7/31/08 - AirTight Networks, the leading provider of wireless intrusion prevention systems (WIPS) and wireless vulnerability management, announced the release of an 802.11n WLAN Coverage Estimator on its Web site. This free interactive utility helps organizations which are trying to get a better understanding of how 802.11n impacts their environment and the cost of 802.11n rollouts.

Last week the company announced the industry's first fully supported 802.11n WIPS solution including the first MIMO security sensor.

Using the Coverage Estimator, organizations can:

• estimate 802.11n WLAN coverage and security requirements
• define their environment including floor plan, power and throughput controls
• drag and drop AP and sensor placement
• generate bill-of-materials and projected cost estimates

"The 802.11n WLAN Coverage Estimator is not intended to replace a full-fledged WLAN RF planner such as AirTight's SpectraGuard Planner ," said Sri Sundaralingam, vice president of product management at AirTight. "But it does provide a wide array of interactive features which are useful for quick, high-level planning of WLAN infrastructure and security, and for estimating the total cost of your Wi-Fi rollout."

While 802.11n offers many benefits to the enterprise with faster data rates, improved throughput and improved coverage range, wide adoption of 802.11n technology amplifies existing wireless security threats ranging from rogue access points to denial of service (DOS) attacks. Careful planning and implementation, therefore, becomes more critical.

The Coverage Estimator allows users to:

• define the dimensions of the grid area in meters or feet
• drag and drop legacy (a, bg, abg) and 802.11n (an, bgn, abgn) access points onto the layout
• estimate the radio coverage of access points and sensors in their premises by choosing one of the pre-defined RF environments
• choose the appropriate transmit power for their access points
• drag and drop WIPS sensors on the layout and plan their wireless intrusion detection and prevention coverage
• estimate the total cost for their Wi-Fi rollout project including WLAN infrastructure and WIPS planning

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Keywords: intrusion prevention systems, wireless intrusion prevention, rf environments, interactive utility, airtight networks, grid area, sensor placement, denial of service dos, sundaralingam, denial of service, radio coverage, wips, bill of materials, bgn, MIMO