MANHASSET, N.Y. — Aruba Wireless Networks will emerge from stealth mode this week with an IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi) solution for the enterprise that it believes will overcome the security, deployment and management fears that are slowing wireless LAN penetration in that market. Based on an intelligent, centralized switch architecture, Aruba's hardware and software combination effectively "locks" the enterprise air space and provides self-calibrating, self-healing capabilities, along with load-sharing and mobile IPSec firewalling at gigabit data rates.
Using a centralized architecture to simplify WLAN deployment is not new. Last September, Symbol Technologies Inc. announced its Mobius architecture based on a central switch and a network of "dumbed down" access ports. Both Aruba and Symbol stress a centralized WLAN's cost-effectiveness, ease of deployment, quick software upgrades and better client service management.
But, said co-founder Pankaj Manglik, Aruba has taken the concept further through advanced signal monitoring, scalable, high-speed security processing with a hardware encryption engine, self-calibration and higher-layer packet processing. Manglik, who was with Alteon before it was bought by Nortel Networks, said, "We have over 20 patents on this technology, starting with the air monitoring."
The air-monitoring function works by constantly scanning the environment for anomalies. In the case of a rogue access point (AP) — a well-documented weak link in any WLAN — it leverages the information contained in the beacons that all APs send out to determine if that AP is legitimate and then shuts down access to that AP if it is found to be unauthorized.
All the other usual security features are incorporated, including Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) and AES, while support for scalable IPSec virtual private networks (VPNs) at LAN rates is provided in hardware. "We also allow VPN roaming from subnet to subnet through effective IP [Internet Protocol] management and apply stateful access policies on a user-by-user basis," said Keerti Melkote, Aruba's co-founder and vice president of product management, who was formerly with Tahoe Networks and Nortel.
Easier deployment
In instances in which an AP becomes overloaded, the switch provides load sharing by increasing the power of the surrounding APs to compensate.
To ease deployment, the Aruba system uses IEEE 802.3af power-over-Ethernet technology with the serial-port cabling included. It also features an automated site-survey function.
Though refusing to discuss pricing at present, Aruba is demonstrating the switch technology and expects to be in beta testing before June.
