Funk Upgrading Odyssey

Funk Software of Cambridge, Mass., is ready to unveil the latest versions of its 802.1X-capable Odyssey Server (now going to version 2.0) as well as the various versions of its client software (moving to 2.2).

The key part of the server upgrade, according to Trevor Failor, the manager of North American channels for Funk, is full support for the extensible authentication protocol (EAP) called PEAP (the first P is for “Protected”).

Previous versions of Odyssey Server only supported the Microsoft version of PEAP. There’s a different drafts of the protocol from Cisco , however (it was co-developed by Microsoft, Cisco and RSA Security) and the 2.0 version supports both.
Other new features include the ability to audit logs for potential intrusions and forwarding accounting records to other RADIUS servers.

Odyssey Server is an 802.1X-compliant RADIUS server with accounting abilities and policy management built in. It also supports other EAP types including TLS, TTLS, and LEAP. Odyssey is focused on small businesses and small branch offices; Funk offers a higher-end product called Steel-Belted Radius Server for enterprises with full AAA services. The server software is $2500 for one server and 25 clients with stand-alone client licenses available.

The Odyssey client software is available for all versions of Windows and the PocketPC OS. Version 2.2 of the client will also have full PEAP support.

The client is also getting support for Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) the recently released upgrade over the wired equivalent privacy (WEP) security most 802.11-based networks have been using for years. To support WPA under 802.1X however, the hardware must also have full WPA support.

Profiles can be preconfigured in the client software for associating with different locations (home, work, hotspot) with different levels of security as needed.

“We want to stay technology agnostic,” says Failor. “We want to support any environment with anykind of vendor and any kinds of protocols.”