HiPath Wireless Enhanced

May 18, 2009

New enhancements have been made to the Enterasys Wireless portfolio, also known as HiPath Wireless, including new hardware platforms and new software features which further unify wired and wireless network management and security while extending the flexibility of the Enterasys solutions-oriented wireless architecture. The portfolio enhancements deliver standards-based, secure infrastructure choices to enterprise users seeking to reduce operational expenses associated with wireless networking.

A new, enterprise-class dual radio 802.11a/b/g access point, at a single-radio price point, supports diverse deployment options and delivers premium secure, reliable, centrally-managed mobility. A next-generation, appliance-based wireless controller provides more cost-effective scalability and flexibility – important to both medium and large enterprises as well as education users.

“These new platforms allow us to offer customers additional options to provide more cost-effective and robust wireless capabilities,” said Chris Crowell, Enterasys executive vice president and general manager. “Combined with further advances in wired/wireless management integration, users can significantly reduce operational expenses as well.”

“Wireless networks have moved from convenience to critical in enterprise environments,” said William Terrill, principal analyst, Enterprise Network Systems at Current Analysis. “Being able to integrate and manage both the wired and wireless connections as a single entity, and do so for both local and remote sites, can significantly reduce the overhead and complexity of managing the network. Wireless clients have to be able to securely access the same resources on the network as their wired cousins in today’s mobile enterprise.”

Enterasys continues to deliver on its commitment to drive integration of wired and wireless networks. The latest portfolio enhancements extend the integration between Enterasys wired and wireless management software to include centralized backup/restore and software management for all wired and wireless infrastructure components.

Enterasys offers a highly flexible wireless network architecture that simultaneously delivers both centralized and distributed traffic forwarding according to business needs. New features such as enhanced policy management at the access point (AP), with advanced AP filtering, now provide the option of user policy enforcement directly at the network point of entry. Unwanted tunneled or locally bridged traffic no longer needs to traverse expensive WAN links or create bottlenecks on aggregating links before being filtered out. Additionally, integrated Guest Access provides a fully integrated captive portal solution with no need for an external RADIUS or Web server. A simple, intuitive dedicated user interface enables non-technical personnel to easily create temporary guest accounts and distribute credentials.

Enterasys Pricing and Availability

All of the new Enterasys Wireless offerings are available within 90 days from authorized Enterasys distributors and value-added resellers worldwide in addition to current Siemens Enterprise Communications channels. Prices set forth above are the Enterasys list price and Enterasys distributors and value-added resellers are free to set their own prices.