Financial company deploys Vo-Fi, wireless IPS

Wireless in the Enterprise This newsletter is sponsored by Arsenal Digital Solutions Traditional Backup vs. On-Demand Data Protection Services: Critical Questions for IT Decision-Makers When deciding on a data protection solution, budget limits, service quality, and compliance requirements all weigh on the minds of IT leaders. A single overlooked issue can mean the difference between disaster and continuous operations. In this Webcast, Doug Chandler of IDC will explain how many companies have evaluated their data protection choices in today's market and made a successful transition from in-house backup and recovery operations to service-based solutions. Click here to listen to this webcast today! Network World's Wireless in the Enterprise Newsletter, 07/11/07 Financial company deploys Vo-Fi, wireless IPS By Joanie Wexler Commercial mortgage and real estate company Hudson Advisors built its Wi-Fi network specifically to gain local mobile VoIP capabilities. Executive assistants in the company are frequently mobile, working on projects and backing one another up, explains Dave Goodman, the financial company’s CTO. “They need to be able to answer their own [direct inward dial] PBX phone numbers and also monitor colleagues’ extensions” when away from their desks. The company, an existing Cisco CallManager IP PBX shop, installed Cisco Aironet Wi-Fi access points and Cisco 7920 and 7921 Wi-Fi handsets to deliver wireless VoIP. Its network covers 100,000 square feet of office space and 200 employees located on two floors of a 30-story downtown Dallas office building. Wireless Products Buyer's Guide From wireless adapters to WiMax repeaters, we've got detailed information on hundreds of products that will quickly help you pinpoint the hardware or software you're looking for. We've categorized each product into one of 10 specific wireless market segments, so you can drill down, compare and contrast products in only the areas you need. Click here for more.> Meanwhile, the company added wireless data usage to the network. And it discovered that sharing a building with a dozen other businesses meant that Hudson’s network was bumping up against other networks, causing security concerns. “You’d be surprised at the sheer number of active WLANs in our area,” says Goodman. So he sought a solution last year to prevent Hudson employees from bridging to other companies’ networks, to detect unauthorized access points and to prevent outsiders from piggybacking onto Hudson’s WLAN for Internet access. The company installed AirTight Networks’ SpectraGuard Enterprise wireless intrusion prevention system (IPS), which Goodman says was the only product it tested that would directly alert IT personnel to unauthorized APs attempting to connect to its WLAN while also blocking those connections. The wireless IPS adds another layer to traditional Wi-Fi and wired network security, he says, preventing client devices from being lured to an unauthorized AP and other mishaps. “We discovered, for example, someone connecting to the wireless printer in another company. So we blocked the address of that printer,” he explains. Hudson is also poised to install the AirTight Security Agent For Endpoints (SAFE), which will extend Hudson security policies to employee laptops outside the office. Such policies might include, for example, whether to allow or disallow Wi-Fi ad hoc (peer-to-peer) connections and wireless-to-wired network bridging. SAFE enforces security policies in Wi-Fi and other wireless networks such as Bluetooth and 3G networks. Hudson has deployed a number of BlackBerry and Windows Mobile handheld data devices. AirTight SAFE is not yet supported on those platforms, though the vendor says it is “considering” SAFE for Windows Mobile PDAs with Wi-Fi connections.   What do you think? Post a comment on this newsletter

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Contact the author: Joanie Wexler is an independent networking technology writer/editor in California's Silicon Valley who has spent most of her career analyzing trends and news in the computer networking industry. She welcomes your comments on the articles published in this newsletter, as well as your ideas for future article topics. Reach her at joanie@jwexler.com. This newsletter is sponsored by Arsenal Digital Solutions Traditional Backup vs. On-Demand Data Protection Services: Critical Questions for IT Decision-Makers When deciding on a data protection solution, budget limits, service quality, and compliance requirements all weigh on the minds of IT leaders. A single overlooked issue can mean the difference between disaster and continuous operations. In this Webcast, Doug Chandler of IDC will explain how many companies have evaluated their data protection choices in today's market and made a successful transition from in-house backup and recovery operations to service-based solutions. Click here to listen to this webcast today! ARCHIVE Archive of the Wireless in the Enterprise Newsletter. BONUS FEATURE IT PRODUCT RESEARCH AT YOUR FINGERTIPS Get detailed information on thousands of products, conduct side-by-side comparisons and read product test and review results with Network World’s IT Buyer’s Guides. Find the best solution faster than ever with over 100 distinct categories across the security, storage, management, wireless, infrastructure and convergence markets. Click here for details. PRINT SUBSCRIPTIONS AVAILABLE You've got the technology snapshot of your choice delivered to your inbox each day. Extend your knowledge with a print subscription to the Network World newsweekly, Apply here today. International subscribers, click here. SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES To subscribe or unsubscribe to any Network World newsletter, change your e-mail address or contact us, click here. This message was sent to: networking.world@gmail.com. Please use this address when modifying your subscription. Advertising information: Write to Associate Publisher Online Susan Cardoza Network World, Inc., 118 Turnpike Road, Southborough, MA 01772 Copyright Network World, Inc., 2007