Asante adds WPA to its wireless router

Asante Technologies has added new features to its FriendlyNET FR1104-G wireless router, including support for Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) encryption, AppleTalk and enhanced syslog services. The enhancements are all through a firmware upgrade to version 1.1 available at the Asante Web site, Asante said.

For businesses using the router with an 802.1x RADIUS authentication server, the FR1104-G supports WPA with RADIUS. For home and SMB users, the router supports WPA with pre-shared keys (PSK), meaning a separate authentication server is not required, Asante said. The AppleTalk support lets users of Macintosh computers to share files with AppleShare servers and print to printers that support AppleTalk.

The FR1104-G router ($117) is a four-port cable/DSL router that includes security features such as a "double firewall" (Network Address Translation with packet and domain filters), stealth SSID, denial of service protection. SNMP management features are also supported. The new syslog features allow for system alerts to be e-mailed or remotely logged according to pre-defined priority levels, Asante said.

Asante also makes two wireless LAN adapters -- the AL5410G ($49) for Windows, and the AL5403-XG ($93) for Mac/Windows.