ReefEdge plugs Cisco's wireless gaps

TechWorld.com - Cisco Systems Inc.'s security worries are good news for at least one company, ReefEdge Inc., a leading wireless LAN provider that has launched a product bundle designed to make the network giant's wireless systems more secure.

"We build in a level of security that lets you be at peace with your decision to go with Cisco," said ReefEdge's director of public relations, Brian Partridge. The Cisco Compatible Wireless Security (CCWS) package is aimed at bolstering Cisco-based WLANs on multiple sites and can be added without any other changes to the network.

"CCWS is being offered to multisite Cisco wireless LAN customers concerned with the potentially serious security issues recently discovered in Cisco's proprietary LEAP authentication protocol and WLAN management systems," said Partridge. Recent Cisco wireless vulnerabilities include the release of the ASLEAP hacking tool and Cisco's EAP-FAST response, criticized as proprietary; the discovery of a hard-coded password in Cisco's Wireless LAN Solutions Engine; and an SNMP vulnerability in Cisco's Aironet access points.

As Partridge explains it, Fort Lee, N.J.-based ReefEdge is the one for the job for two reasons. First, it has a high reputation for security: Last year, we reviewed its Connect Server CS100, which secures the Mobile IP technology Cisco favors for roaming between access points, in its SWAN wireless architecture. "We have the most secure wireless LAN system approach available on the market," said Partridge. "We have received FIPS 140 Level 2 certification for cryptography from the U.S. government. We are deployed in several military installations."

Second, although ReefEdge does sell a wireless switch, it doesn't require its own access points, as other vendors such as Trapeze Networks Inc., Aruba Wireless Networks Inc. and Airespace Inc. do. "We don't think of ourselves as a head-to-head competitor to Cisco," said Partridge. "We don't sell access points. We allow use of other vendors' access points, including Symbol [Technologies Inc.], 3Com [Corp.] and Netgear [Inc.].

"Some Cisco shops are all Cisco in every location," he said. "They need to leverage their existing investment in access points." In other words, users who have coughed up about $800 for a Cisco access point will want to carry on using it, even if it needs additional equipment to make it secure.

ReefEdge is dividing its marketing effort equally between Cisco WLAN customers and new non-Cisco installations, said Partridge. Given the size of Cisco's market dominance, selling extra wireless equipment to Cisco wireless customers is apparently as big an opportunity as selling wireless to those new to (and skeptical of) enterprise WLANs.

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