Burlington, MA - January 14, 2003 -- Bluesocket, Inc., the fast-growing developer of Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) management and security solutions, today announced that it has begun immediate shipment of the latest software iteration for its Wireless Gateway products-- version 2.1. This shipment coincides with Bluesocket's announcement of an interoperability agreement with Interlink Networks, a leading developer of network security and access control software. Bluesocket's Wireless Gateways, recognized as the "Best Security Product of 2002" by the Networking Industry Awards are single component network appliances to secure and manage wireless networks and provide authentication, subnet mobility, policy management, and bandwidth management of WiFi networks running in educational institutions, enterprises, government offices and public hotspots. The Wireless Gateway provides strong encryption and creates a trust boundary between an enterprise's access points (wireless base stations) and the secure, wired network. The new version of software evolved with extensive, hands-on testing and input from end-users and Bluesocket partners including Johnson & Johnson, Rutgers, the University of Massachusetts, University of Pittsburgh, and Telcordia Technologies.
Version 2.1 software runs on all three Bluesocket Wireless Gateway models and provides a range of new functionality and features including:
802.1q VLAN Support
Version 2.1 adds new functionality to terminate or pass-through 802.1q VLANs. This gives network administrators a simple method to logically aggregate WLAN user traffic to the Wireless Gateway and supports new VLAN capabilities found in new Access Points now available in the market. |
Michael Dickson, Network Analyst, University of Massachusetts/Amherst:
"We have been looking for a way to manage wireless and wired users through a central device that can handle traffic from multiple VLANsacross our entire campus network. Bluesocket's ability in version 2.1 to handle 802.1q provides us with that functionality." |
Transparent Login for 802.1x Authentication
Allows single-sign on for WLAN users implementing 802.1x authentication protocols such as Cisco-LEAP and Microsoft TLS. When users log into the WLAN using 802.1x they are transparently logged into the Wireless Gateway with no additional steps. This allows administrators to enforce
role-based policies, bandwidth management and subnet mobility without additional user interaction. |
Mike Klein, President and CEO Interlink Networks
"We are pleased to become an interoperability partner with Bluesocket. Interlink Networks' Layer 2 security software is highly complementary to Bluesocket's Layer 3 Wireless Gateway products. Combining these two products secures not only the data between the access point and server, but also the wireless data to the access point, making the WLAN impervious to intruders." |
AnyIP Public WLAN Access
Many mobile devices have difficulty operating in public WLAN "hotspots" due to specific computer settings of their corporate network. To ensure seamless connectivity without requiring end-user device changes or local public access IT support, Bluesocket has implemented AnyIP features allowing users with fixed e-mail settings (SMTP) or fixed IP addresses to easily access the public WLAN regardless of their default IP or e-mail settings. |
Tim Barrett, President and
Co-Founder Airpath Wireless:
"Wireless Gateways such as Bluesocket's are a great way to bridge the layered access demands of anyone who works on the road. Our mutual customers attest to the power of Bluesocket's gateways in mixed public and private environments, which can be hotels, airports, convention centers, office parks, malls or wherever someone works wirelessly." |
Enhanced Login Page Customization
Bluesocket provides a universal access method, allowing a user with any mobile device the ability to log in through a web browser for wireless access without proprietary client-side software. Through this enhancement, the entire login page can be customized, enabling secure logins to turn into a marketing tool as an HTML access portal. This includes the ability to easily down load SSL certificates from any of the popular certificate vendors (e.g. Verisign, Entrust, etc) for added device and user authentication control. |
Login Page to Harvard Wireless
|
Other Authentication and Login Advancements
Although RADIUS is commonly used in 802.11-based security, it also is an authentication for other security mechanisms, such as PPTP, a commonly used encryption schema for Microsoft and Apple Macintosh systems. Bluesocket also supports PPTP to LDAP authentication server implementations. In addition, Bluesocket enables interoperable authentication between PPTP and RADIUS servers. |
Dave Juitt,CTO and VP of EngineeringBluesocket:
"Bluesocket's mission is to build systems that ensure robust, secure, production quality wireless local area networks. The Version 2.1 feature set has added a range of new capabilities, some which were suggested by our users themselves. With this version we continue the Bluesocket tradition of incorporating valuable customer input into the best product available to the market." |
Network Monitoring Display
Version 2.1 adds a convenient Network Monitoring Display, providing administrators a live graphical representation of network activity: active users, bandwidth usage and security level. This Flash-based display will help system administrators to know who's doing what, when and where on the network.
About Interlink Networks
Interlink Networks is a leader in securing 802.11 wireless LAN, mobile, and wired networks. The company's standards-based software blocks intruder access to networks using strong 802.1x authentication, a requirement of the WPA standard. Interlink's offerings range from carrier-class and enterprise level solutions to appliance-ready software- ideal for OEM development designs. Interlink Networks is headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan. For more information, call (734) 821-1200 or visit http://www.interlinknetworks.com.
About Bluesocket
Bluesocket, Inc. (www.bluesocket.com) manufactures solutions to manage and secure wireless local area networks (WLANs) in enterprises and public hotspots worldwide. Bluesocket provides organizations including the National Security Agency, ATOS KPMG Consulting, Harvard Medical School and Best Western Hotels with elegant systems 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, Nortel; other industry leaders.
Press Contact
Bluesocket USA
Victor Cruz,
vcruz@bluesocket.com
Tel. +1 508.785.1590 |
UK & Europe
David Rowlands,
drowlands@bluesocket.com
Tel. +44 (0) 1291 626200 |