The new version of AirPatrol’s Wireless Locator System has been scaled up for big networks and includes an optional database to store location, intrusion, event and client data for Wi-Fi and cellular devices.
AirPatrol’s new version of its sensor-based wireless security system has been scaled up for big networks and now includes an optional database jammed with information on Wi-Fi and cellular clients on your enterprise network.
Version 3.0 of the AirPatrol Wireless Locator System has been tested with up 1,500 AirPatrol sensors, with simulations of thousands of client devices. The new database stores data on the frequencies being used, device characteristics, encryption schemes and the like. The data can be used to create a high-speed “playback” of a given security event or event sequence, says Ozzie Diaz, president and CEO of AirPatrol, Palo Alto, Calif.
AirPatrol created a wireless intrusion prevention/detection system, which it initially sold to other vendors who labeled it as their own. In early 2008, it introduced its own version, now dubbed Wireless Locator System, or WLS.
As with rivals such as AirDefense, AirMagnet, and AirTight (collectively often dubbed the “Air Brothers”), AirPatrol’s WLS uses a separate network of radio sensors to monitor frequencies, and find, identify, and categorize them.
(Check our online Buyer’s Guides, under “Wireless & Mobile” to compare wireless LAN security products.)
In that initial release, AirPatrol added two features to stand out. First, algorithms to track the locations of all radios within “hearing” distance, similar to the approach pioneered by Newbury Networks (now part of Trapeze Networks). Second, integration with CheckPoint Software’s firewall products to block traffic from any radio identified as a threat. Later in 2008, it added a new RF sensor that could also monitor cellular radios as well as Wi-Fi.
With WLS 3.0, the software has been rewritten in part to work with large numbers of sensors in tracking very large numbers of clients. Diaz says the company is seeing larger initial deployments by enterprise customers, along with big expansions of existing AirPatrol networks.
The new “Forensic Database” is an option that lets WLS store, search, sift and report historical data from the AirPatrol sensors, giving administrators a view of security events and trends over time. They can see the start time of an event, its location, the position of the wireless devices involved, and an array of data about them.
WLS 3.0 can be sold with a MySQL database as the storage, or it can run on a customer’s existing Oracle database. Once installed, the database can automatically receive updates from the sensors. The database operates as an HTTP application, which can be accessed locally or remotely via the WLS Management Console.
WLS 3.0 will be available April 30. Starter pricing for a kit of six dual cellular/Wi-Fi sensors, the server software and management console is just under $10,000. Additional sensors range from $250 to $800 with volume discounts. The Forensic Database option is $495 per sensor. So for the start kit, the database option would add just under $3,000 to the price tag.
