Support Is Growing for Wireless Voice, Security

As enterprise wireless LANs mature, Aruba Wireless Networks Inc. and Gateway Inc. are preparing products that address increasing user interest in VOIP, as well as network security and management.

Aruba this week will unveil its strategy for voice over IP, which includes Secure Voice, a software module that classifies and prioritizes voice traffic over a WLAN.

Secure Voice includes integrated support for SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) and federal Enhanced 911 location mandates. It also allows for voice policies that permit only specific traffic types (such as SIP) while blacklisting unauthorized voice traffic.

“Voice over IP never really saw a lot of traction in the wired world, but it does become the killer app once a wireless infrastructure is securely in place,” said Don Lebeau, CEO of Aruba, in San Jose, Calif. “The No. 1 issue is security.”

Voice does seem to be gaining more attention in the WLAN space. “Thats something were hoping to do down the road,” said John Grenier, chief technology officer of Legal Systems for New York, a nonprofit organization in Manhattan that uses Aruba equipment. “Were trying to design an integrated call center, and some managers have asked for wireless phones.”

The module is available now as a free add-on to the companys existing line of WLAN switches.

Gateway, meanwhile, is jumping into the WLAN space with a set of products for customers that need more features than a consumer-level access point provides but at a lower price than typical high-end gear.

“It didnt look to us like there was anyone in the space in the middle,” said Chad McDonald, manager of networking products at Gateway, in San Diego.

The Gateway 7000 access point line includes a bevy of security protocols: 64/128-bit Wireless Equivalent Privacy encryption, Wi-Fi Protected Access, Protected Extensible Authentication Protocol, Advanced Encryption Standard, Temporal Key Integrity Protocol, IEEE 802.1x, media access control address filtering and an embedded Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service server that supports as many as 100 users. The series also includes support for power over Ethernet and virtual LANs.

There are two models in the series. The Gateway 7001 802.11g AP, named for the protocol it supports, costs $299. The 7001 802.11a/g AP, which has two radios, costs $399.

Both models come with a one-year service and support contract.

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