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The Power of Centralized Intelligence

- Extensive WLAN Functionality
- End-to-End Layered Security
- Layered Security Architecture
- Ease of Managment
- Scalability
- Specification Highlights
- Symbol-Your Complete Wireless Mobility Provider

The WS 5000 Wireless Switch from Symbol Technologies redefines the standard for enterprise class wireless networks, delivering extensive functionality, security, scalability and management at a much lower total cost of ownership than first-generation access point-based networks. By centralizing intelligence that was previously distributed throughout a wireless network via access points, this 2nd generation wireless switch architecture delivers an unparalleled level of wireless LAN control, performance and management simplicity.

Combined with Symbol’s Access Ports, the WS 5000 creates the heart of the Symbol’s Wireless Switch System. The WS 5000 moves beyond access point wireless networking by utilizing an extensible, expandable media independent Access Port architecture that supports 802.11a, 802.11b, and 802.11g, as well as supporting legacy access points. Symbol Access Ports represent the evolution of the access point from a network node that is difficult to scale to a simple RF media access device for the wireless switch. True plug-and-play with ‘zero configuration’, Access Ports are operational right out of the box, and can be mounted almost anywhere—even inside ceiling tiles. The power of the WS 5000 combined with the flexibility of Access Ports, results in a wireless LAN—Symbol’s Wireless Switch System—with unsurpassed functionality.

End-to-end layered security
Our comprehensive suite of security mechanisms—including access-control, authentication, and encryption—can be deployed at various locations in the enterprise network: the perimeter, the network, the servers, and client devices. The result is a layered security model that delivers robust end-to-end security. With support for the wireless security standards of today, and the ability to easily upgrade to tomorrow’s standards, the WS 5000 is the wireless gatekeeper for your enterprise network.

Centralized management
The WS 5000 simplifies day-to-day operations with unified management of hardware, software configuration, and network policies. Centralized management also enables the automatic distribution of configurations to all Access Ports—eliminating the need and the associated costs to configure and manage each access point.

Scales and grows easily
Adding capacity and new functionality is easier and less expensive than an access point-based wireless LAN. The WS 5000 enables your wireless network to scale easily as your company grows, with a slim 1RU form factor that fits easily into any standard network equipment rack. Each WS 5000 supports up to 30 Access Ports and 32 WLANs.

Lower Total Cost of Ownership Outstanding Investment Protection
The WS 5000 removes the overhead and complexity of first-generation access point-based wireless LANs, delivering a wireless network that is less expensive to implement and manage. The extensive functionality, expandability, and centralized management eliminate the time and management costs associated with access point-based solutions, providing a lower total cost of ownership. And with the flexibility to support the standards of today and tomorrow, as well as the legacy wireless networks of yesterday, the WS 5000 provides outstanding investment protection.

Extensive WLAN Functionality
The comprehensive feature set of the WS 2000 provides full control over wireless LAN traffic to provide peak performance. Extensive wireless LAN functionality enables you to maximize bandwidth and throughput, secure network traffic, prioritize voice traffic, conserve power on mobile devices, and provide dependable connection speeds for users in challenging wireless environments.

Scalable Radio Architecture
Each WS 2000 supports up to six single or dual-band Access Port radios (802.11b and 802.11abg) in the 2.4 and 5 GHz frequencies—offering the broadest radio technology support in the industry. The WS 2000 supports a total of four wireless LANs.

Access Ports: Next-Generation Wireless Access Devices
Access Ports bring a new level of simplicity to wireless network implementation and management, as well as an
unprecedented upgrade capability. Access Ports are easily upgraded with new features and functionality via the WS 2000, providing excellent investment protection. A wide range of 802.11a, 802.11b and 802.11g external antenna options enables the design of coverage patterns for the most challenging environments. Each Access Port/radio supports up to four wireless LANs.

The Access Port AP300 supports simultaneous 802.11bg and 802.11a operations and aids in high bandwidth applications. Support for Dynamic Frequency Selection (DFS) and Transmit Power Control (TPC) is included with the AP300 for regulatory compliance and radar detection and avoidance. Both the 802.11bg and 802.11a radios support four BSSIDs (which are mapped to four ESSIDs).

Voice Prioritization
The WS 2000 provides voice prioritization capabilities for devices such as VoIP phones, guaranteeing priority for voice traffic during periods of network congestion.

Power Saving for Client Devices
The Power Save Protocol (PSP) polling feature enables devices to maximize battery life and maintain application performance. The implementation allows devices to conserve power between wireless transmissions and also ensures that packets are stored and reliably delivered when the device awakens.

