Aruba Central Enterprise Cloud Computing

Aruba Central Enterprise Cloud Networking

As organisations become increasingly distributed, the requirement to become increasingly flexible is growing in all areas. This is particularly true within mobility, where improvements promise to allow businesses, and their networks, to evolve concurrently as remote network access becomes even more commonplace.

Advances in mobility and remote user access have positively fragmented many businesses and irrespective of location, the requirement for network connectivity does not diminish. The challenge for network solutions providers is to create malleable infrastructure solutions to facilitate enterprise dispersal and the expanding requirement for reliable mobility.

Aruba Cloud Computing 

Aruba Networks’ latest release looks to remedy this changing landscape with a significant step towards the software as a service (SAAS) model. Aruba Central is a globally distributed cloud-based management platform which aims to help geographically dispersed enterprises to maintain the integrity of their network through a single platform. With Aruba Central cloud computing in place, the networking giant hopes to enable businesses to migrate all network functionality into the cloud, which will enable a far higher level of visibility through a web browser without having to make the all-to-common compromises.

Aruba’s cloud WiFi solution has been designed to function within both virtually controlled and controller-based enterprise infrastructures, making it well suited to small and medium sized businesses with a number of extended branch locations who require a unified single network architecture. Implementing such a solution allows distributed enterprise networks, with multiple WLANs, to be managed from a single point no matter where the administrator might be located.

Boasting greater speeds and superior performance, the cloud networking platform was announced alongside the new Aruba Instant IAP155, a high-performance desktop offering, which will complement the instant 220 series 802.11ac wireless access point. This focus on speed and security, as well as a focus on simple management and resilience, makes Aruba Central a likely fit for scattered, multi-site businesses such retail, financial and legal services, as well as banking and insurance organisations.

Multi-Site Cloud Networks

For multi-site enterprises, cloud networking can have significant advantages both in terms of management and expenditure. Having a large number of office spaces, each with its own separate network solution and dedicated IT staff, can be both costly and difficult to manage. When considering Aruba’s Cloud solution, the ease of set-up is certainly one of its key selling points, making it an attractive proposition for businesses which have a high demand for connectivity but do not necessarily have the IT resources to implement it.

This can be a particularly attractive proposition for educational facilities who, in recent years, have found the requirement for technology assisted learning to be rising steeply, but do not necessarily have the IT resources or budget to implement and manage such solutions.

Cap-ex to Op-ex

Aruba Central, alongside other similar solutions, follows a common trend across all sectors towards outsourced IT models, which offer a number of benefits for small and medium sized enterprises and organisations. Although cloud WiFi solutions can be relatively easy to set-up and manage, a certain level of expertise is often needed, which creates the ideal environment for bespoke management services to become highly appealing to end-users.

Flexible cost models were seemingly a core concern for Aruba Networks during the development of their cloud managed infrastructure solution. The move away from large capital expenditures in favour of more workable operational frameworks enables organisations to better control their budgets whilst creating high performance networking environments.

Aruba Central with ClientMatch

Within any Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) environment, clients left to make their own, poor, roaming decisions can be somewhat problematic to overall performance and can often lead to a poor end-user experience.

Aruba’s ClientMatch makes significant performance improvements within enterprise BYOD by adding a degree of intelligence to cloud networking through higher levels of visibility and control over network access, whilst mitigating WiFi channel monopolisation. Encompassed within the Aruba Central cloud solution, Aruba ClientMatch technology ensures that all clients on the network are connected to the access point that will provide the best possible experience for the end-user, thus avoiding any network performance degradation whilst actively monitoring the network for RF interference.

Aruba Central Cloud Networking – More Information

If you would like to find out more about Aruba Central Cloud Networking, Aruba ClientMatch, or any other Aruba Networks solutions, contact Ensign on 01929 556 553 or email info@enign-net.co.uk.

