AirMagnet Enterprise Now Supports 802.11n Support

PRESS RELEASE

SUNNYVALE, Calif., October 27, 2009 " AirMagnet Inc., a Fluke Networks company, today announced a new version of AirMagnet Enterprise specifically designed to help drive 802.11n network deployments, management and security. The application allows customers to maximize the return on investment of their wireless LAN investment while also ensuring the highest levels of security.

AirMagnet Enterprise, the industry's premier application for managing and securing corporate WLAN deployments, introduces its next generation of intelligent sensors with full 11n support and new interactive tools and guidance that allows network managers to easily maximize network throughput and fully leverage the true power of 802.11n. In addition, AirMagnet's intelligence engine, AirWise', has been enhanced to provide expert 802.11n guidance, a new policy builder sandbox and 40 new security and performance alarms.

Many solutions are passive in nature, and simply tell network managers about a network problem. The new version of AirMagnet Enterprise advances WLAN security and management by not just notifying network managers of a problem but also arming them with the hands-on tools and step-by-step guidance to actually solve real-world problems related to 802.11n performance and security.

"The recently ratified 11n standard provides the framework necessary for high performance wireless networks, but that potential can easily go untapped if IT managers don't understand the unique needs of 11n in an AP and client network," said Tim Zimmerman, senior analyst at Gartner. "Wireless performance and security management solutions play a critical role in addressing this issue, empowering businesses to leverage the operational efficiencies and ROI promised by 11n " and the more proactive this management is, the better."

Active Tools to Maximize Throughput of 802.11n WLANs

AirMagnet Enterprise offers new features and intelligence that were previously unavailable in a dedicated WLAN monitoring system, including:

- 802.11n Connection Optimization Tools " Network staff can now look into any AP-client connection and immediately see how it can be improved to maximize throughput and performance.

- Compare Theory to Reality " See in real-time how actual 11n performance compares to the best-case scenario for a particular connection or device configuration.

- Uplink and Downlink Visibility " Get expert insight into both directions of 11n traffic, and allow staff to not only ensure great throughput for network infrastructure, but to provide live troubleshooting for client-side problems and complaints.

- 802.11n Migration and Co-existence " Easily analyze the existing network environment and predict how new 11n equipment will impact the overall performance, throughput and overhead in the network before it is deployed.

AirWise' Expert Intelligence

AirMagnet Enterprise includes a variety of enhancements and updates to AirWise that enable WLAN managers to more effectively manage 802.11n deployment. The new Guided WLAN assistance and sandbox functionality is built in to help eliminate the learning curve and costly mistakes that may occur in managing new or existing 11n deployments. New alarms and alerts offer additional protection from 11n threats.

* Guided WLAN assistance allows staff to immediately start using 11n and avoid the common deployment pitfalls without having to invest days, months or even years to fully understand the detailed inner workings of 11n technology. The solution also provides step-by-step walkthroughs for many of the most common 11n management tasks, giving network staff not only the tools, but also the know-how to perform the standard tasks and best practices that will keep the network running at peak performance levels.

Policy Sandbox functionality is enabled via a completely redesigned device classification engine, a powerful new feature that enables network managers to build easy, understandable policies to automatically determine device class (approved, neighbor or rogue). Using a new policy builder sandbox feature, WLAN managers can preview the effects of a newly built policy. This innovation ensures that staff can quickly catch mistakes and perfect classification rules before they are put into production, thus avoiding both false alarms and time-consuming trial and error policy modifications.

AirMagnet has also added 40 new security and performance alarms to the latest release, covering threats like KARMA, the SkyJack vulnerability (first discovered by AirMagnet), TKIP vulnerabilities, DoS techniques including MDK Destruction Mode, 11n-specific issues and much more. Administrators can set conditional thresholds for these alarms, target notification on a per-user basis and assign individual preferences including email, pager, IM, SMS, print, etc. Alarms can even be fed to third-party SIMs via SNMP, SysLog or Event Log.

"IT organizations need tools that help them take a proactive and comprehensive approach to ensuring overall network health if they want to achieve true 24x7 safety and reliability of the WLAN," said Chia-Chee Kuan, VP of engineering at AirMagnet. "That means visibility into every device, from every vendor, and over every 802.11 standard and part of the spectrum. AirMagnet has designed the architecture of the new Enterprise to easily integrate all this new information around 11n so network managers can easily deploy, secure and manage the ongoing performance associated with this new standard."

New Generation of AirMagnet Sensors

AirMagnet Enterprise also introduces AirMagnet's latest generation of intelligent sensors with full 802.11n support. AirMagnet sensors continue to be the industry's only fully independent fault-tolerant sensors, as well as the only sensors with the option to include hardware-accelerated spectrum analysis. The new 5200 series of SmartEdge sensors come in two hardware form factors " a version with external antennas, and a version with internal antennas that offer a sleek industrial design to blend in to their environment. The new sensors are fully backward compatible with all previous sensor accessories including mounting brackets and power options, ensuring a simple update process for existing AirMagnet customers looking to migrate to 11n sensors.

Pricing & Availability

The new version of AirMagnet Enterprise comprised of sensors, server and console software can be sized to any environment with installations starting at $10,000 (USD). The software, a free upgrade for existing customers with an active support agreement, is available immediately. AirMagnet Enterprise includes support for Microsoft Windows 7 and Windows 2008, as well as previous platforms.

About AirMagnet Inc. AirMagnet Inc., now a part of Fluke Networks, is the leader in security, performance and compliance solutions for wireless LANs. The company's innovative products include AirMagnet Enterprise, the leading 24x7 WLAN security and performance management solution, and AirMagnet WiFi Analyzer " which is known as the "de facto tool for wireless LAN troubleshooting and analysis." Other products provide WLAN site survey and design, RF interference detection, remote diagnostics, and the world's first voice over WiFi analysis solution. AirMagnet has more than 8,500 customers worldwide, including 75 of the Fortune 100. The company, based in Sunnyvale, Calif., has offices worldwide. For more information, visit www.AirMagnet.com.