Aruba Networks Quarter Loss Widens

Forbes has just put out this press on Aruba, and it goes a little something like this:

“Wireless networking technology company Aruba Networks Inc. said Wednesday that its net loss widened in its fiscal second quarter, hurt by stock-based expenses and restructuring charges.

For the period ended Jan. 31, the company posted a loss of $6.8 million, or 8 cents per share, compared with a year-earlier loss of $3.5 million, or 4 cents per share.

Special charges in the quarter included $6.1 million in stock-based expenses, $1.2 million in amortization expense of acquired intangible assets and a $1.4 million restructuring charge.

Without the charges, adjusted net income came in at 2 cents per share, up from a penny a year ago, the company said.

Revenue grew 17 percent to $47.7 million from $40.6 million.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected, on average, revenue of $45.5 million.

Following the issuance of the report of results, Aruba shares gained 32 cents, or 12 percent, to $3.08 in after-hours trading. In the regular session before the report, the stock fell 12 cents, or 4.2 percent, to close at $2.76.”

It may seem from other press releases that Aruba is increasing with revenue, but they are simply stuffing the channel. Next quarter will be dismissal unless more partners come onboard.

Poudre School District Selects Xirrus to Cover All 50 Schools

School District Saves Money, Time, and Energy by Selecting Xirrus for Wi-Fi Network

 

Xirrus, Inc., the Wi-Fi “Power-Play” that delivers the most wireless coverage, bandwidth, and throughput in the industry announced today the deployment of their Wi-Fi Arrays across Poudre School District (PSD) in Fort Collins, Colorado servicing over 27,000 students, faculty, staff across 50 schools including 32 elementary schools, 10 junior high schools, and 6 high schools. The district-wide deployment is part of an overall learning initiative to use cost-effective, energy-saving technologies that will improve the collaboration and learning between students and teachers—to support and inspire every child to think, to learn, to care, and to graduate prepared to be successful in a changing world—with notebook computers and adaptive Braille Sense devices for the blind.

“There were many reasons we chose to deploy Xirrus, over all the other Wi-Fi vendors” said Victor Rosengren, Telecommunications Manager at PSD. “First, our biggest requirement in selecting our Wi-Fi network was density support—finding a Wi-Fi solution that would scale as we grow over time from mobile laptop labs to a laptop for every student. Second, budgets are always tight, so we needed a solution that would not cost an arm and a leg to install and manage. Xirrus offered us the perfect solution for our needs. By integrating multiple radios and the wireless switch into a single device, we were able to deploy these Wi-Fi Arrays quickly and more cost-effectively without the need of adding large numbers of cable runs and switch ports.”

“Third, we are well known for our energy efficient building projects and our sustainability management process, in fact, we have the first school in the nation to receive the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) for schools Gold rating,” added Victor. By selecting Xirrus, which uses less switch ports, PoE boxes, and access points, we were able to extend our energy savings to our wireless network.”

“Xirrus is refreshingly different from most companies we’ve worked with,” added Victor. “These guys are dedicated to our success. They demonstrated why their solution is superior, conducted a real-world site survey, installed the network, and trained us on the system – all for no additional fee. And the clincher, they gave us a signal strength guarantee ensuring that we’d have the coverage we were promised.”

“Leading school districts like Poudre realize that Wi-Fi does not need to be complicated or expensive to be successful,” said Curtis Reid, Regional Manager at Xirrus. “Wireless networks should take fewer devices and cable runs than wired networks, not more. It’s been great working with Poudre to deploy this state-of-the-art Wi-Fi network that will enable them to better utilize their valuable resources as they continue to provide more educational services to their students and teachers. Find out for yourself why Xirrus is the most powerful Wi-Fi solution on the market today.”

To view this press release, as well as many others, please click here.

Nintendo DSi Release

Nintendo has officially released the drop date information for the DSi in North America. Priced at $169.99, a matte blue or matte black DSi will be released on April 5th, 2009. The DSi is 2.6mm thinner than the DS, has 0.3 megapixel camera, SD card slot, and two 3.25-inch screens. I’d most likely sell my DS and pick this one up!

Cisco admits to security flaws in Wi-Fi kits

“CISCO HAS HAD to release a security advisory and tell IT admins to update their wireless LAN hardware after finding a plethora of vulnerabilities in its enterprise Wi-Fi kit.

Cisco noted there was a risk hackers could exploit certain vulnerabilities and security flaws in its Wireless LAN Controllers, Catalyst 6500 Wireless Services Modules (WiSMs), and Catalyst 3750 Integrated Wireless LAN Controllers.

The firm also admitted all its Wireless LAN Controllers using version 4.2 of its software had problems caused by a couple of denial of service (DOS) flaws with a third DOS flaw hitting versions 4.1 of the software.
Amongst the DOS flaws – which affect Catalyst 6500/7600 Series Wireless Services Module and Catalyst 3750 Series Integrated Wireless LAN Controllers – is a Web authentication bug which can make devices reload for seemingly no reason.

