ates To anticipate and dispose of effectively; render unnecessary. See Synonyms at prevent. the need to ever physically visit the remote BeaconPoint. Additionally, by virtue of its routed IP architecture, BeaconWorks allows organizations to place the plug-and-play BeaconPoint access points anywhere in the IP network - including remote offices connected only by the public Internet - and tie them back into a centrally located BeaconMaster controller for aggregation and management. BeaconWorks leverages an organization's existing wired infrastructure, has no limitations on distance or network topology See topology. , and can be scaled dynamically simply by adding additional access points and controllers. BeaconWorks also provides innovations in the area of availability, assuring users of seamless and continuous connectivity, regardless of their mobility or overall network conditions. The system provides component redundancy with IP redundancy techniques, for uninterrupted network access with self-healing around network outages. The inherent benefit of IP availability in a routed network is the underpinning of the Chantry BeaconWorks solution. User session management takes place at the controller, rather than at the access points, allowing users to freely roam from access point to access point throughout the network without any interruption in service. If an access point fails, the next closest access point automatically assumes responsibility for its user sessions A count of how many times all users access a Web site regardless whether the same person came back several times during the measurement period. If a user leaves and returns within a short time, some systems count those sessions as one. Contrast with unique visitors. See also user session. . If an access controller fails, traffic from the access points is automatically re-routed to the next closest access controller, all without any disruption in user service. BeaconWorks also takes advantage of its centralized architecture to detect "rogue" access points, and to load-balance wireless traffic across the entire network. BeaconWorks also introduces Chantry's unique Virtual Network Services (VNSWorks(TM)) technology, which allows organizations to create separate, protected virtual networks from a single physical WLAN infrastructure. For example, a convention center wishing to provide wireless access to three separate groups - trade show exhibitors, trade show attendees and internal convention center employees - would likely want to provide the three groups with different kinds of access, different levels of service and different security policies. With VNSWorks, the convention center could create three distinct virtual WLANs from their single physical WLAN, with each having its own address space, physical and logical interfaces, security and billing policies, and authentication (1) Verifying the integrity of a transmitted message. See message integrity, e-mail authentication and MAC. (2) Verifying the identity of a user logging into a network. and accounting interfaces. As a result of BeaconWorks' breakthrough features in scalability, availability and virtualization, the product has garnered strong traction among early customers, especially in environments with large campuses and requirements for high availability Also called "RAS" (reliability, availability, serviceability) or "fault resilient," it refers to a multiprocessing system that can quickly recover from a failure. There may be a minute or two of downtime while one system switches over to another, but processing will continue. . "As an Ivy League Ivy League Group of eight universities in the northeastern U.S., high in academic and social prestige, that are members of an athletic conference for intercollegiate gridiron football dating to the 1870s. university competing for the world's top students, Cornell University Cornell University, mainly at Ithaca, N.Y.; with land-grant, state, and private support; coeducational; chartered 1865, opened 1868. It was named for Ezra Cornell, who donated $500,000 and a tract of land. With the help of state senator Andrew D. is committed to providing students with the latest technology to increase their productivity and learning opportunities," said Jason Rhoades Jason Rhoades (b. July 9 1965 in Newcastle, California - d. August 1, 2006 in Los Angeles) was an installation artist who enjoyed critical acclaim, if not widespread public recognition, at the time of his death,[1] , director of network and communication services for Cornell Information Technologies, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y. "One of the big challenges we had was finding a wireless solution that could scale to the levels we needed - hundreds of access points and thousands of simultaneous users across 250 buildings on a 750 acre campus - without creating a manageability or security nightmare. Chantry's BeaconWorks was the only solution we found that had specifically been developed with this degree of scalability, availability and virtualization, while also meeting our requirements for security and manageability." BeaconWorks supports the 802.11a and 802.11b standards, and will support the 802.11g and 802.11i standards when ratified. Additional information can be found on Chantry Networks' Web site at www.chantrynetworks.com. About Chantry Networks Chantry Networks is the creator of BeaconWorks, the world's first large-scale routed wireless LAN (WLAN) solution. Offering unprecedented scalability and availability, coupled with unique network virtualization Monitoring and managing an entire network from a single network administrator's console. Network virtualization begins with monitoring the network and often encompasses storage virtualization, which manages all of storage as a single resource. features, BeaconWorks overcomes the obstacles inherent in traditional WLAN systems to provide enterprises and service providers with the first economical and practical solution for building seamless and pervasive wireless networks. Founded in April of 2002, Chantry Networks has offices in Boston and Toronto, and is backed by top-tier investors including Flagship Ventures, Ventures West, Venture Coaches and Primaxis Technology Ventures. |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion