Expand Networks Showcases Satellite Optimization Success at Global Mil SatCom 2010

Expand Networks, www.expand.com, the leader in optimizing WANs for branch office consolidation and virtualization, will be discussing the  latest innovations in acceleration techniques for optimizing high-latency satellite networks  in the most challenging of military environments at Global MilSatcom, 2010, Millennium Conference Centre, London.

Expand is exhibiting with partner, satellite communications specialist, Sematron, during the three day conference. Visit the Sematron stand to learn about Expand Networks full range of WAN Optimization capabilities and discover how it’s virtual and mobile accelerators are advancing the scalability, affordability and performance benefits of WAN optimization across military, government and service provider environments.

Howard Teicher, Vice President for Public Sector & Satellite Markets explains, “Operating enterprise-class applications over low bandwidth-high latency satellite links demands a dynamic, robust WAN Optimization capability to satisfy all network performance requirements. Expand’s flexible deployment options, including virtual appliances running on commodity hardware, and client software for individual workstations, provide an efficient optimization capability for every environment.”

Expand’s WAN optimization technology, with integrated Space Communication Protocol Standard (SCPS) technology, mitigates the effect of low bandwidth and high latency obstacles that can traditionally impede the speed and performance of applications over satellite links. Combining SCPS with compression, byte-level caching and layer 7 QoS, Expand’s protocol agnostic approach accelerates all critical productivity tools and business applications across satellite environments.

Expand’s continued technology innovations have long inspired confidence in the delivery of communications tools over satellite networks, continuing to lead the way in military and government satellite networks, such as the US Army WIN-T INC II environment.  Its Accelerators are also battle-proven in Afghanistan and Iraq with U.S military agencies.

“Expand Networks has long and widespread experience with national security communications programs at sea, on land and in the air,” Teicher said. “With the industry’s best performance over satellite, and dynamic, robust WAN Optimization capability, Expand is best-placed to help organizations overcome the traditional low bandwidth, high latency obstacles that impede the speed and performance of applications and services over  satellite networks.”

http://expand.com/news-events/release.aspx?pressID=68e275f1-997f-40d5-a273-802800083ab2

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Meraki Releases Next Generation 802.11n Access Points (APs ...

Meraki, the cloud-based networking company, today announced the release of its next generation enterprise 802.11n access points (APs). These APs boast improved performance, lower cost, a striking one inch thin design, and are the easiest enterprise access points to deploy and manage.

The two new access points upgrade Meraki's award-winning 802.11n lineup. The new Meraki MR16 is a dual-concurrent 802.11n access point, designed for demanding enterprise and campus deployments.  The Meraki MR12 is a single-radio 802.11n access point, ideally suited for small branches, teleworkers, and home office deployments.

"There are many things to love about Meraki's wireless products," says Bobby Clark, I.T. Project Manager at Remington College, who beta-tested the new APs. "The styling of the MR16 is great, it installs very easily, and then blends into your environment.  We've been extremely happy with the performance, and the cost savings were a huge plus."

Improved Radio Performance

4th generation, 2x2 MIMO chipsets deliver speeds up to 300 mbit/sec for the MR12 and 600 mbit/sec for the MR16. Both APs feature improved transmit power and receive sensitivity over their predecessors, while their high capacity design supports over 100 users per access point. "We are amazed at how many clients one AP can handle and the area of coverage it provides," noted Clark. "This allowed us to replace our previous vendor's APs with fewer Meraki APs and at the same time provide better performance."

Industry's Slimmest 802.11n Access Points

At less than one inch thin, the MR12 and MR16 blend seamlessly into their environment. Unlike other network infrastructure products, wireless access points live out in the open, where a poor design will irk discerning users. The APs' low profile, small footprint, and internal antennas enable mounting in high traffic environments such as lobbies and conference rooms, without creating eyesores for end users and guests.

"When I first got the new MR16 in my hands," commented Clark, "my initial thoughts were of shock at how small the unit was... Meraki gives you a clean minimalist styling that allows their AP's to easily blend with your environment."

