Giants back wireless security standard

Microsoft, Cisco, 3Com, Compaq and others have agreed a wireless standard, called IEEE 802.1x, for enterprise-scale deployment of secure wireless and wired networks.

The new standard featured in yesterday's beta release of Microsoft's upcoming Windows XP operating system, while 3Com said it plans to implement the technology in its wireless Lan and ship 802.1x tools in the second half of this year.

According to the vendors, enhanced security features allow a user to seamlessly roam among different locations and securely access the network.

The Wireless Lan detection and simplified configuration features will enable Windows to automatically determine the best wireless Lan settings. The technology builds on existing standards and integrates with tools such as Radius, Kerberos and LDAP-based directories.

Cisco collaborated with Microsoft in the development of the authentication and security architecture based on the 802.1x and Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) standard.

Bill Rossi, vice president and general manager of Cisco's wireless networking business unit, said: "Microsoft represents Cisco's largest wireless LAN enterprise customer. We have worked closely with them to identify and address the obstacles for delivering a mobile Lan network solution."

Jawad Khaki, vice president of networking and communications at Microsoft, said the collaboration on standards leads to products that will significantly ease the deployment of wireless Lans in enterprise networks.

"With support for IEEE 802.1 in Windows XP, secure, high-bandwidth, global roaming is now possible for all kinds of mobile users, from families on vacation to the casual remote worker to the corporate road warrior," Khaki said.