FeatureKey criteria for selecting a secure cloud wireless net work
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A better way
There's a better way. A cloud-managed wireless network offers a far more flexible, cost-effective solution to delivering nimble, reliable, secure and scalable wireless access. With this design, management and control of the network takes place through intelligent APs and virtual controllers that run in the cloud, eliminating the need for a hardware controller. A cloud-managed wireless network greatly increases scalability to meet increasing Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) demands and quickly
Maximum flexibility and security
Organisations are only able to achieve business and network agility by working with a service provider that offers maximum deployment flexibility. As your organisational and wireless needs change and grow, you need flexibility when it comes to managing your network. While there are many benefits to using a fully managed and hosted public cloud service, it is important not to be locked into a single subscription service and to maintain options to move to an on-premises or partner-managed
Secure wifi everywhere
Every organisation wants nothing short of 100% uninterrupted coverage for all users – employees, students, faculty, contractors, visitors and guests.
Users need high-performance, secure wifi everywhere, whether it's an office, classroom or high-density areas such as sports stadiums and convention centres. As users move around your facility, they should remain connected without having to re-login multiple times – a common problem with many wifi networks. At the same time, security should be a top
Optimise wifi performance
You'll want to implement a network design and monitoring system that achieves 99.99% availability, even when taking equipment failures into account. Internet and wifi services are now a necessity. A failure in the system that impacts services, whether through human error or malicious attacks, can quickly impact organisational performance, annoy customers and drive up support costs.
The network design must be carrier grade with built-in redundancy for critical elements such as the Internet
Fast, easy and secure setup
In the kind of infrastructure we're outlining here, installation and access of APs is ‘zero-touch’. Once physically installed, APs are immediately usable. At the same time, onboarding users is quick, easy and secure, requiring minimal to no IT assistance.
To minimise service calls, costs and demands on scarce IT resources, adding and replacing APs as well as providing users with access needs to be fast and simple.
In order to make adding and replacing APs easy and automated, provisioning a new
Maintaining security
Security should be enforced at every entry point with malicious traffic blocked before it gets onto the wireless network. With more wireless data traffic, maintaining data security is very challenging, especially for public networks. The challenge is even more substantial if the wifi network is carrying operational data, as a hacker could not only steal data but take down the network. This is especially crucial when it comes to meeting the requirements for strict industry standards and privacy
Policy-based control
Another aspect of flexibility that is tied to security is the ability to segment use of your wifi network into multiple levels of service. Many facilities need to deploy multiple levels of service for different users as well as keep user and operations traffic separate for security reasons. For example, you may want to provide slower free guest service, higher bandwidth for premium (paying) customers, another level for employees and a fourth level for business operations.
The cloud wireless
Professional services
To ensure optimal performance, reduce the burden on your IT staff and gain predictable costs you may want to turn to professional monitoring and management services. IT departments are overwhelmed with work. A constantly growing and changing wifi network adds to the burden, cost and security pressures. A business-class management service can maximise network performance and scalability with predictable costs.
Look for proactive 7×24×265 monitoring, technical issue resolution, security
Turnkey solution
Ultimately, it's about optimising the performance of your wireless network at an affordable, predictable cost. While it may be possible to meet all of the requirements listed in these guidelines using a variety of resources, a far better approach is to use a solution in which network elements and services are designed to work together. A turnkey solution can successfully deliver the levels of performance, reliability, scalability and security your network – and your users – demand.
Look for a
About the Authors
Jason King is the director of marketing for ProCloud Services and Solutions at Adtran. He is responsible for the overall promotion and positioning of the company's cloud services solutions. He has over 15 years' experience in the high tech marketing industry, including providing consulting services to companies such as Nortel Networks, Polycom and Mitel. Prior to ADTRAN, he held various executive positions with Extreme Networks and Enterasys, including acting as content
References (2)
- Phifer Lisa. ‘BYOD security strategies: Balancing BYOD risks and rewards’. SearchSecurity.com. Accessed Dec 2015....
‘How to: Define Wireless Network Security Policies’. Wireless-Net Consulting
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About the Authors
Jason King is the director of marketing for ProCloud Services and Solutions at Adtran. He is responsible for the overall promotion and positioning of the company's cloud services solutions. He has over 15 years' experience in the high tech marketing industry, including providing consulting services to companies such as Nortel Networks, Polycom and Mitel. Prior to ADTRAN, he held various executive positions with Extreme Networks and Enterasys, including acting as content management and PR lead for the company.
Dan Evans is a product manager at VCW Security specialising in network security and wireless solution selling. He has five years' experience in the IT security and wireless market and has various product qualifications including an ATSA (Adtran Technical Solutions Associate) for Internetworking and vWLAN