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RADIONET RELEASES WLAN ACCESS POINT SOFTWARE AS OPEN SOURCE CODE Linux based Radionet Open Source Environment (ROSE) offers highly customizable platform for building WLAN access points. The Finnish WLAN network provider Radionet today announced the Linux-based Radionet Open Source Environment ("ROSE"). Available as open source, ROSE provides systems integrators, equipment manufacturers as well as private users with all the software required to build IEEE 802.11 standard based WLAN access points. To support the technology, Radionet also launched the ROSE online developer community. ROSE is an open source implementation of the software Radionet has used in building citywide WLAN Hotzones in Finland. The package includes a collection of open source software as well as Radionet's own technology. Based on customized Linux, ROSE offers a comprehensive software environment and it is available free of charge under a GNU General Public License (GPL). ROSE is targeted at WLAN equipment manufacturers and systems integrators as well as private users. For the former, ROSE reduces time to market and cuts development costs by providing an easy-to-use and open platform for developing WLAN solutions. The software can be easily customized with e.g. different graphical user interfaces or authentication solutions and extended by additional Radionet feature packages, which are available under commercial licenses. Suited also for consumer needs, ROSE allows users to turn any computer with a standard IEEE 802.11 WLAN card into a wireless access point. Users can, for example, easily set up a WLAN network at home by just running the software on a laptop. The software has low system requirements allowing users to turn even handheld devices and otherwise outdated computers into WLAN access points. "The WLAN market is in a state of continuous development and new features are constantly introduced and standardized. We believe that WLAN access point manufacturers cannot really compete with standard features such as RADIUS or 802.1x. Competitive advantages must be found elsewhere. ROSE combines all these standard features into a comprehensive and highly customisable open source platform", says Miska Kaipiainen, Director, Business Development, Radionet. "Radionet will stay focused on designing and building citywide WLAN networks and developing technology to meet customer needs in large-scale routed WLAN networks. In addition to the open source ROSE, Radionet will continue providing customers with value adding features such as the MageIPT technology, which enables seamless subnet switching between different access points in citywide WLAN networks", Kaipiainen continues. ROSE Developer Community Online developer community www.rosewlan.com will be the center for Radionet Open Source Environment software development. The site provides developers with documentation, support forums, mailing lists and source code. In addition to the basic support functions available from the open source community, Radionet will market and sell additional support and consulting services. Radionet manages ROSE development together with the open source community and all architecture and future development decisions are done within the community. To support ROSE, Radionet also offers a development kit, which includes a wireless base station along with an integrated antenna in addition to ROSE software and documentation. ROSE can be used with both embedded devices and personal computers. Initially, ROSE is available for Intel and PowerPC architectures and the software can be easily cross compiled to other HW platforms such as MIPS and ARM. Availability ROSE is immediately available and can be downloaded along with full documentation from www.rosewlan.com About Radionet The Finnish wireless technology pioneer Radionet Oy specializes in the development, design and sale of large-scale outdoor wireless broadband networks. Radionet's technology is based on the WLAN standard conforming to IEEE 802.11. Radionet offers comprehensive carrier class broadband Internet base station networks for operators, Internet service providers, telephone companies, power utilities and system integrators. For more information, please visit www.radionet.fi Radionet has delivered wireless broadband networks to several cities in Finland as well as industrial WLAN networks for logistics use.