"The design challenges of building a one inch thin access point are tremendous," remarks Ben Calderon, V.P. of hardware engineering at Meraki. "The radios, enclosure, shielding, and antenna design all required careful engineering. But in the end, these access points not only have the lowest profile in their class, but actually have higher performance than their predecessors. "

Value Priced, Uncompromised Features

Unlike other value-priced access points, the MR12 and MR16 feature top of the line enterprise capabilities, including spectrum analysis, application-aware traffic shaping, and a policy firewall for guest, user, and group-based access control. In fact, the MR12 and MR16 are the only access points in their respective price classes to include all of these advanced enterprise features. 

Environmentally Friendly Design

Meraki's next generation APs come in a low-volume, 100% recyclable packaging, with documentation provided online. 90% of the access point hardware itself is recyclable, and Meraki's unique multi-tenant cloud-based controller radically reduces power consumption and cooling.

Designed to Simply Work

All facets of the MR12 and MR16 from component selection to firmware and factory testing have been optimized for fast installation, intuitive management, and ongoing reliability:

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PC MAGAZINE REVIEW MERAKI CLOUD WIRELESS LAN

Management Configuring your WLAN (or WLANs) is the next step and simple to do with the Cloud Controller. Name your WLAN and APs and it's pretty much routine configuration from there. The Cloud Controller can create up to fifteen different Service Set Identifiers (SSIDs) so you can create different WLANs for different groups of users. 

There are a number of enterprise-level features available within the management console. Set bandwidth limits, block clients from access or create a custom splash screen that users will see upon accessing your network. As with many enterprise level Wi-Fi solutions, you can opt to upload a map or floor plan to graphically represent the location of your APs. The "Monitor" overview section of the interface interacts with Google Maps. I was able to see the street and building that the APs were setup in.

The Monitor gives you other handy information like usage statistics, the throughput rate between each AP and Meraki's cloud as well as an exportable Event Log and native reports. You can also see a list of rogue APs in the area.

The interface is tailored for those not used to setting up WLANs. Any non-intuitive configuration setting has a link explaining what it does. For example, I was not personally familiar with the "Walled Garden" setting. Clicking on the "What is this?" link next brought up a definition--it allows you to specify an IP range users can access before officially logging into the WLAN, typically via a splash page like those you'd find in a hotel lobby before you access its Wi-Fi.

For businesses that want to bill for Internet access, that's an option. Meraki will send payments to you via PayPal or manual check on a monthly basis once accounts earn more that $20.00. Before you decide to throw a Meraki AP on your home network and charge your neighbors for access however, find out the terms and conditions set by your own Internet provider.

The Enterprise Cloud Controller interface is not the most feature-rich ever built, but it provides all the controls necessary to get one or more professional, secure WLANs in place.

Testing
Bandwidth and throughput testing were conducted with the Meraki gateway AP connected to a 1.5 Megabits per second (Mbps) DSL connection. The throughput test utility in Meraki's Cloud Controller interface accurately reflected the bandwidth of the DSL connection at 1.3 Mbps (taking into account that an ISP's stated bandwidth rate and the real-time rate often differ).

I used Ixia's IxChariot network performance software for throughput testing between two laptops connected to the internal Meraki-based WLAN. I wasn't blown away by the speed when I set the APs to use dual-band mode, enabling both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz. I ran a simple test from one endpoint: a laptop running Windows 7 with an Intel Wireless Wi-Fi Link 4965AGN adapter, to another laptop with Windows XP Pro and a Linksys Dual-band Wireless N adapter. At a distance of 15 feet, about midway between the gateway AP and the repeater, I got an average throughput of 7 Mbps and a maximum of 13 Mbps. I was impressed that moving an additional 15 feet away from the main AP did not cause any signal loss; the average rate at this distance was 9 Mbps and the maximum was 14 Mbps. This was helped by the repeater boosting the signal.

In the 5 GHz band I got much better results. At 15 feet away from the gateway AP, average throughput was 44 Mbps and 53 Mbps maximum. It decreased negligibly at 32 feet: average rate was 33 Mbps, maxing at 45 Mbps.

