AirMagnet Launches Surveyor

The AirMagnet Surveyor software, priced at $1,995, automates the collection of Wi-Fi metrics by displaying the results in maps with color graphics, easing the process of ensuring proper signal coverage, access point placement and power, and VLAN bandwidth and speed, according to the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based vendor.

Dawn Niday, client consultant at RedRock Communications, said the Irvine, Calif.-based solution provider plans to use the new tool to jump-start a wireless network deployment at a health-care customer. "We do a great deal of site survey work, and if the training and work we've done so far with [AirMagnet Surveyor] is a good indication, we're extremely excited about the amount of time we'll be saving," she said.

The tool automates manual tasks such as recording radio-frequency readings on paper while walking through a floor or building and then having to create documentation of the resulting floor plans, Niday added.

"We demonstrated [Surveyor] for a client in the education market, and they were so impressed not just with the capabilities, but also with the price point," she said. "They've already committed to a purchase order for it."

Surveyor also enables users to simulate changes to network settings such as access-point channels, transmission power and SSID (service set identifier) and then preview the results via a screen shot of the floor plan, which shows the coverage areas in color graphics.

"This [product] takes a whole bunch of data and turns it into something that you can see, understand and manipulate, and you save buckets of time if you are a network owner or installer," said Rich Mironov, vice president of marketing at AirMagnet.