City of Burbank Selects Bluesocket® to Power Its Free Wireless Internet Hotspot; BlueSecure Controller Provides Out-of-the-Box Policy Management and Access Control for First Municipal Broadband Wireless Hotspot in the San Fernando Valley

Business Wire, Nov 1, 2005

BURLINGTON, Mass. -- Bluesocket(R), Inc., (www.bluesocket.com) the leader in open wireless security and management solutions, today announced that the City of Burbank, Calif., has implemented its BlueSecure(TM) 1100 Controller to authenticate users and control session limits and bandwidth for its free wireless Internet hotspot that spans more than 25 blocks of retail, office, residential and entertainment destinations.

The City of Burbank chose the BlueSecure 1100 Controller based upon its policy management capabilities and its ease of use and compatibility with other vendors' technologies.

"We knew that in order to make this wireless hotspot in the heart of downtown Burbank a success, we needed to implement top-notch network equipment to ensure a successful end-user experience," said Perry Jarvis, network operations manager for the City of Burbank. "The BlueSecure controller was critical to our success for a couple of reasons. First, its policy management feature forces users to read and acknowledge their acceptance of the acceptable user policy. Second, the controller provides a granular level of detail on bandwidth usage enabling us to control and monitor users to ensure the network runs at an optimal level."

The BlueSecure 1100 Controller allows the City of Burbank to easily manage its Wi-Fi hotspot, which spans approximately one square mile and covers the entire Downtown area. The Wi-Fi hotspot includes the area that surrounds the Burbank Town Center - the 1.2 million square foot regional shopping center on Magnolia Avenue. Also included in the Wi-Fi coverage area is every major Downtown street, sidewalk, bench, cafe, office and retail store.

The City of Burbank worked with wireless solutions provider M-Gravity to design a comprehensive metropolitan wireless network flexible enough to scale and support many types of wireless usages, ranging from Downtown Wi-Fi for Burbank businesses and customers, to mission-critical municipal data communications. Bluesocket's BlueSecure 1100 Controller manages every single inquiry that enters in and out of the network.

"M-Gravity provides its clients with large-scale, industry-leading wireless solutions by partnering with best-in-class WLAN providers," said Susan Dang, president of M-Gravity. "As a company, we pride ourselves on designing user-specific, high quality wireless networks, and Bluesocket was head and shoulders above every other vendor we evaluated for this vast project. Bluesocket's flexibility and compatibility with other vendors' technologies made its controller the clear choice."

M-Gravity's list of clientele includes Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, Warner Music Group, UCLA, among others.

In the future, the City of Burbank will look to implement VPN connectivity and a mesh network for its city employees. It has plans to eventually migrate to Bluesocket's 2100 Controller as user demand increases.

About Bluesocket, Inc.

Founded in 1999, Bluesocket is the leader in open wireless security and management solutions. Its extensive WLAN product portfolio delivers trust and simplicity to increasingly complex wireless networks. Thousands of BlueSecure Controllers are deployed by leading enterprises including Harvard University, Honeywell, Universal Health Services, Toyota, Parker Hannifin and others who require a higher quality of WLAN service. Bluesocket's long-standing expertise in wireless and security has attracted a large customer base that spans enterprise, education, healthcare, government, library and public access markets. Bluesocket customers can profit from their wireless networks by protecting existing investments, maximizing ROI, and increasing their competitive edge. For more information, please visit http://www.bluesocket.com.

Bluesocket, the Bluesocket logo and BlueSecure are trademarks or registered trademarks of Bluesocket, Inc. All other trademarks, trade names and company names referenced herein are used for identification only and are the property of their respective companies.