These are far from the highest wireless-N numbers we've seen. Consider the 158 Mbps rate we got when testing Ruckus' solution or the mind-blowing 232 Mbps of the D-Link Xtreme N Duo Media Router (DIR-855). But Meraki makes up for that with the controls and the ability to easily expand a network with the mesh architecture. Fast as D-Link's router might be, it's not capable of doing the same job Meraki or Ruckus do for a wide-spread business with a building or even a campus that needs Wi-Fi.

Bottom line
So what if Meraki doesn't make the highest performance 802.11n products we have ever seen, not even for a company focusing on the small office. The performance is still pretty good, and what they do get right 100% is setup, configuration, and continued use of a wireless mesh network, all quickly and painlessly. The ease made possible with the Cloud Controller puts Meraki in a class by themselves.

Original Article - http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2358134,00.asp

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MERAKI - All New Dashboard Radio Settings Page

Meraki’s AutoRF technology performs automatic cloud-based, system-wide network optimization to ensure peak network performance in any environment.  Each AP on a Meraki network continually monitors its environment for interference from other APs and feeds this information back to the Cloud Controller.  Last month we added Spectrum Analysis, mitigating interference from non-WiFi devices like microwave ovens and Bluetooth headsets.

AutoRF has always run quietly in the background.  But now, our new Radio Settings page gives you more visibility into what’s happening behind the scenes, and exposes new controls for advanced configuration.

The new Radio Power selector either allows the Cloud Controller to automatically dial back transmit power if it detects adjacent access points stepping on each others’ toes, or allows you to maintain full power for all APs.

The Channel Planning Report sheds light on how AutoRF is tuning your network, providing  visibility into the current channel and transmit power settings for each AP,  as well as the interference sources that were avoided.  If you click on the “Details” link next to each row in the table, you will find a detailed report for all of the APs in your network on a particular channel.

Regular users of the Cloud Controller will notice that some settings previously found under Network Wide Settings have moved to this page, where they fit naturally.

We hope that you find this Radio Settings page helps you better understand how the Cloud Controller is optimizing your network, and helps you to make more informed decisions about how to use the Cloud Controller’s RF controls.  Please let us know what you like, what you don’t, and what you’d like to see next!

http://meraki.com/blog/2010/10/all-new-dashboard-radio-settings-page/


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EXPAND NETWORKS - PUT WAN OPTIMIZATION TO THE TEST ON YOUR NETWORK

	PUT EXPAND ACCELERATORS TO THE TEST ON YOUR NETWORK      Expand's Industry leading Wan Optimization technology enables the building blocks to deliver and control centralized Branch Office IT infrastructures over the WAN. Ensuring your branch office users receive acceptable SLA response times, ensuring maximum user productivity. Your Free 15 Day Evaluation Expand Networks enables you to see how your current WAN is performing. With more optimization, functionality, and reliability residing in a single appliance, Expand Technology means WAN Optimization makes business sense. - Gain visibility into your WAN application & traffic flows - Apply Layer 7 QoS to prioritize business critical applications - Avoid costly bandwidth upgrades using our virtual bandwidth features - Improve Application Response times over the WAN - Mitigate the impact of latency on WAN traffic flows Expand Networks reserves the right to limit, or restrict upon notice, participation in the offer to any person at any time for any reason. Best Regards, Expand Networks Simply click here and register your details for your 15 day evaluation Unsubscribe me from this contact list

MOBILEIRON - The Enterprise Smartphone is Dead

Today, I was watching my son trying to figure out why touching the screen on a BlackBerry Bold does nothing.

Last week, I saw a fantastic presentation from the most innovative IT organization in pharma talking about never building another enterprise app … instead building consumer apps for employees to use.
The week before, at CTIA, I saw some new Android “enterprise-class” phones and couldn’t help but think that design by committee never works.

Sure, there have been a ton of articles written about the consumerization of mobility and IT in general, in the enterprise.  But it did strike me that many of us have been looking at this trend through an inverted lens.
The IT organization in most companies is still adamant about trying to put in place policies and restrictions to make smartphones and tablets feel more like laptops, at least from a security and management perspective.  This is very understandable because the consequences of security failure are high and so we’re trying to keep the enterprise smartphone alive.  But we can’t resuscitate the dead (employees don’t want to use the “old-gen” devices) so we’re dressing up the newcomers to look like the predictable and known.

