4. New Product Highlights

Even with the decampment of most consumer focused networking companies to CES and the general enterprise focus of N+I, I was still able to find some interesting SOHO/SME products. The two companies displaying the broadest lines of consumer gear were Belkin - which had no new products to announce - and ZyXEL.

ZyXEL is not a company you'll run across in your local Best Buy or Circuit City, since their focus is primarily on selling to VARs and directly to ISPs. But ZyXEL is widely available through online retailers and has a broad product line and faithful following, especially for its ZyWALL security router line (ZyXEL was also the OEM for NETGEAR's RT311 and RT314 first-generation broadband routers.)

ZyXEL made a number of new product intros, with perhaps the most interesting being its ZSG-100W Wireless Service Gateway. This 4 port 802.11b wireless router is aimed squarely at Mom and Pop storeowners who may want to try their hand at providing 802.11b "hotspot" service. The 100W doesn't come with Boingo or anyone else's hotspot network client installed. Instead, it's set up for cash-for-service operation and can even print out a receipt with login info for the temporary user account on its small bundled receipt printer. The customer then fires up their web browser, uses the receipt info to log into the 100W's captive portal screen, and surfs away. The box handles user authentication and time tracking for up to 100 users and automatically shuts off access when the prepaid time is up. MSRP is $649 (including printer) with immediate availability.

Also launched were the ZyWALL 2XW ($279) and 10W ($369) Internet Security Gateways, which are wireless versions of their "W"-less siblings. Both are routers with SPI-based firewalls containing IPsec VPN endpoints that support two WAN-based tunnels on the ZXW and 10 for the 10W. Auto-failover to dialup or ISDN is also supported via the built-in COM port on both. The 2XW comes with an embedded 802.11b AP and built-in 4 port 10/100 switch, while the 10W has a single 10/100 LAN port and needs a ZyXEL B-100 PC card installed to add 802.11b AP capability. Both products are available now.

The last introduction was the ZyAIR B-3000 Bridge Repeater, which joins ZyXEL's 802.11b-based B-1000 AP and B-2000 wireless router in the product lineup. The B-3000 supports up to 6 WDS bridged or repeated wireless connections to other B-3000s, in addition to operating as a normal 802.11b access point. Security features include built-in 802.1x authentication for up to 32 users, authentication via an external RADIUS server, 64 and 128 bit WEP, 256 bit WEP with dynamic key exchange, and WPA support. The product also includes 802.3af Power Over Ethernet (POE), transmit power control, ability to limit the number of associated clients, and multiple ESSID capability with VLAN support. Availability was given as Q2 2003, but pricing wasn't.

3Com

I also dropped by 3Com's booth and found their SOHO focused Office Connect product line alive and well, albeit with nothing new to announce for the show. I had a nice chat with the Wireless Product manager who said that they'd be adding 11g capable products after the standard was ratified, and were meanwhile happy to stay with an 11b-only based wireless line.

On the enterprise side of the booth, I found a couple of interesting things. First was an entry-level addition to 3Com's Network Jack line - the NJ-90. It took Best of Show in the Enterprise Network Infrastructure category, and provides four 10/100 switched ports in a package that fits into a normal wall-outlet opening. The NJ-90 is just a plain-vanilla switch, but has more capable siblings with POE (NJ-100) and management, VLAN and traffic prioritization capabilities (NJ-200), if you need 'em. NJ-90 pricing is around $100 and is available now.

Although not new as of N+I, the 8000 series Access Point caught my eye with its unique physical styling. It has a two-radio chassis with 11a, 11b, and a/b flavors, and is a full-featured enterprise-class AP with security features that include an embedded RADIUS server, MAC address authentication control, and support for EAP-MD5, EAP-TLS, EAP-TLLS, and PEAP authentication protocols. Street pricing is around $850 for the two-channel version.

Finally, I stumbled across 3Com's Embedded Firewall line. Similar to the SnapGear PCI630 [related story], these PCI and CardBus cards contain a mini-hardware embedded firewall that can be remotely managed via a companion policy server console. The cards replace normal 10/100 NICs and can be configured like any firewall, with the ability to control traffic by port and protocol. The Windows-only cards also provide control of NIC attributes such as promiscuous mode (to inhibit traffic sniffing) and MAC address spoofing (to prevent network "identity theft"). Cards run about $180 when you buy a 20-pack and a 10-client "starter" policy server will set you back another $300 or so.

IT in a Box

Since their signs were plastered all over the show, I had to stop and check out EmergeCore's IT-100 "IT in a Box". The IT-100 represents a refocusing of EmergeCore's business strategy from large enterprise to SMB/SME customers typically served by a local VAR. EmergeCore's core competence remains the same, however, which is providing an easy-to-use interface for all the IT chores typically needed by a small business, but for which there's usually no one technically trained around to perform.

The IT-100 provides Web, FTP, and Email servers, as well as file sharing, Internet connection sharing and firewalling, and even IPsec VPN tunnel origination and termination. They even throw in an 802.11b access point with built-in RADIUS authentication, and sell the whole thing for about $1400. Don't look for the IT-100 on your local retailer's shelf, though. EmergeCore plans to offer the product only through VARs who can install and or remotely manage it for their customers via its secure (HTTPS) web-based admin interface.