Palo Alto vs. Checkpoint – Gartner 2013 Quadrant Review

Palo Alto and Checkpoint are battling for enterprise firewall market leadership.

 

 

 

 

 

 

With Palo Alto Networks and Checkpoint Software both performing strongly in Gartner’s 2013 Enterprise Firewall Magic Quadrant, and seemingly racing away from the fragmented competition, a direct product comparison has perhaps never been more relevant.

Checkpoint’s offerings have come out on top of Gartner’s annual assessment for the past 16 years running; a staggering statistic, which seemingly cements their place as the thought leaders in firewall technology. The company offers what they have dubbed a ‘total security solution’, which encompasses unified gateway and single endpoint, as well as single management architecture.
However, their grip on the top-spot has been slipping somewhat in recent times due to sustained pressure from relative newcomers, Palo Alto Networks. Their ground breaking technology has not only altered the playing field, but given the California-based network security company a real chance of overtaking their rivals.

A bit about the quadrant

The Gartner Magic Quadrant is essentially a way of assessing the competition between the major players in a given sector of the technology industry; In this case, the enterprise next-generation firewall space. The axes of the quadrant have been designed to measure market leadership, based on two key indicators; the ‘ability to execute’ and the ‘completeness of vision’.
The relative ability of each manufacturer is basically an assessment of the resources available to them, and is deemed to be indicative of their capacity to meet demand for, and to ultimately support, a growth in orders.
The second heading, the completeness of vision, indicates the level of technological innovation demonstrated by each product. Once complete, the quadrant’s four sectors categorise each manufacturer as being either being ‘niche’, a ‘challenger’, ‘visionaries’, or ‘leaders’.

How does Gartner define enterprise firewalls?

The enterprise firewall market is being driven by advanced threats to network security, as well as an evolutionary shift from traditional stateful inspection firewalls, to those in the Next-Generation category*. Gartner specifies that products entered into the Magic Quadrant must be able to support single-enterprise firewall deployments as well as large global deployments, including branch offices. The products must also be inclusive of highly scalable management and reporting consoles, products, sales, and support ecosystems which are focused on the enterprise.

*Next-Generation firewalls are characterised by the incorporation of full-stack inspection to support intrusion prevention, application-level inspection and granular policy control.

Head ‘2’ head

As previously stated, Palo Alto Networks and Checkpoint Software both perform well within the quadrant. The two companies alone share the ‘leaders’ space, with Palo Alto adjudged to be demonstrating more ‘vision’ in terms of their technology; a metric which could bode well for outstripping Checkpoint in the future, should the trend continue.
Checkpoint currently occupy the top-spot, predominately on their ‘ability to execute’, which could very well prove to be an accurate indication that their lead is by no means unassailable, given Palo Alto’s sharp rise and on-going momentum.

The technology

Traditional Intrusion Prevention Systems (IPS), such as that of Checkpoint, use port and protocol to classify traffic, which according to Palo Alto can lead to, “erroneous identification of the application”. Contrary to this, Palo Alto have adopted a three tier classification process, a method they feel is more consistent with the type of traffic traversing business networks. Rejecting the assumption that an IP address can be considered a trustworthy indication of user identity, their technology first identifies the application and then traces this to the user; all of which takes place whilst the firewall inspects for policy violations.

In Summary

The inescapable truth to come from Gartner’s 2013 Quadrant, is that Palo Alto currently possess a technically superior product, one that boasts more innovation and advancements than that of their Checkpoint counterpart, not to mention anyone else – a fact that has earned Palo industry recognition, and seen the relative latecomers perform such a remarkable ascent.
It is this level of protocol sophistication that has made Palo Alto firewalls such a strong contender to Checkpoint, and shows precisely why Gartner’s Quadrant estimates Palo’s ‘vision’ as being a commanding factor in their play for market leadership.

If you found this blog useful we’d love to hear your feedback.

