Socket Communications, Inc. has announced the WLAN Tools Mobile Edition software for its Low Power CompactFlash and SDIO Wireless LAN cards for Pocket PCs. The software provides a new Graphical User Interface (GUI) with advanced network monitoring capabilities for Microsoft’s Windows Mobile operating system as well as support for WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access) and WPA-PSK (Pre-shared) security. WPA offers enterprise-class security – an industry standard instituted by the Wi-Fi Alliance – that combines strong encryption, message integrity checking (called “Michael”), and 802.1x authentication.

The Socket WLAN Tools Mobile Edition provides real-time monitoring of signal strength, link quality, Internet availability, data rate, packets sent/received, and duration of connection. The utility uses Microsoft’s built-in Wireless Zero Configuration tool for wireless network configuration and profile management.

Bundled with Socket’s new utility are new drivers for each card that supports Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) security. WPA is supported using certificate-based EAP-TLS and EAP-PEAP. WPA with Pre-shared Key (PSK) is also supported for SOHO environments. WPA and WPA-PSK are only supported on Windows Mobile Second Edition as well as on some ROM upgrades of the original Windows Mobile – users will need to check with the manufacturer of their device to see if WPA support is available.