Fluke Networks Announces Industry's First Handheld Tool Offering Intuitive, Rapid Wi-Fi Troubleshooting

Fluke Networks today announced the AirCheck™ Wi-Fi Tester, a dedicated handheld tool that delivers quick and easy troubleshooting for today’s increasingly complex wireless local area networks (WLAN). Offering simple, intuitive operation, the rugged new Wi-Fi tester can be learned and used in minutes by frontline IT professionals, even if they have little previous wireless network experience, and is an affordable option for every enterprise, large or small.

The AirCheck tester provides a single, handheld solution for engineers and technicians looking for fast and effective Wi-Fi network visibility. Through an intuitive interface, users can easily verify and troubleshoot 802.11 a/b/g/n network availability, connectivity, channel utilization and security settings. The AirCheck tester allows users to identify coverage and connectivity problems, find unauthorized or rogue access points (APs), see overloaded networks and channels, detect interference and validate security settings.

“Companies are increasingly reliant on Wi-Fi networks but many continue to see them as less reliable than wired alternatives,” said Arif Kareem, President, Fluke Networks. “This is partly because time- and resource-pressured IT personnel do not necessarily have the training or the tools they need to monitor and troubleshoot network issues. AirCheck addresses the requirement to arm frontline IT personnel with an affordable, easy-to-use, portable tool that provides comprehensive WLAN visibility across all Wi-Fi standards.”

The new AirCheck tester is quicker, easier to operate and more portable than any other Wi-Fi tool on the market, making it suitable for everyday use by network support staff irrespective of their level of WLAN training and expertise.  Booting up in less than three seconds, AirCheck automatically starts discovering networks, access points and channel activity immediately. The tester, which has a five-hour battery life, is suitable for one-handed use and most operations require only one or two key presses. Testing sessions can be saved with the press of a single key, and then downloaded via the USB port to a PC for report generation or archiving with AirCheck Manager software. These features are particularly valuable for trouble ticket resolution or escalation, enabling broad access to all the session data captured by the AirCheck Wi-Fi Tester – saving time and resources.

“Solving Wi-Fi issues can be a challenging, frustrating, and sometimes bordering on impossible task,” said Peter Rysavy, Wi-Fi Consultant, Rysavy Research. “AirCheck takes the mystery out of the Wi-Fi environment, enabling practically any network professional, regardless of their Wi-Fi knowledge, to quickly diagnose and solve the most common problems. I highly recommend this product.”

The speed and simplicity of the AirCheck tester not only enables the entire IT organization to troubleshoot wireless LAN issues, it has also been proven to save organizational resources by reducing time needed for troubleshooting.  “We could easily save one or two full workweeks over the course of the year,” said Brad Pritchett, IT Director of Eastside High School (Sammamish, Washington).

Its intuitive interface is built around a 2.8-inch full color LCD screen and a simple menu-based system that can be navigated using just five buttons. The tester measures 3.5 in x 7.8 in x 1.9 in (8.9 cm x 19.8 cm x 4.8 cm) and weighs only 14 oz (0.4 kg). AirCheck Manager software, which is supplied with the unit and runs on a host PC, manages all AirCheck profiles and the information collected from multiple AirCheck testers. The software can help IT support personnel close trouble tickets more efficiently or fully document the problem for support escalation.

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