McAffe secures wireless solutions

McAfee announced yesterday the acquisition, for a sum not yet revealed, of Wireless Security Corp, a manufacturer of wireless solutions, thus underlining its intention of supplying in its turn wireless security management solutions for the future McAfee products.

The company wants to take advantage of the enormous potential represented by the WiFi market, the phenomenon being an ever increasing one. By simplifying the configuration, authentication and encrypting methods for WLAN access points, which up until now were relatively troublesome, McAfee targets a very wide range of customers, being prepared to offer its services to both home users and small offices.

Currently, Wireless Security Corp, established in 2002 by Dennis Rohan, offers subscription-based services, which supply users with a safe connection to a wireless network, either at work or at home, the service being remotely monitored and managed.

The solution is based on the 802.1x specifications and on Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA), and the standard cost is of 45 USD per year. The Wireless Security technology also supports the Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) protocol, called WPA-PSK, and is compatible with WLAN network cards and routers manufactured by Linksys, D-Link and Netgear, but also with some devices from Buffalo, Belkin, Proxim, ZyTel and 3Com.

Some analysts have expressed their doubts regarding the success of these services, but the problems in configuring a WLAN network and assuring its service at maximum security parameters should attract a large number of users. McAfee is yet to announce the price list for these WLAN services.