D-Link Supports Hotspots with AirSpot

D-Link of Irvine, Calif., today announced that it is launching a new product line called AirSpot that will serve as public/private gateways for use by businesses to start their own hotspots.

The first product in the line is the AirSpot DSA-3100, which will provide a firewall (NAT and SPI), Denial of Service protection, MAC address filtering, DHCP server, and routing for users who wish to access the Internet via a broadband connection. The $599.99 MSPR product is available from resellers and channel partners of D-Link.

The DSA-3100 uses what D-Link calls IP Plug-n-Play (IP PnP) to configure PDAs or laptops for access on the fly, sending the user to a customizable captured portal page to sign in. Up to 50 users can sign on at a time, but the product can store information for up to 250 user accounts in its database. Larger scale networks can connect to a RADIUS or LDAP server to facilitate more subscribers.

Venue owners can go online securely while customers are also online, and owners can access the unit to track how long users are signed on and to monitor what sites customers are viewing. The unit can block URLs at a venue owner’s discretion. Bandwidth allocation limits users so one person doesn’t take over the entire connection.

The DSA-3100 will come with a one year warranty and, like all D-Link products, technical support is free and available 24/7.

D-Link is known mainly for its home and SOHO products, but earlier this summer also unveiled an AirPremier line of enterprise products, specifically targeting outdoor use with ruggedized, all-weather casings.