To find out more about Palo Alto and next generation firewalls, speak to one of the Ensign team

UPDATE! Latest Palo Alto enterprise security and WildFire advancements have boosted the defence against modern malware.

802.11ac – The Fifth Generation of WiFi

802.11ac – The fifth generation of WiFi.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With the rollout of 802.11ac due sometime this year, we thought a mini overview of the new WiFi standard might be useful for those of you either contemplating an upgrade of your current wireless LAN, or who may have some questions surrounding its features and technologies.

802.11ac is a new WiFi standard operating on the 5Ghz band (thereby avoiding much of the interference from devices operating on 2.4Ghz), and builds on the current 802.11n standard to provide users with the very best in wireless mobility and performance; comparable with that of Gigabit Ethernet networks.

The business networking implications of 802.11ac promise to be significant, as it not only boasts the potential to satisfy higher user densities, but does so whilst maintaining unprecedented levels of QoS (quality of service) and user-experience. This will ultimately allow enterprise environments with large numbers of clients and devices to deliver fast and robust network access like never before.

The increased speed of 802.11ac has been achieved through a number of technologies which allow the provision of far higher data rates across the network. Channel bandwidth (up to 160 MHz), constellation density and the number of spatial streams (up to 8), are all utilised to yield unprecedented levels of performance, which will theoretically enable throughput of up-to 1 Gbit/s, depending on the type of network. In addition, increased modulation[1] and ‘beamforming’[2] will enable the client to roam further away from the wireless access point than has been previously possible, without any degradation in performance.

As previously mentioned, 802.11ac WiFi technology will also significantly increase the potential capacity of the wireless LAN, allowing higher simultaneous densities of tablets and smartphones onto the network. This is achieved through MU-MIMO (multi-user MIMO), which enables any single AP within the network to support multiple users, sending and receiving signals concurrently to multiple devices.

What does this mean for the user?

The speed of 802.11ac provides enterprise clients with seemingly instantaneous data transfer, consistent quality of service as well as rapid networking, and is robust enough to deal with the demands of high-density, multi –client/multi-device environments. The new standard also further enables the adoption of web 2.0 applications, such as video streaming, through a broader range of devices and provides significant power savings through accelerated log-in and log-off times.

So is it worth the wait?

Faster speeds, wider bandwidths and network future-proofing are all great selling points and certainly worth consideration when 802.11ac clients begin to dominate the enterprise network space. However, this is by no means imminent, and the current 802.11n standard is hardly outdated;  albeit slightly slower and more restricted in terms of bandwidth than .11ac, .11n is more than suitable for the majority of today’s enterprise network demands.

What would we suggest?

Taking all of the above into consideration, as 802.11ac features backwards compatibility with 802.11n, some organisations may want to consider installing 802.11ac sooner rather than later; doing so will ensure that they have the technology in place when clients do eventually ‘catch-up’. That said, the choice of hardware on the market is somewhat limited, with Cisco currently offering just one modular device and Aruba’s first .11ac access point unveiled just last month (May 21, bit.ly/1813Rm3).

So, whilst it is worth taking note of the potential of an .11ac wireless LAN, realistic ‘real world’ deployment is still a way off, and immediate action, in most cases, is not necessarily required.

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[1] By Increasing the modulation from the .11n 64-QAM (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation) to 256-QAM, .11ac can achieve a 33% increase in data rates by representing eight bits per symbol rather than the previous  maximum of six.

[2] Beamforming, sometimes referred to as ‘spatial filtering’, is a signal processing technique used to achieve spatial selectivity, improving overall signal transmission or reception.

Next-Generation Firewalls for Dummies – Free Download

Palo Alto Firewalls – A Dummies Guide

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Much like our busy, pot-hole ridden, roads, it is likely that in recent years, you’ve noticed an increase in the amount (and type) of traffic traversing your enterprise network.

