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| AirMagnet Updates Enterprise Wireless Network Assurance Platform AirMagnet has announced some significant new capabilities for its flagship Enterprise product. AirMagnet Enterprise 7.5 incorporates pre-802.11n security and interoperability alarms, expanded spectrum analysis and increased session analysis to resolve more wireless security, performance and compliance issues than any alternative. While 802.11n has yet to be ratified by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), wireless device manufacturers have begun to roll out devices based on preliminary drafts of the specification. 802.11n promises to increase network speed and reliability with raw data throughput that is more than 10 times that of 802.11g. Manufacturers are eager to take advantage of the higher performance, but have built pre-standard products that have not been proven to interoperate with widely-deployed 802.11g devices. AirMagnet Enterprise features pre-802.11n alarms to help enterprises identify unsecured, pre-standard wireless devices that compromise corporate wireless networks, and identify compatibility problems with other wireless devices. Network World recently published a review of pre-802.11n products using AirMagnet Enterprise's spectrum sensors to identify interference resulting from pre-n devices. AirMagnet Enterprise 7.5 now scans more than 200 channels in the 802.11a band for comprehensive monitoring of all 802.11 a/b/g channels. Although some of these channels are not officially in use in the U.S. and abroad, hackers often operate on unused channels to penetrate users' wireless networks without detection. By monitoring these unofficial channels, AirMagnet Enterprise can more thoroughly locate rogue devices and stop hackers before they attack. AirMagnet also adds spectrum alarms to its security and performance alarm database, allowing AirMagnet Enterprise users to receive RF interference alerts to pinpoint interference sources. AirMagnet Enterprise is the first enterprise-scale monitoring platform to integrate wireless LAN analysis and RF spectrum analysis to provide the most complete view of wireless spectrum issues that could impact network security, performance or compliance. The new features integrate AirMagnet's spectrum analysis capability with its award-winning wireless system expert (AirWISE), which extends the identification of interference and other spectrum-oriented problems to geographically pinpoint sources and recommend specific solutions. AirMagnet Enterprise 7.5 makes event forensics available after wireless sessions are completed, so users can easily identify and analyze sessions where potential hacking events occurred. Post-mortem analysis enables users to pull up the raw data of a session as evidence to document a hacking attempt particularly critical in industries such as defense and financial, where leaks of highly sensitive information can be disastrous. Government organizations also commonly need to be able to retroactively determine the exact source of breach attempts for compliance reasons. Additional features in AirMagnet Enterprise 7.5 include: - RADIUS Support: remote authentication dial-in user service (RADIUS) is a common authentication protocol used in conjunction with the 802.1x security standard to improve wireless network encryption. AirMagnet Enterprise 7.5 now allows users to leverage their central server to authenticate dial-in users and authorize their access offering consistent policy enforcement from a single administered network point, which makes it easier to control network-connected devices. - Controlled Sensor Upgrade: This new feature allows users with large deployments to fully control how their sensors receive software updates. Administrators can protect their bandwidth by upgrading a set number of sensors at a time, and can set bandwidth limits so that upgrades never impact WAN link performance. write your comments about the article :: © 2006 Networking News :: home page |