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Wavelink Corp. is working to bring distributed security into its WLAN management platform with a pair of development partnerships.
Officials said the deals will make life easier for IT managers who like to buy separate software offerings from individual small companies rather than package deals from large ones.
Eric Hermelee, vice president of product management for Wavelink, in Kirkland, Wash., said users need three pieces: a way to define configurations, a way to monitor for health and performance, and a tool for maintenance.
Funk Software Inc. and Wavelink are making it possible to manage the Funk Odyssey Client, which uses a variety of protocols to secure wireless data transmission, using Wavelinks Wavelink Avalanche software.
This means customers can push multiple authentication profiles and updates to users mobile devices from a central console, officials said.
The integration should be complete this spring, said Hermelee.
“Theyre going to integrate our capability for creating custom install files, so their client piece will compare the Odyssey configuration. And if theres an update, it will take care of installing that,” said Andy Sutherland, OEM account manager at Funk Software, in Cambridge, Mass., who is in charge of the partnership with Wavelink.
Meanwhile, AirMagnet Inc. is integrating its security and performance management systems with Wavelink Mobile Manager.
With the tighter integration, AirMagnet sensors can report rogue or interfering access points to an IT manager, who can take corrective action with Wavelink Mobile Manager, said officials at AirMagnet, also in Kirkland.
Other features, such as managing denial-of-service attacks and overloaded channels, will be available next quarter, officials said.
Wavelinks customers said integration is essential for companies that want to use a variety of third-party software.
“We typically have taken a best-of-breed approach, and thats reflective in our decision to partner with innovative technology companies,” said Tim Stettheimer, vice president and CIO of St. Vincents Hospital, in Birmingham, Ala., which manages almost 200 access points from Cisco Systems Inc. in its WLAN (wireless LAN). The company chose Wavelink two years ago because Cisco didnt offer a management suite of its own at the time.
“We dont identify a single vendor and let it try to do everything,” Stettheimer said. “We try to put together an assortment of solutions. While we can manage the individual components of our solutions, were always looking to [the software companies] to help us integrate them. We press for that across the board.”
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