The technology being implemented within the workplace has grown in sophistication, and in the majority of cases, is no longer signed off or even selected by IT departments. Aside from our desktop machines, there are numerous other devices, such as smartphones, tablets and netbooks for which their users require the same level of access. The applications being used by this new army of devices can carry harmful viruses, malware and other threats. So, whilst having fantastic effects on productivity and employee satisfaction,  they come with a certain degree of risk to the overall security and well being of your business network.

From these circumstances, what we see emerging is a simple benefit Vs risk scenario, in which the substantial pros of implementing web 2.0 applications within the workplace, can be offset by the level of risk they pose when not properly monitored. So what next?

There are undoubtedly a million and one places in which you could begin thinking about your network security options… but….If you are seriously concerned about this next generation of threats to your enterprise network, and are unsure where the answers might lie, help is here…

This easy to understand introduction to next-generation firewalls is a great place to start your research.  Next Generation Firewalls for Dummies will provide you with some of the key pieces of information that can help you begin a better, more informed, enquiry into updating or implementing a next-generation firewall network infrastructure. You can download your free copy here… or by going to http://www.ensign-net.co.uk/firewalls_for_dummies_download.html

Ensign are always happy to discuss a solution for your specific business needs, and can even arrange a courtesy test to identify what threats, if any, there are to your network before any further action is taken.

Get in touch today www.ensign-net.co.uk

 

 

Some pictures from our guys up North

The Ensign ‘Frogmen’ preparing for a subterranean adventure 

Ensign continue to work closely with the Peel Ports group as they expand their operation at Liverpool’s Mersey Docks.

A high-performance wireless network is critical to the day-to-day operation of the rapidly growing port and, as our guys are proving, no obstacle is too great when connecting the 120 acre site. In order to connect two of the sites’ many distributed buildings, pulling an 8 core fibre through the services ducts was the order of the day.

The task was not without its risks – Matt Harte, Ensign’s Technical Sales Manager, thought we had a man MIA, saying, “I thought we had lost Adam at one point as he went head first down a very narrow manhole up to his waist.”

Luckily, with a bit of assistance, Adam was extracted from the murky depths in one piece and the job was a success!

Keep up the good work guys!

Into the depths they went…

Enterprise Network Security – Should You Upgrade Your Firewall?

Is it time you updated your enterprise network security? I’m afraid to say that the answer is in many cases, a resounding yes. As you may have read in one of our previous blog posts, bring-your-own-device (BYOD) is fast becoming an integral part of today’s enterprise IT infrastructure, an infrastructure that more than likely was not built to support such a large volume of files and devices.

In the past it’s fair to say that more traditional corporate network security was far simpler, dealing only with business specific applications and threats coming from a comparatively small number of devices. The productivity that undoubtedly accompanies the trend of allowing employees the freedom to use their own devices, and the money saved on hardware and additional services both come with a kicker – a host of viruses carried by employee applications, malware and other threats to the enterprise network are fast becoming a stepping stone for hackers attempting to get at your data.

The Palo Alto PA-4000 Next-Generation Firewall

Put bluntly, older security infrastructures are simply not sophisticated enough to deal with modern day threats, which have evolved significantly further than merely allowing the firewall to identify traffic as either ‘good’ or ‘bad’.

In current times, applications no longer behave and adhere to the simplistic rules that they must use certain ports and act in a standard way. They are now intelligent enough to adapt, allowing them to attempt circumvention of security systems.

So, it’s a given that better network security is a must if your enterprise wishes to embrace new technology whilst minimising the risks – risks that can be extremely high and extremely damaging.

The solution – Your enterprise network has a firewall in place… you’ll be fine, right? Think again – sure, there is security in place, but is it the right security to deal with a landscape of 21^st century applications. Your older firewall is likely to be struggling to keep up with the flood of new applications entering your network and it is also likely that you have implemented a number of ‘add on’ features, such as IDS/IPS and web filtering, in an attempt to remedy this situation. This method can be costly, messy and above all, not fully effective as it won’t be seeing traffic at the application level.