But it’s no longer about IT.  It’s about the user.  And that user – that person - is a consumer 24 hours a day.  Sometimes they consume personal services, and sometimes professional, but their expectations are equivalent for both.

There will be no more enterprise smartphones or tablets.  There will only be fantastic consumer experiences that can be configured securely.  So “enterprise” becomes a configuration option, not a design constraint.  If I don’t want to use a particular phone or tablet on the weekend, I also don’t want to use it during the week.
Instead of IT telling me “Here is the device you will use for wireless email“, I will now ask IT  “How will you give me a mobile work experience I love?”

Command-and-control will fracture and move to cooperation.  The enterprise risk increases, without a doubt, but so does the value.  That’s a scary equation for most companies because it feels uncertain.  But it is inevitable and  I’ll write in an upcoming blog about how some IT teams are taking on this challenge one step at a time.

http://mobileiron.com/blog/2010/10/the-enterprise-smartphone-is-dead/


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MERAKI - Leave the bug spray to us

Cisco recently issued a security advisory about several serious vulnerabilities for its wireless LAN controllers, including DoS, privilege escalation, and ACL bypass vulnerabilities. These liabilities could allow attackers to modify your controller’s configuration or bypass your ACLs—so if it were my network, I’d certainly want a fix.
Cisco issued software updates, but they’re no quick-snap remedy. Here’s what I’d need to do before I could download the new release:

1. Follow Cisco’s instructions on the command-line to determine which software version is running on my controller.
2. Verify if my software version is an affected release. If it is, confirm which versions are “fixed” and note the “recommended release.”
3. Download and install the patch.

A few of the steps for determining patch compatibility from cisco.com

The real kicker is what I’m signing up for when I actually install the patches.  From Cisco’s advisory:

In all cases, customers should exercise caution to be certain the devices to be upgraded contain sufficient memory and that current hardware and software configurations will continue to be supported properly by the new release…  Prior to deploying software, customers should consult their maintenance provider or check the software for feature set compatibility and known issues specific to their environment.

We don’t mean to pick on Cisco here, and we certainly aren’t implying that one vendor’s products are more secure than another’s.  With any complex system, bugs and security patches will happen.  But the customer experience of dealing with these patches for traditional, behind-the-firewall appliances like wireless controllers is a royal pain. At best, they result in headaches, downtime, and frustration.  At worst, administrators miss patches altogether, and their systems are vulnerable.  Fortunately, The Cloud points to a better way.

The Cloud Controller, like other cloud applications such as Gmail and Salesforce.com, is always up to date.  We push out new features, bug fixes, performance improvements, etc. several times a day.  This is completely invisible to the customer, save for new features appearing from time to time.  (How we do this, and maintain quality, is pretty interesting, but we’ll save that for another post.)

But what about the firmware running on our APs?  They aren’t in the cloud…  Are they resigned to the fate of traditional patch management?

Fortunately, an AP that can be managed from the cloud can also be upgraded from the cloud, seamlessly and automatically.  Our Cloud Controller knows with certainty that all of the Meraki access points deployed around the world are up to date, with the latest features, fixes, and yes, security patches.

Since we can install firmware seamlessly, over the web, we’ve been able to release new firmware every three months or so, continually delivering new features to our customers. We just did one, in fact – with firmware support for application-aware traffic shaping.

Here’s what our customers saw in their dashboard before the update:

Firmware Upgrade Notification in the Meraki Dashboard

Customers can let the upgrade happen on its own, schedule it when they want it, or click “Upgrade Now” to get it right away. It’s worth noting that the upgrade process was engineered to be completely fault tolerant.  Say, for example, you lose power in the middle of a firmware update.  No problem, the AP will boot up with its previous firmware once power is restored.  This technology has let us do quarterly upgrades for four years straight and keep customers happy.

We’re excited about how this system has not only eliminated headaches for our customers, but has also enabled us to innovate much faster.  We hope to see this architecture spread to other types of infrastructure, so patch management nightmares some day become a thing of the past.


http://meraki.com/blog/2010/10/leave-the-bug-spray-to-us/


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