Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Legra Systems intros new wireless LAN switch ("smart hub") running Linux software

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 29 Apr 2003 12:27:19 -0400

Legra:
The Perfect Prescription?

04.28.03

Despite sounding more like an allergy medicine than a networking
startup Legra Systems (http://www.legra.com/) is the
latest hopeful young company to cough up a wireless LAN switch.

The company, based in Burlington, Mass., and headed up by
LanOptics Ltd. (http://www.lanoptics.com/) cofounder Israel Dror,
is producing a Layer 2 switch, or "smart hub," and Linux-based
security and management software to control wireless LAN access
point networks. (See Vivato's Switch Bitch
http://www.unstrung.com/document.asp?doc_id=27702) for a fuller
debate on what a wireless LAN switch actually is.) The product is
expected to ship in the summer.

So what is there that can set this product apart from the
ever-increasing number of offerings from established players and
startups? (See WLAN Switch Shakeout Looms?
http://www.unstrung.com/document.asp?doc_id=28324) Legra's remote
radio technology means that access points can be connected to the
wired switch already installed in the wiring closet and, as long
as Legra's switch is connected to the existing switch, the access
points can tunnel back and connect to the Legra switch to get
their dose of management smarts and other high-IQ 802.11 features.
In other words, Legra's got a nice, neat migration story for folk
that have a LAN switch installed, want to add smarts to their
access nodes ("if I only had a brain"), but don't especially feel
like junking their existing switched networks.

The company is using a proprietary protocol on top of IP to enable
the connectivity back to the switch. "We're kicking around the
idea of making it available open source," Paul DeBeasi, VP of
product management and marketing, tells Unstrung.

This is in keeping with the company's bullish position on the role
of Linux and the open source community in the wireless LAN world.
The firm claims that its Linux-based wireless operating system,
which is installed on the switch, will make it easy for customers
to upgrade to "best-of-breed" third-party security and management
apps. Legra expects to announce its first customers when the
product launches.

Legra is backed to the tune of $8.5 million by Genesis Partners
and Kodiak Venture Partners.

[Side effects of Legra include stuffy nose, sneezing, headaches,
palpitations, nausea, and hairballs.]

- Dan Jones, Senior Editor, Unstrung

http://www.unstrung.com/document.asp?doc_id=31961

------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-->
Get A Free Psychic Reading! Your Online Answer To Life's Important Questions.
http://us.click.yahoo.com/O10svD/Me7FAA/AG3JAA/61FxlB/TM
---------------------------------------------------------------------~->

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/