2. Wireless

Most of the focus at Interop will continue to be on switched, thin-client wireless architectures and on adding intrusion detection features. Colubris last week announced that it will be integrating AirMagnet's wireless intrusion detection and performance management capabilities into its own wireless management system for shipment starting in Q3.

Aruba is taking an unusual approach to providing secure access to corporate networks with its new Personal Access Point. The $250 software product, which is available immediately, runs on any Aruba AP and lets users attach a "Personal AP" to any broadband connection. The Personal AP software then automatically builds a secure IPsec tunnel to a central Aruba mobility controller, authenticates, self-configures and begins operation. Personal AP uses NAT-T If the broadband connection is behind a firewall and employs "other mechanisms" if the user is connecting from a web-portal type connection such as those commonly found in hotels.

Network admins can remotely control parameters such as operating channel, radio type, SSID, BSSID and all associated clients, user security privileges, bandwidth per user, etc. Admins can also view detailed client status reports for remote office wireless, monitor usage levels, protect against malicious or unauthorized wireless use and perform packet capture for remote troubleshooting.

Cisco yesterday extended its "integrated services" router line downward with the introduction of three fixed-configuration routers. The Cisco 1800, 870 and 850 series all include embedded virtual private network (VPN) encryption and acceleration hardware supporting IPSec AES and 3DES encryption. Other features include stateful firewall, inline intrusion prevention, Network Admission Control (NAC) and URL filtering and support for MPLS-based VPNs.

The 1800 can also be equipped with dual-band 802.11a/b/g wireless while the 870 and 850 can be configured with a single-band 11b/g radio. All are available starting this month with suggested list pricing starting at $399 for the 850, $649 for the 870 and $1295 for the 1800 series.

One announcement that may have more of an impact on consumer wireless products is Atheros' decision to offer its JumpStart for Wireless automatic WLAN configuration software to the open source community free of charge. The company's spin is that it is offering JumpStart for the good of the WLAN industry and to help customers avoid "getting locked into proprietary security systems that limit hardware choices". Those proprietary security systems would probably include Buffalo Technology's AOSS and Broadcom's Secure EZ Setup. Once released, the JumpStart open source code, license and supporting materials will be available from SourceForge.

Speaking of major WLAN chipmakers, Broadcom appears to be keeping its head down and doesn't plan any Interop announcements, especially about its MIMO plans. But in a "Wi-Fi market update" sent out last week, the company downplayed MIMO's market significance.

The company pointed to recent retail sales numbers reported by the NPD Group that it said show that after 5 months of product shipments, the MIMO category represents only 1.6% of total Wi-Fi equipment sales (see figure below).

MIMO vs. Draft-11g adoption

The comparison presented in the graph isn't even what one would call apples-to-kumquats, as it compares sales of products based on a draft standard that was mere months from ratification (draft 11g) with proprietary products using some pieces of technology that are hoping to be included in a spec that is over a year away (if that) from ratification and that doesn't yet have even an approved draft spec.

What was conspicuously absent from Broadcom's "update" was any mention of its own MIMO or 802.11n plans. Instead, it offered a rehash of the recently-failed 802.11n draft vote and only a statement that it is "deeply involved in the development of the 802.11n standard".

And while Broadcom may be mum about its MIMO plans, (True) MIMO leader Airgo Wireless and partner Jungo Software Technologies announced the release of a "production-ready hardware and software reference design". The design is intended for OEMs and ODMs developing MIMO-based residential and office gateways and adds Airgo's hardware to Jungo's list of platforms supported by its Linux-based OpenRG OS.