Ruckus says it meshes wireless LANs securely

US STARTUP Ruckus said it has introduced a wi-fi system for small to medium sized businesses which circumvents many of the problems of access and security that the world+dog knows about already.

The Zoneflex system is, the firm said, made for SMVs and includes Zoneflex 802.11g, n support, Zone Director controller, and Flexmaster remote management.

Zoneflex includes wireless LAN signal path selection, interference avoidance and auto RF coordination. It also includes Beamflex steering atennae which it claims is compatible with all 802.11 devices. That directs wi-fi signals to clients and adapts to changes in the net, and steers signals in a crowded place.

The firm claims to have overcome the problem of security by allowing system administrators to auto assign a 63-byte pass phrase to users' notebooks, which can be easily de-activated and generates new keys every so often. The user doesn't need to write down incomprehensible hex keys because the client software, corrently available for XP, auto downloads itself.

The firm will sell its products through a two tier distribution model with products becoming available from now through to the end of this year.

* We took the opportunity to ask the guys about the reports based on a BBC Panorama programme this evening about dangers of APs to peoples' health. That, claims Ruckus, is "hogwash". People don't need to be scared about risks to their health.