Colubris Networks this week will unveil feature-packed wireless LAN access points that company officials say eliminate the need to extend wired networks with WLAN switches.

The access points, which support 802.11a, b or g networks, are designed to simplify deployment of large-scale WLANs by plugging into existing Ethernet switches and using the wired network's security and authentication features. The devices can be centrally configured and managed via a new Colubris application.

Colubris officials say this is a better approach than using WLAN switches, which they say can introduce new protocols and require configuration changes to the wired network.

STSN, a Salt Lake City ISP to the hotel industry, is a Colubris customer and has tested the new access points. A highlight for Justin Powell, director of new product development at STSN, is the access points' support for virtual LANs, which give each guest a walled-off connection from other guests. Other products he has seen "were more of a kludge fixture," he says.

The new access points have been designed to support the IEEE 802.11i security enhancements when they are finalized later this year. The devices currently have Wi-Fi Protected Access, which is a subset of the 802.11i changes, and Wired Equivalent Privacy encryption.

The “kitchen sink” WLAN access point The new CN 1250 enter-prise WLAN access point from Colubris Networks features: • Support for 802.11a, b or g clients. • The ability to run up to 16 service set identifiers to create 16 different “networks” that clients can access. • A built-in VPN, a stateful firewall and two 10/100M bit/sec Ethernet ports.

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The 1250 model, which includes a VPN server for encrypting data, costs $900; the 1210 costs $650.

The Colubris Networks Management System (CNMS) is a $3,500 package that's based on the WLAN management application from AirWave. When a new Colubris access point is plugged in, CNMS detects it and can automatically configure it. Among other things, the application runs a range of diagnostic procedures, detects unauthorized access points and analyzes network performance.