Information about Wireless Networking Technology

Sectro uses Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and 3G networks to keep its customers securely connected from home to office, from the road to the office, from the Internet to everywhere, or all three. 802.11b Wi-Fi operates at 11 Mbps (newer 802.11g at 54Mbps) — one hundred times faster than a conventional dialup modem connection, and significantly faster than wireless services provided by cellular phone companies (40 – 60 Kbps).

Wi-Fi applications are numerous. Retailers are creating “hotspots”, portals that use Wi-Fi technology to provide wireless connectivity to their mobile customers equipped with wireless PDAs, laptops, tablet PCs, or cell phones. Corporations are replacing extensive, high maintenance wired networks with Wi-Fi-enabled devices and access points. Future applications of Wi-Fi may include the transmission of voice, as well as data.

For customers who want to carefully monitor and respond to changes in their business, Sectro can configure systems to carry out Wireless Application Protocol (WAP)-based data queries at regular intervals and set up alerts to notify technicians, Sales Reps, CSRs, and management of significant changes using Short Messaging Service (SMS) messaging from system to pager or mobile phone. Responders to alerts use Wireless Markup Language (WML) screens to retrieve additional information about the alert and carry out the necessary tasks. Database connections can be established using Open Data Base Connectivity (ODBC) or eXtensible Markup Language (XML) streaming, and customers have the option of aggregating the data that needs to be monitored to an off-site Sectro gateway from which paging and WAP access can originate, or have Sectro establish a WAP gateway at their site.

Wi-Fi is based upon the Open Standard, which uses server certificates to authenticate user logins and encrypt transmissions using the 802.1x standard. 802.1x incorporates Extensible Authentication Protocol: Transport Layer Security (EAPTLS), Protected EAP (EAP-PEAP), and Lightweight EAP (LEAP).

We recognize that Wired Equivalency Protocol (WEP) does not provide the kind of security that corporations with highly confidential data (banks, financial services) require. If you need faultless security transmissions, Sectro can develop your WAP network around the new, highly secure 802.11i (WPA) standard. Sectro ensures that your data is safe by ensuring that the appropriate security standard is applied to your company’s data transmission and then customizing and continuously servicing the security requirements of your WAP network to ensure that it remains safe.