Sniffer gets a whiff of Lan profits

Vendor Sniffer Technologies has added security and analysis to Network Associates' wireless local area network offering.

Vendor Sniffer Technologies has added security and analysis to Network Associates' wireless local area network (Lan) offering.

Keith Parsons, technical marketing manager at Sniffer, said: "We have developed the first wireless Lan analyser to bring benefits to enterprise accounts."

Those that benefit from wireless Lans include relocating companies and hot-desk workers. "When a company moves offices they simply move the antenna with them and plug it in at a new site to connect laptops with a certain PC card," said Parsons.

Sniffer Wireless will enable network management functions to be carried out over wireless Lans that have traditionally been confined to hard wired networks.

Wireless Lans have, to date, been too rare to be of any major significance, explained Parsons. But with the spend on wireless technology among corporations expected to increase nearly tenfold between 1999 and 2003, analysis and monitoring are urgent requirements.

Lan managers will be able to spot potential security risks automatically and in real time, and identify and resolve network problems as they occur, so the overall cost of running a network decreases and operational expenses are cut.

Sarah Whipp, worldwide marketing manager at Network Associates, said: "We predict that sales will grow from $480m this year to $1.7bn in 2004. We have been running a successful channel for many years. Sniffer has an established channel strategy and many reseller customers have built their businesses around the company because it is a profitable area."

She added that the company offered sales and technical training to resellers, as well as marketing development funds.

Other vendors working with wireless Lans are giving resellers good content to offer customers. Tara Mullally, product marketing manager for Bluetooth at 3Com, said: "We are developing 802.11B technology and providing a site scanning tool which sends out signals and ensures the antenna is placed in an optimum position."