Another bug can cause freezing when malformed data packets are received. Cisco 2800 and 3800 series Integrated Services Routers are apparently not affected.

To top it all, the router maker has also fessed up to its Version 4.2.173.0 Wireless LAN controller software having a privilege escalation vulnerability which “may allow an authenticated user to obtain full administrative rights on the affected system.”

Cisco reckons it found the flaws from trusty old customer support cases as well as its own internal probing, and the firm says it has no reason to believe hackers had managed to exploit the vulnerabilities yet.”

Now doesn’t this just suck for companies that are using Cisco? Wi-Fi users worry most about hackers and that is what Cisco failed to secure, HACKERS! Back to the drawing board Cisco

To go directly to the source, click here.

WiFi Jedi Going Public

Xirrus employee, Douglas Haider, is now going public with his blog. I wanted to help promote it because I do frequent his writings and consider them to be insightful. If you know nothing about Wi-Fi and want to learn more, I suggest checking his blog.

http://wifijedi.wordpress.com/

Internationally Recognized Montessori/IB School and teaching institute Adopt Xirrus 802.11n

Toronto Montessori Schools (TMS) and Toronto Montessori Institute (TMI) Install Xirrus® 802.11abg+n Wi-Fi Arrays™ to Improve Student and Teacher Learning

 

Xirrus, Inc., the Wi-Fi “Power-Play” that delivers the most wireless coverage, bandwidth, and throughput in the industry announced today that the internationally recognized Toronto Montessori Schools (TMS) and Toronto Montessori Institute (TMI), Canada’s first and largest Montessori, has selected to install Xirrus 802.11abg+n Wi-Fi Arrays to deliver high speed internet access for student and teacher online learning.

Internationally recognized and established in 1961, Toronto Montessori Schools (TMS) , is a co-ed, independent university preparatory School. Along with educating over 750 students ranging in age from 18 months to 18 years, TMS also houses Toronto Montessori Institute (TMI), which is one of North America’s leading centres for the training of Montessori teachers and ongoing research into childhood development.

“It is critical that we utilize world-class technology to further the learning and development of our teachers and students,” said Ben Medina, Director of Information Technology for TMS and TMI. “We view Wi-Fi as a means of furthering the collaboration and learning process—by giving Internet access to online educational programs with mobile labs today and a full blown 1:1 student computer program down the road—allowing teachers and students to work and learn more efficiently. However, most of the Wi-Fi architectures I’ve investigated require large amounts of individual access points being tied to a remote controller. Sure, this allows for central management, but at the cost of wiring and security—there had to be a better solution.”

“I was overwhelmed with the Xirrus presentation and product solution—their method of integrating many access points and the controller into a single device, allows me to cut back on the wiring, saving the School and Institute both time and cost, and enhancing internet access security,” added Ben. “As we build out our 1:1 computer initiative, I feel confident we have the Wi-Fi product to make that transition successful.”

“Schools around the world are quickly realizing and adopting Wi-Fi as the primary network connection for users—Toronto Montessori Schools is a great example of that,” said Steve Armes, Regional Manager at Xirrus. “By adopting Xirrus’ 802.11n architecture, Toronto Montessori Schools has delivered a powerful, robust, and secure wireless network that will assist in furthering the education of its students and teachers for years to come.”

For more about this deployment, please click here.

For more about Xirrus, please go to http://www.xirrus.com

Historic School Improves Connectivity for Students and Staff with 802.11n

Marymount High School Choose Xirrus® 802.11abgn Wi-Fi Arrays™ for Campus-wide Deployment

 

Xirrus, Inc., the Wi-Fi “Power-Play” that delivers the most wireless coverage, bandwidth, and throughput in the industry announced today that historic Marymount High School, located in Los Angeles, California, has deployed Xirrus 802.11n Wi-Fi Arrays campus-wide as they begin to roll out their 1:1 computer initiative.

Established in 1923, Marymount High School is an independent Catholic college-preparatory school for girls in grades 9-12. It’s seven building campus, located on a 6.5 acre campus across the street from UCLA, draws students from all over the Los Angeles metropolitan area. Marymount is one of the first all-girls school in the United States to begin deploying a 1:1 computer initiative with Apple® MacBook® computers.

“We selected Xirrus for our Wi-Fi implementation because they have the best architecture available—their Wi-Fi Arrays deliver more coverage, more bandwidth, and more throughput with less devices, cables, and switch ports than anything else on the market today,” said Patrick Lynch, Director of Technology, at Marymount High School. “As we roll-out our 1:1 computer initiative, it is imperative that we begin with a powerful, robust wireless network that will give all our 400+ student body and staff the same user experience as traditional wired connections—Xirrus delivers that.”

“What’s more, the professional and knowledgeable service we received from Xirrus was extraordinary,” added Patrick. “Unlike other vendors who try to sell based on slide-ware and predictive modeling, Xirrus cracked open their products to demonstrate the ingenious design, performed a real-world site survey, helped us create a comprehensive network design, and backed everything up with a signal strength guarantee. I think the most extraordinary thing about Xirrus was their follow up and follow through. From technicians, to site visits, to the roll out of our wireless solution, Xirrus has been there every step of the way to make sure the job got done right—very impressive.”