Virtual AP Enables True Virtual Wireless LANS
Virtual AP enables the wireless LAN to be segmented into true multiple broadcast domains—the wireless equivalent of Ethernet VLANs—providing the ability to map multiple ESSIDs (Extended Service Set Identifiers) to multiple BSSIDs (Basic Service Set Identifiers).

Virtual AP provides complete control over broadcast traffic. Control of broadcast traffic, including network level messages, is extremely important because of its potential negative effect on performance. Intelligent control of broadcast forwarding through proxy ARP and other mechanisms ensures that only the intended recipients receive broadcast traffic. The resulting reduction in traffic maximizes bandwidth and network throughput; device battery life and overall performance are improved with the elimination of the processing of messages intended for other recipients; and the possible compromise in confidentiality and security of messages is eliminated since broadcast messages can no longer reach the wrong recipients.

Load Balancing and Pre-emptive Roaming
Normal roaming does not occur until the device connection has reached a minimum connection speed of 1 Mbps—normally well beyond the boundaries of a cell and approximately halfway through an adjacent cell. Two features, client load balancing and pre-emptive roaming, work hand-in-hand to ensure that devices roam before the connection quality erodes, providing users with more consistent connection speeds for smooth application performance. The WS 2000 provides the information needed for roaming decisions, ensuring that critical wireless connections—such as real-time voice and data connections— are maintained.

Automatic Channel Selection
The degradation of RF performance due to environmental factors is eliminated with Automatic Channel Select (ACS). ACS optimizes radio channel planning and installation, scanning and selecting the best channel for each Access Port based on noise and signal properties. A complete set of configuration controls provides time, mode of operation and Access Port exclusion lists.

Transmit Power Control
Transmit Power Control minimizes radio interference for sites that require a very dense population of radios (Access Ports) to support bandwidth requirements. Configured from within the WS 5000, this can also be part of a group policy.

Transmit Power Control
Transmit Power Control minimizes radio interference for sites that require a very dense population of radios (Access Ports) to support bandwidth requirements. The transmit power along with antenna gain can be set on all supported Access Ports.

Multicast Masking
This feature enables multicast traffic to be sent to intended clients without any queuing, providing essential support for push-to-talk and other multimedia applications.

Proxy ARP
Proxy ARP enables the WS 2000 to respond to ARP requests on behalf of a mobile client, acting as the client’s agent or Proxy. No longer burdened with the processing of ARP requests, the mobile client can temporarily suspend the WLAN adapter. The result is substantial savings of battery power on the client device, while preserving the integrity of the IP connection.

Storage of Software Update Packages for Client Devices
With the WS 2000 and AirBEAM Smart, managing and updating software on Symbol mobile devices is fast, easy— and automatic. The WS 2000 acts as an FTP server, storing software updates via a CompactFlash™ card. AirBEAM® Smart, Symbol’s software management program resident on
Symbol mobile devices, accesses the WS 2000 to automatically download and install everything from new or updated wireless applications and drivers to operating systems on boot up.

End-to-End Layered Security

Network Access Control
Access Control Lists (ACLs)
Layer 2/3/4 Access Control Lists provide filtering for advanced network traffic control, enabling administrators to forward, drop or redirect packets based on application type, protocol, IP Address, MAC Address and more.

Authentication
Authentication ensures that only authorized users and devices can access your network. The WS 5000 provides a comprehensive set of authentication mechanisms to support a variety of security requirements:

Pre-shared keys
Simple shared authentication through non-wireless distribution of authentication keys ensures secure key management.

802.1x/Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP)
802.1X and Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) work hand-in-hand, providing the infrastructure for robust authentication and dynamic key rotation and distribution. EAP provides a means for mutual authentication. Authorized users identify themselves to the wireless network, and the wireless network identifies itself to the user—ensuring that unauthorized users cannot access your network, and authorized users do not inadvertently join a rogue network. A wide variety of authentication types can be used—from user name and password to voice signatures, public keys, biometrics, with the ability to upgrade to support future authentication types. And dynamic key rotation and distribution provides a new encryption key per user per session, greatly increasing the strength of the chosen encryption algorithm (WEP or TKIP) used to encode data. The WS 5000 supports a variety of EAP methods, including Microsoft®—TLS, Funk Software® —TTLS, and WPA—PEAP.

Kerberos
The industry-standard Kerberos v5 protocol meets all of the requirements for scalable, effective security in a mobile environment. Kerberos features mutual authentication and end-to-end encryption. All traffic is encrypted and security keys are generated on a per-client basis, keys are never shared or reused, and are automatically distributed in a secure manner. The Kerberos ticket-based security mechanism enables fast roaming, even with the highest levels of security.

Certificate Based Public Key Infrastructure (PKI)
PKI, used in conjunction with the AES-based VPN transport, uses secure digital certificates to provide robust authentication capabilities including verification of identity as well as integrity of data (ensuring that tampering or corruption has not occurred), and authorization for network access.

