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Rollout: AirMagnet Laptop Analyzer Pro: Page 3 of 4

The Infrastructure page lists all the devices on the left and lists the same metrics as the channel page, but on a per-device level. The AirWise screen lists all the potential security and performance problems, and this version offers a lot of flexibility in how it's displayed. The Top Traffic Analysis page is a quick and dirty way to find your Top 10 of almost any traffic metric, including Top 10 stations and APs by speed, frames and retries/fragments. The Decoding page is essentially a packet-capture and analysis tool.

The last screen, WiFi Tools, has its own page rather than being relegated to a separate dialog box. The RF Coverage and Site Survey tools found on that screen offer a poor man's version of some tools found in other commercial products, but for those who need something quick, this should do the trick. The connection diagnostic tools and remaining tools can all come in handy at times.

Going Pro

Laptop Analyzer comes in two versions: Standard and Pro. The Pro version adds several advanced features. If you own a copy of AirMagnet's Spectrum Analyzer, you can view spectral graphs for the 2.4-GHz and 5-GHz ranges. Information regarding non-Wi-Fi signals flow into the calculations for each channel in the Interference page to add a level of sophistication that even the best Wi-Fi card is unable to contribute. Unfortunately, the device identification found natively in the Spectrum Analyzer does not feed the AirWise alarms with information regarding the specific device type or brand and model, due to API limitations or implementation choices. An interferer that was listed as DECT device in Laptop Analyzer was more specifically classified as a Panasonic KX series phone in Spectrum Analyzer. The Pro version also adds 4.9-GHz support for the 50 MHz of spectrum in the public safety band. Wireless cards that support 4.9 GHz remain relatively rare, but AirMagnet lists three cards that can assist with monitoring security and performance issues and troubleshoot problems in that band.