Fortress Is New Entrant In Wireless LAN Market

Fortress Technologies, an established VPN player in the federal IT space, entered the wireless LAN security market last month with the introduction of the AirFortress solution.

The company will not sell the solution direct to clients but will rely solely on solution provider partners, said Shawn Hughes, Fortress president and CEO. Fortress plans to build a base of about 100 solution providers across the country to market the solution, he said.

To that end, Fortress plans to announce this week that it has signed deals with its first two solution provider partners, Suprtek and e-Rev Technologies. McLean, Va.-based systems integrator Suprtek has a strong position in both local government and military contracts. Dallas-based e-Rev Technologies specializes in the retail sector.

The solution "allays a lot of our customers' concerns about security," said Greg Walker, executive vice president of Suprtek. "We've seen a lot of growth in wireless, and there's quite a bit of interest in the AirFortress solutions already."

The AirFortress solution comprises secure client software, a wireless security gateway, which sits behind the wireless access points, and the access control server, said John Dow, Fortress vice president of marketing. The system is simple to manage, deploy and administer, Dow added.

The gateways list for between $1,995 and $6,000, depending on how many access points they serve, and the client software lists for $49.95 per client. The access control server is currently free with the solution, Dow said. Solution provider discounts range from 25 percent to 40 percent.