Wireless startup AirTight is hoping to reach bigger customers in the security market with new software that includes an über-management console aimed at users who want visibility into multiple sites.

The company claims to be the first wireless intrusion detection firm to introduce a "manager of managers," or MOM for short, for large users that want to oversee and get security alerts from a number of sites. Denis Tsu, VP of marketing at the startup, says the firm has tested the console managing up to 70 servers in the lab.

Tsu says that users are already testing the software, but he's not ready to name them yet. However, he hints that they include a "large fast-food firm" and a "large semiconductor manufacturer."

Typically, overall management of multi-site corporate systems use more general software from vendors like Computer Associates International Inc. Tsu says that worried wireless users might use the AirTight software for dedicated mobile security because it is faster at reporting incidents than console software that handles multiple management tasks.

He comments that the release represents the direction the company wants to head in the face of a potential shakeout in the wireless security industry, although he naturally stresses that AirTight is different from other firms in the wireless IDS market, like AirDefense.

"I think that the industry is going through some evolution right now," Tsu says. "But our real competition is guys like Aruba and convincing Cisco/Airespace customers that they need incremental security updates [beyond what Cisco already provides]."

AirTight isn't the only company in the wireless security space with plans to try and expand its presence beyond the wireless IDS space. Rival Network Chemistry has just unveiled new products that apply its wireless security software to the corporate wired infrastructure as well.

Expect more attempts at diversification as this market, which has tended to be dominated by startups in the past, grows up.

— Dan Jones, Site Editor, Unstrung

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