SCIENCE

Ekahau has introduced Ekahau Mobile Survey, the first enterprise-grade Wi-Fi toolkit designed specifically to operate on mobile phones and tablets. This professional application - which is designed for monitoring, analyzing and troubleshooting Wi-Fi networks - is now available for Android-based smartphones and tablet computers.

Ekahau Mobile Survey provides a powerful tool for analyzing Wi-Fi networks in real-time via a smartphone or tablet computer, minimizing the need for IT managers to carry separate devices. Ekahau Mobile Survey performs active and passive tests to determine if a Wi-Fi network is functional and meets the requirements for coverage and performance for different services, such as VoIP, video, data and real-time location tracking. It measures coverage, data rate, packet delay and packet loss to ensure that the network can meet the performance needs for the various services running across it. Additionally, Ekahau Mobile Survey can detect rogue access points.

When the user is not actively using Ekahau Mobile Survey, the application continues monitoring the network in the background without impacting the ability to use the mobile device for other tasks. If the user visits a location where the network is not performing or doesn't otherwise meet the service requirements, an alarm will sound to alert the user to the problem. All errors are then logged for detailed analysis later.

"Ekahau Mobile Survey is like a Swiss army knife for Wi-Fi analysis that makes it easier and more convenient for IT administrators to analyze and monitor their WLAN networks," said Jussi Kiviniemi, senior product manager at Ekahau. "By placing our industry-leading, enterprise-grade Wi-Fi analysis technology inside an Android application, we're minimizing the need for individuals to tote around dedicated Wi-Fi analyzer hardware. With Mobile Survey, users can start analyzing network configuration or troubleshooting immediately from their handsets or tablet computers, using an intuitive touch-screen interface. And the application allows the mobile devices to continue monitoring the network by transparently conducting periodic connectivity tests, and proactively alerting users to errors."

Ekahau Mobile Survey also integrates with Ekahau Site Survey (ESS), the leading laptop-based Wi-Fi design and deployment tool. When used together with ESS, the infrastructure layout and configurations on the map can be viewed directly on the smartphone or tablet. This map-view also shows the status of nearby access points in real-time. Purchasing ESS is recommended for professional users, but not required for using Ekahau Mobile Survey in a stand-alone mode.

Ekahau Mobile Survey is available for $299 now from Ekahau and through its distributors and resellers worldwide.