For small businesses, wireless access has created a tremendous challenge. Many organizations need strong network security, yet have not been able to justify the expense of the more robust, enterprise-level wireless access solutions that have long been on the market.

That’s why we’re excited about new products soon being released by Aruba Networks. These wireless access points and controllers provide small-scale, easy access to the network, but with high levels of security.

For many years, Aruba has provided some of the market’s most powerful wireless access solutions. Their controllers have provided access points for hundreds to thousands of wireless devices in an organization. But these were too pricey for small organizations that need great security, such as law firms, medical offices and other businesses with a moral or legal responsibility to protect information.

Now, Aruba is launching the Aruba Instant, a virtual controller built into an access point. Aruba Instant is ideal for companies with one physical location and up to 16 wireless devices. The controller supports over-the-air authentication, as well as a wide range of enterprise-class WLAN capabilities:

• A high level of reliability
• Mobility, enabling users to roam effortlessly
• Guest access, eliminating the need to set up a guest VLAN
• Scalability, including the ability to manage thousands of Aruba Instant networks across multiple locations from the centrally located Aruba AirWave solution.
• Intrusion detection and content filtering

According to a recent analysis of wireless access technologies by Gartner, Inc., Aruba maintains one of the largest catalogs of products in terms of access points, controllers, sensors and management consoles, appealing to nearly all network design types and price points, including network designs that embrace the emerging utility access point paradigm.

Aruba’s centralized zero-touch configuration and management model enables its controllers to be deployed, monitored and controlled without any local IT staff. Deployment options include remote management or local configuration via a web interface. Aruba controllers manage authentication, encryption, virtual private network (VPN) connections, IPv4 and IPv6 Layer 3 networking, and more.

The mini-controller will be ideal for branch offices or smaller business environments. It will cost less and consume less power, making total cost of ownership more effective over the long haul.

As WLAN requirements expand, Aruba Instant can be re-imaged as an 802.11n campus access point and migrate to a centralized mobility controller architecture that supports up to 2,048 access points.

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1. Aruba Networks – Wireless Networking
2. The Need for Speed: 802.11n Wireless
3. Ruckus Wireless to the rescue of over-crowded 3G networks
4. A mobility solution to crush your cellular phone bill
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