Bluesocket Announces Channel Partner Program

Burlington, Mass. – January 23, 2003 -- Bluesocket, Inc., the fast-growing developer of Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) management and security solutions, today announced its Bluesocket Partner Program, a direct and collaborative program for resellers, VARs, MSPs and systems integrators, providing flexible and scalable opportunities to resell Bluesocket’s Wireless Gateway family in the lucrative WiFi (802.11) management and security market.

According to a report published by InfoTech Trends, the U.S. wireless LAN market will reach $2 billion in 2003, up from $300 million in 1998. And IDC wrote in April 2001 that wireless LAN equipment revenue jumped 80 percent in 2000, breaking the $1 billion mark.

“From the get-go, we built our company and products with our channel specifically in mind,” said CEO Eric Janszen. “Because our solution for WLAN security and policy management combines a number of point solutions into a single rack-mountable box that’s easy to deploy and support, the channel adoption was rapid. In one year’s time we signed up 100+ partners in 25 countries; these partners have garnered hundreds of customer wins.”

Requirements needed for becoming a Bluesocket registered partner include an annual purchase commitment; the purchase of a demo unit, training and final certification.

The training program consists of comprehensive technical and sales information and instruction at the partner’s site coupled with post-program testing for certification.

For certification, two employees from partner organizations need to have completed the one-day training program. There are no fees associated with the training.

The Program is classified into four groups: Integration Partners, Business Partners, Distribution Partners and Knowledge Partners. Distribution Partners are limited to Europe and Asia.

Other Program elements include:

• Dedicated Account Representative;
• Help in identifying new market opportunities;
• Pre-qualified and standard sales leads;
• Reseller Support Center (Post-sales Support, tech training and advice);
• Market development funds;
• Co-op funds;
• Participating in Bluesocket marketing programs;
• Help with matching solution providers for partnering;
• End-user training programs;
• Partner-dedicated website: P@rtnerlink

For more information about Bluesocket’s programs send email to sales@bluesocket.com or partners@bluesocket.com.

Bluesocket partners are today selling into organizations such as ATOS KPMG Consulting, Boeing, Harvard Medical School, Orange, the University of Michigan (and 80 other universities); hospitals, professional, finance and government offices.

Bluesocket installations also include “layered” public/private access hotspots in airports and train stations; as well as hotels--from Georgia to West Virginia, Edinburgh to Stockholm. Internet access in the “World’s First Digital City” (Zamora, Spain) is also managed by Bluesocket Wireless Gateways.

According to Gartner, Inc., U.S. corporations and schools have embraced WLANs because of the benefits of campus roaming as well as the widespread use of mobile PCs. Over 15 million laptops with 802.11 support will be shipped in 2005, up from 2.9 million in 2001.

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.

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.

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