Encryption
Encryption ensures that data privacy is maintained while in transmission. As a rule of thumb, the stronger the encryption, the more complex and expensive it is to implement and manage. The WS5000 supports a range of encryption options that provide basic to strong encryption techniques, providing the flexibility to select the right level for your data.

Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP)
The 802.11 Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) provides static key encryption—a single key is distributed to all users for encryption and decryption of data. WEP generates either a 40- or 128-bit key using the widely used RC-4 encryption algorithm. WEP allows full interoperability with legacy clients and provides basic over-the-air security in less-critical environments, such as an open public-access application.

WPA—Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP)
WPA-TKIP addresses well-known vulnerabilities in WEP encryption. TKIP provides key rotation on a per-packet basis along with Michael message integrity check (MIC), which determines if data has been tampered or corrupted while in transit. This robust method of encryption provides a higher level of protection for your data and protects your network from a variety of types of attacks. Released by the WECA industry consortium, WPA-TKIP is an early version of the forthcoming IEEE 802.11i security standards.

KeyGuard™—MCM
This implementation of TKIP is based on the IEEE 802.11i draft security standards. Like WECA’s version of TKIP, KeyGuard provides a different key for every packet of data, but uses a different version of message integrity check (MIC) to determine if data has been tampered or corrupted during transmission.

WTLS Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) Virtual Private Networking (VPN)
Symbol’s AirBEAM® Safe VPN server provides a complete end-to-end VPN, ensuring the privacy, integrity and authentication of your wireless communications. The AES encryption algorithm (the standard encryption used by the U.S. government) provides a very high-level of security between clients and the VPN server. Support for session persistence and resume ensures continuous communications, protecting against interrupted transactions and preventing the need for repeated logins. Extensive client support for DOS, WIN CE, Pocket PC/Window Mobile 2003 and Windows PC platforms provides integration and security for all of your mobile devices.

Ease of Management
Management is intuitive and secure, and can be accessed via our command line interfaces (telnet, serial), embedded web-based java applet, and standard Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP).

Policy-Based Management
Policy-based management enables the creation of user, application, and device groups with specific resource and
network access configurations, including physical layer attributes, WLAN topologies, forwarding rules, and security components. A wide variety of parameters can be configured for each group for up to 32 WLANs, either manually or via easy-to-use wizards, such as radio settings, service definitions, Quality of Service (QoS), virtual LANs, ESS/BSSID domains, Layer 2/3 filtering, DHCP, NAT, and more.

Management Interfaces
Four interfaces provide flexibility for managing the WS 5000:

_The Command Line Interface (CLI) is designed with well-known industry semantics and provides complete baseline management through Telnet or Serial interfaces.
_ Web-based management provides secure, anytime-anywhere management with an intuitive, web-based GUI that supports step-by-step software-based wizards that enable easy configuration of a wide variety features.
_SNMP, combined with our extensive Management Information Base (MIB) support, allows you to manage wireless functionality with common Network Management Station (NMS) tool sets, including Symbol’s Enterprise Mobility Manager (SEMM) and Wavelink’s Mobile Manager.
_ Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP) is provided to support image and configuration downloads.

Automatic Access Port Management
The WS 5000 automatically provides the latest firmware to Access Ports upon installation, ensuring all components in the wireless LAN are always up-to-date. Management is simplified because there is no longer a need to configure and load firmware on each access point.

Scalability
The WS 5000 Wireless Switch System is designed to grow and adapt to changing network and organizational needs. Adding additional network capacity is much easier and less expensive than traditional WLAN solutions: each WS 5000 enables the addition of up to 30 Access Ports and 32 WLANs. The plug-and-play Access Ports are ready to install right out of the box—just attach to your layer 2 LAN with Power-over-Ethernet and the network is immediately operational. LAN network integration is transparent. The result is a highly scalable wireless network architecture that eliminates the complexities associated with the management of a traditional access point-based infrastructure.

System Redundancy
The WS 5000 supports redundant warm-standby switch configuration. Designed for parallel use with an active WS 5000, the WS 5000-RS unit provides complete redundancy. Less expensive than the WS 5000, this secondary device exchanges the system configuration and a simple heartbeat message with the primary WS 5000 switch. In the event of a hardware or software failure, the redundant switch takes control of the wireless infrastructure ensuring consistency of operations and continuity of service.

Power over Ethernet Accessories
To lower your cost of installation, Symbol’s Wireless Switch System family includes a complete line of components to meet all your wireless networking needs, including a complete line of Power-over-Ethernet (POE) devices. POE devices eliminate the need to run costly power lines and install outlets to provide power for Access Ports, simplifying installation and reducing costs.