Do you have an iPhone,  Android, Samsung , or any other mobile phone? Not surprising since there will be 15 billion networked devices by 2015¹. With employees (yes, even IT themselves) bringing their mobile phones to work, businesses are seeing at least a doubling of mobile devices per employee; from laptop-only to laptop + mobile phone (+ tablet)².

The IT department is faced with an increased burden on their existing wireless network, while securing email access from any platform and simultaneously ensuring an optimal, reliable user mobile experience. Offering a reliable, consistent user mobile experience used to be a luxury ask; today, it impacts employee productivity. Mobile employee productivity can range from wireless laptop access from conference rooms to roaming the within the building accessing corporate email from any mobile device. This is true for me (working at a large enterprise) and my husband (working at a medium-sized business).

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Tags: 802.11n, access point, Aironet, AP, byod, controller, Ironport, midmarket, midsize, mobile, mobility, network, networking, security, wi-fi, wireless

Extend the reach and speed of your wireless network

A small business makes big demands on its wireless network. It must be fast, so users never have to wait to connect to the local network or the Internet. The wireless network also needs to be able to run the demanding new communications applications that small businesses now rely on. It must even provide a blanket of reliable Wi-Fi coverage within the building premises so that users don’t have to be tied to their desks. And for a small business, high performance isn’t enough—because many smaller companies don’t have on-site IT staff, wireless access points (WAPs) must not only be easy to use and set up, but should also secure their network. The only way to meet these demands is with modern Wireless-N access points that are designed for the small business.

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Tags: AP, networking, selectable –band, small_business, WAP, wireless –N access_points, wireless-N, wireless_networks

As organizations look to improve operations through centralized control, they often need to take into account what would happen if an area of the network fails. In many cases, having a centralized controller-based wireless architecture in organizations with multiple branch offices has prompted the question, “What happens if the WAN is slow, or even worse, goes down?”

Many organizations have been reluctant to implement a centralized wireless controller located in the data center or private cloud due to this concern. Without centralized control, these organizations have two deployment strategies available to them:

• Implement wireless controllers at each branch site. This approach is perfectly fine for an organization with many Access Points per branch, or those that require high throughput for applications such as Video. However, many branches only require a few Access Points per location or require simple applications such as bar-code scanning and printing. For these organizations, local controllers become less cost effective, with the capital expense becoming prohibitive.

• Implement access points running in autonomous mode. This approach eliminates the benefits of having any kind of centralized control such as the ability to centrally configure wireless policy and security setting on access points, WIPS capabilities and advanced mobility services like CleanAir, leaving the branch vulnerable and opening the corporate network to attacks.

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Tags: access point, AP, WAN, wi-fi, wifi, wireless, wireless controller, wlan

When Cisco conducted an industry survey a few months back, the research revealed that 61% of employees believe they don’t need to be in an office to be productive – and two-thirds of employees place a higher value on workplace flexibility than salary. Attitudes toward working remotely have certainly shifted over recent years, as working from home is no longer seen as a privilege – it’s expected.

But for just about any employee who has ever needed to work from home, getting a home office wireless network up and running can be time consuming, even if you already have an existing home network. By the time you change network profiles, start VPN clients, and deal with security concerns, not to mention time spent on the phone with the corporate IT helpdesk, you can easily spend a good chunk of your day setting up and configuring your wireless network.

But once again, Cisco can help.

Cisco announced today new OfficeExtend wireless solutions designed toward making the whole teleworking process painless for both the remote worker and the IT manager back at the corporate office. With the new OfficeExtend wireless solutions from Cisco, not only can you have home network profiles for personal use, but as an additional feature, the very same corporate WLAN profiles and security that you using at the office can now be replicated at home.  And better yet, the new wireless solutions require no intervention from end users by allowing IT departments to remotely manage home access points alongside the rest of their corporate infrastructure.   Read More »

Tags: 802.11n, access point, Aironet, AP, Cisco, Cisco 2500 Series, Cisco Aironet 600, Cisco Catalyst 6500, Cisco ClientLink, Cisco Connected World Report, Cisco ISR G2 Services-Ready Engine, Cisco VideoStream, Cisco Wireless Business Unit, Cisco Wireless Services Module, cleanair, controller, dual radio, Hotspot, mobility, OfficeExtend, service providers, videoscape, wi-fi, wireless, wireless controller, WiSM2, WNBU