PLANET3 WIRELESS ANNOUNCES CWNP® PROGRAM ENHANCEMENTS

CWAP® (Certified Wireless Analysis Professional) beta exam now available at all
Prometric Testing Centers; CWNA® and CWSP® to cover wireless LAN integration.

Atlanta, Georgia. - March 2, 2004 Planet3 Wireless, Inc., the creators of the industry standard CWNP Program, today announced that it will merge the CWNI (Certified Wireless Network Integrator®) certification learning objectives into the currently available certifications and training curricula in the CWNP Program, and create a new certification called the Certified Wireless Analysis Professional, or CWAP®. The CWAP certification will replace the written portion of the CWNE® certification. CWNE will become a single practical lab exam, similar in nature to RCHE® and CCIE®. The CWAP beta exam (PW0-205) is now available at all Prometric Testing Centers.

The CWNP Program now consists of four vendor-neutral career certifications in wireless LAN technologies:

• CWNA® - Wireless LAN Administration (Exam #PW0-100)
• CWSP® - Wireless LAN Security (Exam #PW0-200)
• CWAP® - Wireless LAN Analysis (Exam #PW0-205)
• CWNE® - Wireless LAN Expert (Practical Exam)

CWNI learning objectives merged into CWNA, CWSP

The learning topics for CWNI, WLAN switching and middleware (Enterprise Wireless Gateways), will be added to CWNA and CWSP, respectively. CWNI was in development and was due for market release in 2004. Trapeze Networks and Vernier Networks had announced their support for, and participation in, CWNI. With the change, the Trapeze Networks wireless LAN Mobility System will be added to the CWNA instructor-led course. The Vernier Networks enterprise wireless gateway solution has been added to the CWSP wireless LAN security course.

"This is a great opportunity for us to add value to the CWNP Program," said Kevin Sandlin, CEO and cofounder of Planet3 Wireless. "Wireless LAN technology continues to change at a rapid pace. By distributing the training and objectives that would have been in CWNI to our other certifications, we can better meet the needs of CWNP students and training partners. CWAP, the first course of its kind, will focus totally on wireless LAN analysis."

"Trapeze Networks believes that the key to unlocking the potential of the wireless LAN market is education," said Mike Banic, Vice President of Marketing at Trapeze. "Expanding the CWNA and CWSP programs will have significant educational benefits."

Sandlin added: "Even though CWNI would have been very challenging with solid market support, adding wireless LAN switching to CWNA and upgrading our enterprise wireless gateway lab in CWSP brings that learning to more people." At this time, only the classroom materials will be affected by this change. No changes to the existing CWNA and CWSP exams are scheduled.

CWAP (Certified Wireless Analysis Professional)

The next certification within the CWNP program will be the CWAP certification. The CWAP instructor-led training class will cover wireless LAN analysis and troubleshooting, using five market-leading products:

• AirMagnet & AirMagnet Distributed
• Network Chemistry Wireless LAN IPS
• Network Instruments Observer Suite 9.0
• TamoSoft CommView for WiFi 4.2
• WildPackets AiroPeek NX and RFGrabber

Despite fierce market competition among these industry-leading vendors, each has agreed to support the CWAP curriculum and certification. The CWAP curriculum will consist of one day of vendor-neutral instruction on the 802.11 frame structure, 802.11 Physical and MAC layer processes, and use of a wireless LAN protocol analyzer. Day two through day five will each consist of a full or half day's hands-on instruction in each of the vendors' solutions, to cover the following topics:

• Performance analysis
• Security analysis
• Intrusion detection
• Distributed analysis

"This course will be somewhat different than CWNA and CWSP, because students will receive at lease a half day of training on each of these vendors' products," said Devin Akin, CTO of Planet3 Wireless. "Each of these vendors has agreed to license its own day of courseware. Each vendor, or its training partners, can deliver a two-day CWAP class tailored specifically to the vendor's own solution."

The CWAP certification also opens up a new certification path for IT professionals who are moving up through the CWNP Program. Currently, the CWNA certification is required for an individual to attempt the CWSP exam. The same requirement, CWNA, will hold for the CWAP exam. Therefore, IT professionals can choose a focus on wireless LAN security or wireless LAN analysis, or both.

The CWAP exam objectives are available here.

CWNE - Wireless LAN Expert

For IT professionals who wish to prove their mastery of wireless LAN technologies, the CWNE certification will allow them to do so in a hands-on setting. Similar to RHCE, CCIE, and other practical certification exams, the CWNE exam will consist of a proctored one-day lab exam. In order to be eligible to take the CWNE practical exam, candidates must earn the CWNA, CWSP, and CWAP certifications. The CWNE practical examination will be made available in 2005.

About Planet3 Wireless, Inc.

Planet3 Wireless is the creator of the CWNP® training and certification program. The CWNP Program is the IT industry standard training and certification program for wireless networking. Details about the CWNP Program can be found at www.cwnp.com. Planet3 Wireless, Inc. is a privately held Georgia corporation.