Aruba Unveils First-of-Kind Wireless Innovations18 January 2005
In a series of industry firsts, Aruba Wireless Networks (Aruba) today unveiled new wireless innovations to its popular grid architecture. Aruba's Wi-Fi innovations let enterprises, for the
first time, securely extend their 802.1X framework for wireless networks
across the Internet using IPSEC, securely connect wired and wireless users
through the industry's first hybrid grid point and see changes to their RF
environment in real time.
The new products and technology are part of a major hardware and software
upgrade now available through the release 2.3 of Aruba's AirOS software
system.
Topping the list of new products and technology being introduced are:
* The Aruba 70, the first hybrid wired/wireless grid point
* 802.1X VPNs for the "thin office" using IPSEC for secure remote
wireless access across untrusted networks
* Configurable time-limited guest access accounts
* Live site surveys that provide real-time monitoring and display of RF
coverage and interference
* 802.11i/WPA 2 support
* Intelligent redirection of traffic to different authentication servers
based on domain names
Aruba's grid architecture is a popular new approach to delivering and
centrally managing wireless, security and mobility services to wired and
wireless users without disrupting current enterprise IP networks. Grids are
transparently deployed as service overlays on top of existing high-speed wired
networks with no logical or physical reconfiguration. Wired and wireless
traffic are tunneled from grid points to grid controllers where services are
provided and security is enforced in a uniform manner.
The First Hybrid Grid Point for Secure Wired and Wireless Access
The Aruba 70 series is designed as an enterprise access device that
provides secure connectivity for both wired and wireless users. In addition,
the Aruba 70 also functions as the industry's first secure remote office-in-a-
box solution, leveraging the industry standard IPSEC protocol to seamlessly
extend the enterprise network across the Internet (see below).
A "thin" form-factor wall-mounted grid point, each Aruba 70 comes equipped
with dual 802.11a/b/g radios, an integral tri-band, omni-directional antenna,
external antenna jacks for a variety of 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz antennas, dual
Ethernet ports, and a USB port for flexible service extensions.
Redundant Ethernet ports can be connected to different Ethernet switches
on the same or on different subnets. Automatic failover between the two ports
ensures non-stop connectivity. A USB port provides limitless expansion
possibilities allowing administrators to quickly enable new services such as
UWB, 802.11n, smart cards for added security, Bluetooth detection, WiMax and
many others.
The First 802.1X VPN Solution for Securely Extending Wireless Access to
Remote Offices
Aruba's AirOS 2.3 brings to market the industry's first 802.1X VPN
solution for securely extending access and grid points across untrusted
networks such as the Internet. Unlike competitive solutions that require a
trusted and secure transport network, Aruba's remote AP solution is the first
to leverage the industry-standard IPSEC protocol to allow access and grid
points to be securely attached to any Internet connection. But unlike IPSEC
VPNs, Aruba's solution requires no client software or client shims such as
with SSL VPNs. Aruba's solutions leverages native 802.1X clients and works
with all corporate applications.
"I can now securely extend my wired and wireless environment anywhere,
anytime, while maintaining complete control," said Brandon Bryant, senior
network engineering at Legal Services of New York. "Remote office users have
the exact same network services available to them as if they were in their
office and I have centralized control as if they were. It's truly innovative
technology."
In addition, Aruba's remote office-in-a-box solution is the only one to
support network address translation traversal (NAT-T). When a native mode
IPSEC tunnel cannot be established, Aruba devices will tunnel IPSEC over UDP
allowing IPSEC to work with any NAT device that does not support IPSEC.
Aruba's remote AP technology is available on the Aruba 60 and 70 series of
grid points.
The First Live Site Survey
With Aruba's 2.3 software comes the industry's first live site survey
capability, giving administrators real-time monitoring and display of RF
coverage and interference. Combining patent-pending RF calibration technology
and sophisticated RF mapping, companies can now immediately view coverage
level, interference sources and other RF data at any point in the network
through an intuitive graphical display.
This eliminates tedious and manual RF fingerprinting techniques that
require physically documenting RF characteristics at various points within the
enterprise. Once collected, this data is used by a computer system to create
RF maps. Aruba's WLAN systems completely automate this process. RF performance
is sampled every five seconds and is immediately displayed through detailed
"heat maps" overlaid on top of floor plans.
Pricing and Availability
Aruba AirOS 2.3 is as a free upgrade for existing Aruba customers and is
available immediately for all stackable and modular wireless LAN switching
systems. The Aruba 70 is priced at US $595.
Source: PR Newswire
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