Press Release 2003

Bluesocket Ships Third Generation Wireless Gateways - WiFi leader ships Version 3.0 software and third generation of hardware products to manage, secure and scale WLANs in enterprises, institutions and public access

BURLINGTON, MA and LAS VEGAS, Nevada, USA (At Networld+Interop 2003) April 28, 2003: 
Bluesocket Inc., the leading vendor of open-systems wireless local area network (WLAN) solutions to secure and manage wireless access to networks and the Internet, today announced immediate worldwide shipments of Version 3.0 software--a major release with significant new features. The release coincides with the shipment of enhanced Gen-3 hardware: the WG-1100, WG-1100 Small Office Edition, and WG-2100 Wireless Gateways. At N+I Expo today, Bluesocket also announced its WGX-4000 Switch Wireless Gateway, a forthcoming member of the WG family combining server and switch capabilities in a single component, scheduled to ship in the near future. Version 3.0 software will run on all Bluesocket Wireless Gateway models.

"Bluesocket's third generation products have been designed to help large organizations secure, manage and scale the deployment of WLANs in their enterprises", said Dave Juitt, CTO. "We've had extensive input from hundreds of customers around the world and our new offerings deliver important capabilities to meet the needs and expectations of our end-users and channel partners", said Juitt.

"Bluesocket's new hardware and software offerings will give companies that are extending their wired network to the wireless world a strong set of essential features to operate production wireless networks in enterprise and public access environments", said J. Gerry Purdy, Ph.D., Principal Analyst MobileTrax, Inc., a market research firm in Cupertino, CA. "Bluesocket has developed a solid product offering that will especially be appreciated by organizations that are deploying large wireless networks". 

API Available for Wireless Developers, End-Users 
"Bluesocket's customers and business partners have asked that we create an Application Programming Interface (API) that will let them create a platform for custom mobile applications", said Carol Schmitt, VP of Business Development, Bluesocket. "Bluesocket's API allows access to all aspects of our Secure Mobility Matrix as those tailored applications will enhance mobile security and enforce network policy through interconnected Bluesocket WGs", said Schmitt.

Enterprise WLAN Enhancements 

Enhanced QoS 
WLAN administrators need policy-management to control which users have levels of bandwidth appropriate to their role (e.g., prevent network performance degradation from MP3 downloads). Version 3.0 utilizes traffic optimization to control incoming and outgoing traffic; bandwidth limitations on a per user basis, as well as prioritization and DiffServ marking based on roles, protocols and services.

Time & Location-Based Policies 
User access and policies can be controlled based on time, date, and user location. Network managers turn network access on or off at a specific time, vary access policies based on work schedules, critical meetings, or user locations. Version 3.0 will let a professor turn off student Web access to a classroom during an exam, while keeping their own access up and running an attractive feature for thousands of universities now deploying wireless on their campuses.

Enhanced Logging & Diagnostics 
Version 3.0 turns the Wireless Gateway into a central information console letting a network administrator know what's going on in real-time throughout their enterprise, identifying high-use areas, log complete user sessions and generate customizable reports in a variety of formats via email or FTP. SNMP Management enhancements have also been added via SNMP traps to alert an IT department to WLAN issues before network availability is compromised. 

VLAN Tagging by Role 
Bluesocket's new generation adds improved VLAN support and capabilities including dynamic assignment of a user to a VLAN based on the user's role. This allows for expansion of existing VLANs, automatically mapping users to VLANs based on who they are, as opposed to traditional methods such as MAC address or the switch port to which they are connected.

MAC Based Authentication 
This simplifies management of older non-intelligent wireless devices such as scanners or DOS based terminals feature added to meet requests from leading manufacturers and retailers who have deployed Bluesocket in their plants and stores.

Public Access Enhancements 

Aggregation of Remote Managed Subnets 
This feature allows a Wireless Gateway to manage and secure subnets which are physically separated from the WG over a routed network. This will let us manage multiple hotspots in different physical locations through a central Wireless Gateway, said Bluesocket end-user Bob McIntrye of Atlanta's Open Point Networks, Inc. whose Wireless FastPass service provides regional "roaming" among high-speed wireless data networks. Bluesocket is making the right moves to accelerate the inevitable convergence of cellular data networks with less expensive, higher bandwidth 802.11 technology", said McIntyre. 

Redirect by Role 
This allows a user to be redirected to any URL based up on the role into which a user authenticated. Expanding upon its popular URL redirection feature, Bluesocket has added finer granularity, allowing administrators to redirect a user's browser to different websites based on the user's role. This will let Wireless ISPs serve up different welcome Web screens for each category of customer.

L2TP/IPSec 
To ensure an increasing number of users may operate securely when using mobile devices, Bluesocket adds support for Microsoft's popular L2TP/IPSec client providing singular, non-proprietary access to WLAN and existing remote access VPN resources.

Specs for Bluesocket Wireless Gateways at: http://www.bluesocket.com/solutions/specs.html 

For more information, http://www.bluesocket.com

Mobileinfo Comments & Advisory: See our comments on WGX-4000. It was a smart move on the part of Bluesocket to introduce its third generation software enhancements for all the members of its wireless gateway suite. Bluesocket has very quickly rejuvenated its software with new features. This will keep it a young energetic startup to assume an important role in this segment of the market - either on its own or as a part of a large switch player.