Why not transfert the wireless-independant AP functionalities onto a central Ethernet-PC ?

[Chan Yong Wei]

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This is becoming slightly off-topic, but hey :)

Michael Richardson wrote:
|   I agree. it also has a major win once you consider a conference or other
| event with dozens of APs, and you want them cheap, low power, and trivial
| to set up. That means no space for hifn crypto chips. You need to put that
| stuff in a central place.

I concur as well; I think moving the implementation of wi-fi towards a
model similar to that used with ethernet, with cheaper, dumb (or dumber)
hardware interfaces compared to the currently much more pricey
solutions, would increase the versatility of wi-fi and it's application.

It's like using HostAP and associated drivers to convert client adapters
into 'master'-mode APs; moving the functionality to a software-based
system means you save the often significant cost difference between a
PCI 802.11b client adapter and a out-of-the-box AP.

|
|> Now, if we could get IPsec accelerated hardware and proper
|> IPsec integration in the OS, life would be much better.

Have you read about VIA's new Eden-N processor in development? Quote
from the website (http://www.via.com.tw/en/Products/eden_n.jsp):
[begin quote]
PadLock ACE encrypts at rates of up to 12.5 Gigabits per second (Gbps)
with a 1GHz VIA Eden-N processor, more than eight times faster than the
best software AES implementation from a power hungry 3GHz Intel?
Pentium? 4 processor based system that encrypts at a rate of a mere 1.5
Gbps.

Unlike software RNGs or existing multi-chip solutions, the PadLock RNGs
utilize electrical noise on the CPU to generate market-leading
quantities of high quality entropy for use in the creation of security
keys. The entropy is stored in a collection buffer where it can be
accessed directly via a dedicated x86 instruction without the use of
vulnerable software drivers.
[end quote]

Now -that- looks like a tasty piece of hardware, which, along with the
nano-itx form factor, would make a nasty home-brewed wi-fi IPsec/VPN/AP box.

Regards,

Chan Yong Wei

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