SAN JOSE, Calif., November 10, 2004 - Expanding the Cisco Structured Wireless-Aware Network (SWAN), Cisco Systems introduced its new generation of Cisco Aironet® 1130AG and 1230AG Series IEEE 802.11a/b/g Dual Band Access Points (AP) providing customers with additional capacity and support for the IEEE 802.11i security standard and Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 (WPA2).

These new APs take full advantage of the dual band capabilities of increasingly popular IEEE 802.11a/b/g client devices while maintaining full backward compatibility with legacy IEEE 802.11b clients. With list prices just US$100 more than the current single band models, Cisco delivers high capacity, high security and great value to its enterprise customers. Cisco's global strategic alliance partner Intel also announced support for Cisco Compatible Extensions Version 3.0.

For even more comprehensive wireless LAN security, Cisco also announced the integration of industry-leading AirDefense wireless intrusion detection system (IDS) technology into the Cisco SWAN framework. With these integrated wireless IDS capabilities, Aironet APs can provide extensive radio frequency (RF) environment information to the AirDefense server to help enable automated threat protection. Additionally, the AirDefense server can be accessed through CiscoWorks Wireless LAN Solution Engine (WLSE) presenting a single integrated console for both wireless LAN management and intrusion detection.

"Through product development and partnership with industry leaders like Intel and AirDefense, Cisco is expanding the SWAN framework to deliver the security and capacity enterprise wireless LAN customers demand," said Bill Rossi, vice president and general manager of Cisco's Wireless Networking Business Unit. "We'll continue to innovate and expand these partnerships over time to further the leadership we've established with our integrated approach to wired and wireless connectivity."

Taking advantage of the benefits of this approach, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is working with Cisco and AirDefense to deploy and protect its wireless infrastructure.

"As a large customer of Cisco wireless infrastructure and AirDefense wireless IDS, we saw a significant benefit in bringing together the two products to build a highly secure wireless network," said JD Fluckiger, computer protection program manager, of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. "The integration of these two major solutions should lower costs and improve security by enabling flexible deployment of IDS capability and will reduce the cost of deployment and on-going management as well as increase the level of security."

Highly Secure, High-capacity Wireless LANs for the Enterprise Office

With high-performance IEEE 802.11a and 802.11g radios, the new APs provide simultaneous support in the 5.0 and 2.4 GHz bands for a combined capacity of up to 108 Mbps at distances far surpassing that of previous generation radios. The APs comply with the IEEE 802.11i standard for security and WPA2 using Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), the strongest security algorithm defined for wireless LANs, and help to ensure interoperability with wireless LAN devices from other manufacturers. Support for Secure Socket Layer (SSL) means that these devices can now be managed with optimized security through a Web browser.

Like all Cisco IOS® Software-based APs, the Aironet 1130AG and 1230AG Series fully interoperate with other SWAN framework components such as the CiscoWorks WLSE and the Catalyst 6500 Series Wireless LAN Services Module (WLSM). This integrated approach to wireless LAN deployment results in low total cost of ownership while offering unparalleled scalability.

To provide dual band capacity to the installed base, customers can also upgrade their existing IEEE 802.11g-equipped Aironet 1200 Series APs with IEEE 802.11a upgrade kits. New updated Cisco IOS Software upgrade was also introduced and supports Wireless Multimedia (WMM), a new interoperability test from Wi-Fi Alliance for wireless Quality of Service (QoS). Like Cisco's support for IEEE 802.11i/WPA2 and SSL, this functionality will be available across the Cisco Aironet AP and wireless bridge portfolio.

Cisco Compatible Extensions Continues to Grow its Support for Security

To drive innovation through pre-standard capabilities while leading emerging industry standards, Cisco introduced Cisco Compatible Extensions Version 3.0 to include native support for Extensible Authentication Protocol-Flexible Authentication via Secure Tunneling (EAP-FAST), an IEEE 802.1x-compliant authentication type released by Cisco to the public through the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). From the beginning, Cisco global strategic alliance partner Intel has worked closely with Cisco as a lead collaborator in the development of this program and today Intel announced Cisco Compatible Extensions Version 3.0 support for Intel Centrino mobile technology.

Pricing and Availability

The Cisco Aironet 1130AG Series and 1230AG Series Access Points have a U.S. list price of $699 and $999, respectively. The Cisco Aironet IEEE 802.11a 1200 Series Access Point Upgrade Kit has a $299 U.S. list price. The 1130AG Series APs and IEEE 802.11a 1200 Series AP Upgrade Kit are scheduled to ship this month. The 1230AG Series APs are scheduled to ship in December 2004. The Cisco SWAN solution will support the integrated wireless IDS capabilities from AirDefense with a software upgrade that is scheduled to be available to customers at no additional charge in March 2005.