Reduces Risk and Ownership Costs of WLANs While Optimizing Performance and Service Quality

CAWORLD, LAS VEGAS, June 28, 2004 - Computer Associates International, Inc. (NYSE: CA) announced at the recently held CA World the beta availability of Wireless Site Management (WSM), an innovative solution that enables customers to manage and secure enterprise-wide WLAN deployments while reducing the risk and complexity associated with Wi-Fi (802.11 networks) implementations.

The rapid enterprise adoption of wireless technology is presenting major challenges to IT organizations. WLANs are particularly vulnerable to security breaches since they lack robust and manageable security schemes, and wireless networks can be accessed from outside the enterprises' walls. WLAN security is therefore highly complex and labor-intensive, requiring administrators -- and even end users - to manually configure and manage security settings on devices that access the WLAN.

Proper setup and operation of the WLAN itself is also a major challenge, as individual access points must be configured correctly to minimize radio frequency interference and provide optimum throughput for users. Additionally, "rogue" (unauthorized) access points make even the most secure WLAN implementation vulnerable.

CA's WSM addresses all of these challenges by providing a complete security and management solution for enterprise Wi-Fi networks.

Key features and benefits of WSM include:

  • Automatic WLAN discovery and prevention of rogue users and devices: WSM identifies all WLAN infrastructure components along with their physical locations, enabling administrators to easily identify and disable any rogue devices. WSM agents augment the discovery and detection process by acting as listeners for wireless traffic.

  • Automatic encryption key management: WSM automatically generates, distributes, rotates and synchronizes WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) keys for secure wireless communications based on policies defined by the security administrators. This gives security officers complete control over their WLAN encryption policies and relieves them of the manual work required to enforce those policies.

  • Location- and time-based access control: IT administrators can now visualize their WLAN site on a location-aware map and define the physical areas where the company's wireless network can be used - and the areas where it cannot. This helps eliminate unauthorized access to the network and prevents employees from accessing the network from unapproved locations. Users' access can also be restricted to certain times during the workday.

  • Connection load balance: WSM manages and monitors the configuration, performance and quality of enterprise WLANs by automatically balancing the number of connections on each access point, providing optimal throughput for every connected user.

  • Built-in reporting: WSM generates reports that provide valuable information about the organization's network, such as data on security vulnerabilities or performance metrics.

WSM augments CA's Unicenter and eTrust management solutions by enabling IT organizations to secure and manage the wireless infrastructure as an integrated extension of the wired infrastructure.

"CA's Wireless Site Management provides customers with an effective solution to tame the wireless environment," said Yogesh Gupta, senior vice president and chief technology officer at CA. "By making WLAN infrastructure secure, simple, and manageable, WSM enables CA customers to deliver reliable wireless connectivity to end-users, safeguard otherwise-vulnerable corporate information assets, and minimize the cost of operating the network.." 

 -Ends-

About CA
Computer Associates International, Inc. (NYSE:CA), the world's largest management software company, delivers software and services across infrastructure, security, storage and life cycle management to optimize the performance, reliability and efficiency of enterprise IT environments. Founded in 1976, CA is headquartered in Islandia, N.Y., and operates in more than 100 countries. For more information, please visit http://ca.com.

2004 Computer Associates International, Inc. One Computer Associates Plaza, Islandia, N.Y. 11749. All trademarks, trade names, service marks, and logos referenced herein belong to their respective companies.

© Press Release 2004