Wireless infrastructure solutions provider, Meru Networks has launched its SG1000 Security Gateway (News - Alert) appliance which the company says can meet the demands of FIPS (Federal Information Processing Standard) 140-2 Level 3 security for U.S. and Canadian government agencies and other security-conscious organizations as they widely adopt wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs).

 

The SG1000 supports AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) 128, 192 and 256 encryption, a secure management interface, tamper-proof labels, and the IEEE (News - Alert) 802.1x standard for port-based network access control with EAPoL (Extensible Authentication Protocol over LAN). I

 

The appliance also meets Department of Defense Directive 8100.2 for the use of commercial wireless devices, services and technologies in the DoD Global Information (News - Alert) Grid.

 

The Meru SG1000 Security Gateway has been formally recommended for validation at FIPS 140-2 Level 3. Federal Information Processing Standard 140-2(FIPS 140-2) is a standard that describes the U.S. Federal government requirements that IT products should meet for Sensitive, but Unclassified (SBU) use. Published by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the standard has been adopted by the Canadian Government's Communication Security Establishment (CSE), and is likely to be adopted by the others through the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). The different levels within the standard provide different levels of security with varied documentation requirements.

 

Level 3 provides physical tamper-proof security mechanisms, including a hard epoxy enclosure, as well as strong identity-based authentication.

 

Meru believes that the new appliance, upon certification, will be able to ensure complete FIPS 140-2 compliance of their wireless networks by adding an SG1000 to an existing deployment.

 

With the steady growth of enterprise WLAN’s from standalone access points (APs) and network interface cards (NICs) to third generation solutions which work well for providing secure wireless access for casual data applications, most vendors have started offering these solutions.

 

Meru Networks (News - Alert) is well recognized in the industry for its innovations that combine seamless mobility with the performance and reliability of wired Ethernet, all at a very low cost.

 

"As wireless becomes an increasingly important component of federal, defense and other government networks, users at these agencies need the same assurances of security that they have in their wired networks," said Sivaram Nayudu, product line director at Meru.

 

"The SG1000 will give federal customers these assurances while allowing them to take advantage of Meru's advanced virtualized wireless LAN architecture, which optimizes RF resources for efficient utilization and reliability, and offers the industry's easiest deployment and management," added Nayudu.

 

Additionally, as Meru's FIPS security resides in a distinct network appliance, its customers have the flexibility to upgrade their controller-based System Director software whenever a new version becomes available, thus enabling them to gain access to new features and functionality.

 

The SG1000 is currently being recommended for validation under NIST procedures by InfoGard Laboratories, the independent, accredited IT security laboratory in the United States, and accredited by NIST as a Cryptographic Module testing laboratory.

 

The Meru SG1000 Security Gateway is available immediately at a starting price of $19,000.