“It’s great to see schools like Marymount using Wi-Fi as the primary network connection for their students and staff—to learn and work where and when it is most productive,” said Scott Tomlinson, Regional Director at Xirrus. “Marymount now has a powerful 802.11abgn network that is as powerful as a Ethernet workgroup switch, but much more flexible and capable of supporting an assortment of wireless educational tools and applications both now and in the future.”

For this press release and many others, please click here.

Xirrus Announces PCI Compliance Enhancements to Wi-Fi Array Products

First Wireless Product for PCI Compliance Certified by VeriSign

 

Xirrus, Inc., the Wi-Fi “Power-Play” that delivers the most wireless coverage, bandwidth, and throughput in the industry announces VeriSign assessment of the new features that enforce PCI-compliant configurations for the Xirrus Wi-Fi Array product line.

Payment Card Industry (PCI) security standards are worldwide technical and operational requirements that were created to help organizations that process card payments prevent fraud, hacking, and other various security vulnerabilities and threats. All members of the payment card industry, including financial institutions, credit card companies, merchants (retailers, hotels, etc.), and service companies must comply with these standards if they want to accept credit cards.

“To maintain a secure network and comply with the PCI standards, companies must ensure their Wi-Fi networks are secure and automatically protect both their company’s and their customer’s information,” said Kurt Sauter, Director of Corporate Initiatives. “The new Xirrus PCI audit mode, available in all Wi-Fi Arrays, ensures product configuration changes are compliant with PCI standards, disallows changes that would result in a non-PCI compliant configuration, and sends notifications that identify any product that does not meet the new requirements.”

New PCI-compliant implementations that use Wi-Fi are prohibited from using WEP starting March 31, 2009 and current wireless users are required to implement strong encryption such as 802.11i after June 30, 2010. The new features are available beginning in Xirrus ArrayOS software release 3.5 and include additional security features for ensuring the utmost in wireless security including:

Integrated and dedicated Wi-Fi Threat Sensor for continuous monitoring of the air

Integrated rules-based stateful firewall

Reprogrammable FPGA-based encryption engines

Integrated Spectrum Analyzer for DoS attacks and RF analysis

Advanced RADIUS/802.1x user and administrator authentication

Captive Web Portals for guest user authentication and control

Penetration-tested software and hardware platform

FIPS 140-2 Government security certification

“Xirrus is the first Wi-Fi vendor to take their products through VeriSign’s rigorous Security Certification Methodology,” said Katie Jenkins, Senior Consulting Manager responsible for VeriSign’s Security Certification Program. “Our program confirms that Xirrus has demonstrated that it has taken reasonable and appropriate steps to identify and manage information security risks and utilize PCI information security best practices for the evaluated Xirrus Wi-Fi Array products.

To view this press release and others, please proceed here.

Catholic Education Office Sandhurst Increases Network Efficiency with Xirrus

Xirrus, Inc., the Wi-Fi “Power-Play” that delivers the most wireless coverage, bandwidth, and throughput in the industry announced today the deployment of their 802.11abg+n Wi-Fi Arrays at the Catholic Education Office Sandhurst (CEO), which oversees the schools of the Sandhurst Catholic Diocese, Australia.

The Catholic Education Office Sandhurst provides services and support to the school in the Sandhurst Diocese. The Sandhurst Diocese has 43 Primary Schools and 11 Secondary Schools ranging in size from 16 to 550 students each.

“We wanted a high performance Wi-Fi network that would allow our staff to move around the office, but still have network connectivity, said Tom Sexton, Consultant: Facilities and Resources at the CEO. “We looked at several Wi-Fi vendors, but found them to lack in their ability to penetrate our thick brick walls and deliver the necessary bandwidth for out application needs. Besides being impressed with the performance at DOXA School and Galen Catholic College, they came when we called, installed the product quickly, and guaranteed the signal strength based on their real-world site survey.”

“Any organization looking to unfetter users from the desk should check out the Xirrus Wi-Fi Array—their 802.11n Wi-Fi Arrays offer the same user experience as wired, but without all the headaches and expenses involved with wired networks,” added Tom. “We have a Wi-Fi network that can support all of network traffic—from notebooks to handhelds…from Internet access to streaming video—the 11n Arrays handle it all.”

For the whole press release, please click here.

Galen Catholic College Increase Wi-Fi with Xirrus 802.11n Wi-Fi Arrays

Galen Catholic College is located three hours north of Melbourne, Australia with a history dating back to 1898. The school has 886 students. Located at Wangaratta, Victoria, Australia, Galen Catholic College chose to deploy 802.11n Xirrus Wi-Fi Arrays to support their high performance applications and high-density classrooms.

Prior to the upgrade in 802.11n, last year GCC deployed Xirrus 802.11abg Arrays, so switching to n was easy. Xirrus has impressed everyone at Galen with their coverage and wired-like speed experience.

For the whole press release, please click here.

For more info on Xirrus, visit www.xirrus.com