Wi-Fi Experience

Access Softek has strong experience implementing Wi-Fi solutions on both the client side and server side, involving almost every phase of the connection process:

1. Scanning for signals and associating to an access point from a client machine.
2. Integration with Windows Wireless Zero Configuration.
3. Configuring a major manufacturer's wireless base station through a client side application.
4. Doing HTTP based logins to various commercial Wi-Fi networks, including Wayport and STSN, as well as networks implementing the emerging WISPr standard.
5. Implementing server side management of secure gateways.

Projects

• Infonet Mobilexpress dialer client. Infonet is a major ISP to enterprise customers. Access Softek has taken over development of the Infonet dialer client, which at first only supported dialup connections, and since then has added support for Wi-Fi and LAN connections, as well as numerous new features, such as auto launching of Checkpoint, Cisco, or Aventail VPN connections, and the Mobiscan ™ line and signal checking feature. Wi-Fi support included not only signal scanning and association, but automated logins to the various commercial networks in Infonet’s growing footprint, including Wayport, STSN, and networks using the emerging WISPr standard.

• Apple Airport configuration tool. Most wireless access points are configured through HTML-based pages hosted on the access point itself. The Apple Airport wireless base station, however, is configured through client software running on a computer associated to the base station. Apple came to Access Softek to write this configuration tool for the Windows platform. The tool not only configures the base station once associated to it, but also scans for signals and makes the initial connection itself.

• Fortress secure gateway and network management tool. Fortress Technologies sells hardware gateways that provide encryption and access control for wireless traffic. Access Softek is currently creating the next generation Management and Policy Server that will sit behind these gateways, as well as a new Java based client side administration tool to replace the older and simpler HTML based configuration process, that will also contain general SNMP network management capabilities.

Technologies

• Windows Wireless Zero Configuration. We have solid experience utilizing WZC to scan for signals and associate to them.
• Secure Wi-Fi. Access Softek is currently developing a Management and Policy server that will enforce complex rules based access control across multiple Enterprise access points/gateways.
• HTTP-based authorization. Commercial Wi-Fi networks utilize a wide variety of proprietary login protocols, from simple POSTs or GETs on a predetermined URL to elaborate sequences that allow a Wi-Fi client to obtain all the login parameters on the fly, by parsing them out of intermediate pages that are encountered upon attempting Internet access. Access Softek has successfully coded to many such protocols, including Wayport, STSN, and Antlabs.
• WISPr. This is the new standard for HTTP-based authorization that most commercial networks are converging upon. We have implemented client side code that works with networks fully compliant with this standard – as well as with networks not quite fully compliant.

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