The modern workforce is evolving, with more and more employees working from home or small branch locations. While setting up a campus with a secure Wireless Network is becoming a well-understood exercise the question becomes, how are businesses extending the security and control they are used to in a campus setting to the many remote and teleworkers they need to support?
According to Chris Williams, one of Carousel’s wireless networking specialists, one solution that has been taking off with businesses looking to address this challenge is the deployment of wireless Remote Access Points, or RAPs.
What Are Remote Access Points
Remote Access Points are wireless networking devices meant for remote or teleworkers to utilize when
they are away from the main office. A home office worker or a company executive can plug one of these Altoid-box sized wireless appliances into their cable modem or Netgear router and can quickly establish the connections necessary to function as if they were connected via the campus LAN.
Upon initially attempting to connect to the RAP, the user is redirected to a browser window and asked for the IP address of a master controller. Once connected, the RAP automatically pulls down the appropriate configurations, creates an IPSEC tunnel back to the controller, and then safely extends LAN resources, firewall policies, wireless SSID settings, certificate details and even port settings for local switches. In essence, it configures the Remote Access Point to act as if it is set up on the local network providing the worker with a seamless work experience.
Benefits of Remote Access Points
RAPs can provide many business benefits to organizations supporting a remote work force, including:
- Ease of use – you can set up a remote location in seconds and once the connection is established and authenticated, you don’t have to do it again.
- Centralized Control – Campus and remote deployments are managed with the same internal, centrally managed controller.
- Security – businesses can deploy the same security protocols on the RAPs as they do on local services.
- No more VPN: Once the RAP is connected, there is no need for VPN client for remote workers
- VoIP – You can plug an IP phone into the extra port on the back of the device. Since the RAP is connected to the network, plug the phone in and it goes out and grabs a network IP address via DHCP, registers itself and the remote worker’s phone is set up as if they are in the office using an internal IP phone.
- 3G & 4G Support – Someplace where you don’t have Internet access? No problem. Connect your RAP to the network by plugging a 3G or 4G card into the port in the back.
- Content Control – You can even provide content-based controls through the Remote Access Points.
- Low Cost – For a home office, RAP prices start at under $100.
Examples of How Businesses are Taking Advantage of Remote Access Points
- A company wants to deploy a large outsourced call center with remote employees working from home. You provide each worker with a RAP and an IP phone and suddenly you have a totally remote call center.
- Upper level executives set up a RAP in their home office. They go home, open their laptops and they are logging onto the same SSID as they do at work. They have the same work experience regardless of location.
- Businesses have 15 employees attend a tradeshow. They set up one RAP with a 4G card in the back of it, and suddenly employees can work as if they were in the office.
- A Company is opening a new 40 person remote office. They can set the office up with an advance RAP (like Aruba’s RAP-5), plug a switch into the back and you have a remote office in a box.
- A disaster relief agency deploys a team to a disaster area. They land on-site, set up their tent, get Internet or cell access and they are up and running and securely connected to their network in minutes.
For more information on how to extend your network architecture with Remote Access Points, Contact Carousel today.
These remote access points seem to make working off site easy, however, what are the advantages of an actual box compared to downloadable remote access software?
4G isn’t a technology that works on Aruba branch networking Remote Access Points or controllers with a cellular uplink. Aruba has not released a tentative date (to date) on when the 4G device use will go into production or if any solution has been developed. My understanding is that the 4G vendors are doing “their own thing” in writing software which renders it proprietary until someone (IETF perhaps) steps in and forces a standardized interop for appliances (not user devices such as laptops, tablets, etc).