Hyderabad|India|May'2009:
Aruba Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARUN), a global leader in wireless LANs and
secure mobility solutions, has announced its new Virtual Branch Network
(VBN) solution. The VBN transparently and securely connects remote users
with enterprise applications and resources, greatly simplifying the
management of branch offices, clinics, home offices and telecommuter while
significantly lowering costs. The remote networking market targeted by VBN
comprises roughly half of the nearly USD $11 billion WAN edge market.*
Growth in this segment is expected to be driven by the need to support
increasingly dispersed workforces, lower operating expenses by reducing
real estate holdings, and encourage sustainability through teleworking,
among other factors.
The VBN solution includes new software for data
center-based Aruba Controllers, as well as three
new families of wired and wireless Remote Access
Points (RAPs) and Branch Office Controllers (BOCs).
One of the new RAPs, the RAP-2 make it the least
expensive, centrally-managed enterprise branch
networking solution on the market.
Today, networking solutions replicate routing, switching, firewall, and
other services at each remote location. The equipment required is
expensive and the services are complex to set-up and manage, consuming IT
resources during the initial deployment as well as subsequent adds, moves,
and changes.
Instead of replicating complexity at each remote location, Aruba’s VBN
solution virtualizes complex tasks at data center controllers and pushes
them to inexpensive RAPs and BOCs for execution.
A centrally-controlled, policy enforcement firewall in the data center
controller governs user access to the network and its resources by pushing
policies to dissolvable firewall agents in every RAP and BOC. These agents
automatically enforce the policies for every user and service.
Since all of the complex tasks are centrally managed and automatically
disseminated, RAP and BOC set-up is quick and easy. Secure one-click
installation allows a non-technical person to provision a branch office in
minutes, with no intervention or assistance by IT. RAPs and BOCs are
transport-independent, and work with virtually any wide-area network -
including 3G cellular for instant connectivity. A RAP can literally be
mailed to a remote user, connected to power and the WAN, and be fully
commissioned following a single data entry. No truck roll, no IT
intervention. VBN does for branch connectivity and security what data
center virtualization did for desktop applications.
“The VBN solution lowers the cost, complexity, and IT overhead
associated with deploying branch offices and teleworkers,” said Keerti
Melkote, Aruba’s co-founder and chief technology officer. “Taking a page
from the application virtualization playbook, we are bringing the
cost-saving and security benefits of centralized control and management to
remote networking. One button installation, zero-touch IT involvement in
simple deployments, and a range of elegantly simple and remarkably
inexpensive RAPs and BOCs – these are the remedies for the pain points
users experience with remote networking today.”
Introduced as part of the VBN solution are three new families of remote
devices. All of the devices offer policy-based local and remote packet
forwarding, and Adaptive Radio Management (ARM) technology for optimized
Wi-Fi operation. A diagnostics feature displays status on a simple user
interface, and provides one-button debugging and one-button reset to
factory defaults. Other key features of the new product families include:
- RAP-2 Family: No larger than a deck of playing cards and designed
for use by 1 to 5 users, the RAP-2 is ideal for teleworkers,
micro-branches, and SOHO applications. An 802.11b/g Wi-Fi radio and two
Ethernet ports for use with wired devices, such as VoIP phones.
- RAP-5 Family: The stylish, book-sized RAP-5 includes 5 high-speed
Ethernet ports, a USB port for a broadband 3G cellular modem, hardware
accelerated encryption, and, optionally, an 802.11n Wi-Fi radio with
integrated antennas.
- 600 Branch Office Controller Family: Designed to be a
“branch-in-a-box” for offices with up to 256 users, the 600 family
offers a broad range of WAN connectivity, network-attached storage,
gigabit Ethernet, power-over-Ethernet (PoE), Express Card, and USB
options. An integrated 802.11n Wi-Fi radio option rounds out the
package.
A single Aruba 6000 Multi-Service Controller equipped with VBN software
will support up to 8,000 RAP or 600 series devices, and up to 32,000
users.
“Aruba’s new VBN solution addresses a challenge faced by
India’s enterprises for years, namely how to simply and economically
network remote facilities,” said Alok Kothari, Managing
Director of Aruba Networks India Pvt. Ltd. “Simple set-up, centralized
management, and an extraordinarily low price – these characteristics
should make VBN an attractive option for a very wide range of branch
office, call center, teleworker, and temporary work applications.
Businesses ranging from small enterprises through the largest corporations
have the potential to reap significant operating cost savings from this
novel solution.”
Reachout's News Bureau
May' 2009
