Wireless security, voice wares to rollout at N+I

Vendors this week will showcase a battery of products designed to advance wireless networks.

The offerings, being shown at NetWorld+Interop in Las Vegas, address such areas as Bluetooth security and voice traffic quality.

AirDefense will unveil BlueWatch, software that works with a Bluetooth radio adapter card in a laptop to scan for Bluetooth signals. It's one of the few on the market; Red-M also offers a scanning product.

Bluetooth is a generally short-range radio, typically 30 to 100 feet - although Class I devices can reach about 350 feet. Bluetooth is being embedded or plugged into handhelds, laptops, cell phones and headsets, but also is bringing new risks.

"Our chief security officer has done demonstrations of how to use your Bluetooth cell phone to connect to another Bluetooth cell phone, and use that other phone to make a call," says Jay Chaudhry, executive chairman of AirDefense.

BlueWatch runs on any Windows XP or 2000 laptop. It scans for Bluetooth signals via a Bluetooth USB adapter. Currently, you have to carry the laptop around to scan. Later this year, as with its 802.11 wireless LAN (WLAN) scanning products, AirDefense will add code so that its compact radio sensors, distributed through a building, will be able to pick up Bluetooth signals and pass information back to a server. A tabbed graphical displays lays out information about the devices, signals and other features.

Joseph Dell, CTO for Vigilar, an Atlanta information security firm, uses BlueWatch to monitor cellular phones, some printers and sometimes ad hoc Bluetooth networks in the company's offices and elsewhere in the building. "People try, often by accident, to connect to our Bluetooth network," he says. "We keep an eye on it [with BlueWatch] and can mitigate the risks."

BlueWatch will be released this month and will retail for $295.

Also at the show, Airespace will introduce three products, including the first access point to use multiple input multiple output (MIMO) smart antenna technology.

MIMO uses two or more antennas and clever algorithms to, in effect, send data over multiple signal paths at the same time. The result is in increased capacity and range compared to conventional WLAN antennas.

The Airespace Intelligent RF Access Point is intended for sites that have lots of radio frequency interference or where high performance or long range is critical, says Jeff Aaron, senior manager of marketing.

He says MIMO antennas create a more symmetrical radio environment, providing a more consistent and reliable signal than conventional access points.

Users should see two to three times the throughput (up to the maximum 54M bit/sec) and range of Airespace's existing 1200 access point, according to Aaron.

The MIMO device is scheduled to ship in the third quarter. Price has not been set.