Atheros Communications, Inc. recently announced that the company will offer its JumpStart for Wireless security configuration software as an open-source software. The availability of the JumpStart Developer’s Kit marks the first time that all the elements needed by customers to create and offer a user-friendly WLAN security setup system have been provided in open source form.

“We''re taking aggressive steps to make our secure configuration software available on an open source basis because it benefits the wireless LAN industry as a whole and therefore helps Atheros and our customers,” said Craig Barratt, president and chief executive officer of Atheros Communications.

“Customers have expressed concern about getting locked into proprietary security system(s) that limit hardware choice(s). JumpStart’s ability to work with virtually any silicon solution avoids this problem as well as the fragmentation that would occur if every silicon vendor introduces a different configuration system. We fully support the Wi-Fi Alliance’s work toward developing an industry-standard security setup system. Until that standard becomes available, JumpStart is an excellent option for any WLAN product vendor wishing to offer a simple and secure network configuration experience that supports a wide variety of devices on a broad array of platforms.”

JumpStart leverages the protocol underlying today’s secure e-commerce transactions (the Diffie-Hellman key exchange protocol) along with other proven industry-standard protocols. While these protocols make it possible to achieve enterprise-class WLAN security, designing a secure system that is also easy to use has proven challenging for vendors. JumpStart eliminates this challenge by providing a pre-packaged solution that is readily available in open source form.

Built from the ground up to provide broad interoperability, JumpStart works with a wide array of WLAN silicon solutions-not only Atheros chipsets, but also those from Intel (Centrino), Marvell and Broadcom. It also works with a broad range of platforms including laptop PCs, cell phones, cameras, printers and MP3 players. JumpStart also supports profile management tools such as Microsoft Wireless Zero Configuration.

The JumpStart Developer’s Kit consists of software components for WLAN clients and access points (APs) as well as an application programming interface (API) for working with client-based applications. Additionally, vendors who want to convey the networking interoperability of their products may obtain from Atheros a license to use the JumpStart logo after proving that their JumpStart implementations interoperate with existing JumpStart-enabled devices. The logo help identify products that offer easy-to-configure security supporting a broad array of devices.

JumpStart for Wireless is now OSI Certified Open Source Software. The JumpStart open source code, license and supporting materials will be available from SourceForge, at http://sourceforge.net/projects/jumpstart-wl/.