MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. -- AirMagnet, Inc., whose wireless LAN monitoring products have become the standard equipment used to deploy wireless networks at the nation’s biggest trade shows, conferences and company events, today announced a partnership with showNets, LLC, a leading provider of network services and technical support for industry trade shows and corporate functions. showNets used AirMagnet in its handheld configuration to set up and monitor extensive wireless LANs at this year’s MacWorld and LinuxWorld conferences and the E3 gaming conference.

“Setting up wireless LANs at events is fairly complex—we’re often providing wireless Internet access to thousands of people and troubleshooting hundreds of devices,” said Paul Gillespie, vice president of sales and marketing for showNets. “We use AirMagnet at all of our shows. The product is indispensable for setting up, monitoring and securing wireless LANs—it’s easy to use and has more functionality than any other product on the market.”

showNets sets up both wired and wireless networks at approximately 30 events per year in North America. The company provides scalable wireless access for 200 to 6000 wireless connections at a typical event. Wireless LANs eliminate wiring in booths and allow attendees and exhibitors to access a show’s network. AirMagnet allows showNets to set up these complex networks, and keep tabs on performance and security issues.

showNets used AirMagnet to set up and troubleshoot an extensive wireless network at MacWorld in July in New York City’s Jacob Javits Convention Center. Monitoring and securing the show was especially difficult, because most of the new Apple iBook and PowerBook laptops include embedded wireless technology and can act as wireless LAN access points as well as clients. Many MacWorld attendees had their wireless technology turned on and didn’t realize it, which created interference issues at the show.

“Our AirMagnet showed us that one user at MacWorld was broadcasting DHCP addresses from his laptop and disrupting wireless connectivity for an entire segment of the exhibit floor,” said David Bishop, vice president of operations for showNets. “AirMagnet has a ‘locator’ capability that works like a GPS device. With AirMagnet we were able to track this user down and fix the problem in minutes, even though the user was moving around the show floor.”

“showNets has one of the most difficult jobs in wireless networking, and their endorsement means a lot to us,” said Dean Au, chief executive officer of AirMagnet. “Deploying, securing and maintaining a wireless LAN at a bustling trade show, where the RF environment is constantly changing, is no small feat. AirMagnet’s comprehensive functionality has helped make it the standard solution for wireless LAN deployment and monitoring in the trade show industry.”

AirMagnet products have also been used to deploy and secure networks at Comdex, Networld + Interop (N+I), Cisco’s Global Sales Meeting and many other events in the U.S. and internationally. At N+I 2003 in Las Vegas, AirMagnet Distributed sensors continuously monitored a total of 416 distinct access points (326 802.11b access points and 90 802.11a access points), and detected 316 undeclared, or “rogue” access points during the course of the four-day event. AirMagnet Distributed product ultimately won the show’s “Best of Interop” award in the wireless technology category.

AirMagnet Inc.