Netgear Adds Propagate’s AutoCell to its APs

Netgear is expanding the abilities of its ProSafe Wireless Access Point 802.11g WG302 for small and medium businesses with AutoCell RF management and control firmware from Propagate Networks. A trial version of Propagate’s AutoCell View is also now included with the APs.

According to Lianne Caetano, product line manager for business wireless and security products from Netgear, companies like Aruba and Cisco Systems Inc. offer APs/switches for $5,000 or more, and those devices have to be managed centrally. Meanwhile, Netgear offers distributed RF management.

The RF management has automatic channel selection, tuning up or down to ensure there is no service-affecting interference and to make sure all open areas are covered. It also allows for load balancing by quickly detecting the motion of clients and moving those clients to those APs with the lightest loads and best signals, says Caetano.

As for AutoCell View, it’s a tool used prior to and after Wi-Fi network turnup for monitoring and management. It depicts the RF environment using a 2G image so network designers and administrators can see radio coverage, association to APs via clients, types of APs available, and dynamic performance of AutoCell.

Users can download a trial version of AutoCell View for their WG302 or purchase a higher feature version starting at $199 at www.getautocell.com.

The Intel Centrino certified WG302 includes WPA and is 802.11i ready, has two detachable 5dBi antennas and integrated IEEE 802.3af power over Ethernet. The Netgear WG302, shipping since December 2003, is the first commercially available Wi-Fi access point equipped with AutoCell software. AutoCell is also included in the Netgear ProSafe WAG511 Dual Band Wireless PC Card driver utility.

Share this article: Email, Slashdot, Digg, Del.icio.us, Yahoo!MyWeb, Windows Live Favorites, Furl
Add this article feed to: RSS, My Yahoo, Newsgator, Bloglines