Palo Alto Next Generation Firewalls offer a new way of identifying, classifying and tracking the applications and very importantly now, users traversing your enterprise network, according to a set of specific, predefined, parameters. Next Generation firewalls allow you to approach your network security at a granular level, meaning that specific users can be given more or less access according to their working needs.

With Palo Alto network security solutions in place, IT administrators are able to monitor and crucially now, block and mitigate against unwanted behaviour by user (using AD or captive portal), inspect encrypted traffic that can be used to hide malware or spirit confidential data out of the company as well as identifying any and all applications.

Through discarding archaic and primitive ‘blocking’ policies and replacing them with safe application enablement you can allow your network and your staff to evolve. Doing so will allow them to make use of web 2.0 applications, making their jobs easier and more efficient, at no extra risk to your enterprise network and all whilst retaining complete peace of mind.

If you would like to learn more about Palo Alto Firewalls and your enterprise network security, we are offering a unique opportunity to attend a complimentary hands-on workshop, where our experts can guide you through any questions or issues you may have – to find out more visit us here.

Alternatively, if you have any questions regarding your enterprise network security or any other business networking issues, please don’t hesitate to contact Ensign Communications.

What On Earth Is 802.11?

What on earth is 802.11? Like it or not, the technology industry is infamous for its acronyms and seemingly nonsensical letters and numbers to denote products and specifications. This, for some of us, can often be alienating and can make ‘keeping up’ decidedly difficult.

Help is at hand! As well as ensuring that you are well informed of the very latest industry news, our blog will, wherever possible, attempt to shed some light on what one might describe as the more ‘trickier’ side of what we do – we hope that this will help you to make better informed decisions when dipping your toes into the murky waters of wireless communications, or at the very least help you to sound that bit more knowledgeable if any of our topics are ever raised over dinner (however unlikely that may be?).

So, here goes…

802.11 is an elaborate family of specifications for Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANS), there are several specifications within it and occasionally new ones are added. These specifications are established by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), a group best known for developing the recognised standards in the computer and electronics industry.

Put very simply, the standards are put in place to dictate how various wireless devices are designed and indeed, how they communicate with each other.

Still with me?… Good, because it’s going to get a bit technical!

So, where might you see 802.11 mentioned?

If you are in the market for a new laptop or tablet, you may have noticed the proclamations of certain devices which enable you to communicate at ‘ultra-high’ 802.11n speeds – for instance, Apple like to promote the use of 802.11n technology in all of their latest device and computers.

Or, alternatively, you may have joined a public wireless network recently and noticed 802.11 mentioned in its description – ensuring you are safe in the knowledge that you are enjoying an 802.11g network. Phew!

Now, the observant ones among you may have noticed a couple of sneaky additions hidden within the last paragraph – the letters ‘n’ and ‘g’ – why?

Well, If we think of ‘WiFi Technology’ as the umbrella, 802.11′a‘, ‘b‘, ‘g‘ and ‘n‘ are all of the wireless standards within the family ‘underneath’… trying not to get wet. (Not the best analogy, but I think it works…)

A Brief History

1997 saw the release of the very first WLAN standard, named 802.11. Sadly, the maximum bandwidth it could support (just 2Mbps) fell short of the requirements of most applications, resulting in the premature demise of all 802.11 products. However, soon afterwards in 1999 the IEEE improved on the original 802.11 standard, creating 802.11b, which operated at a superior bandwidth of 11Mbps, but with the downside of being susceptible to interference from microwaves, cordless phones and other devices if not carefully situated.

Closely following ‘b’ saw the release of 802.11a (go figure!), which although solved the interference issues (operating on a 5GHz frequency instead of the 2.4GHz used previously), was more expensive and thus far less popular, despite a comparatively rapid bandwidth of 54Mbps.

In 2003 a new standard, 802.11g, appeared on the market (again, go figure!), integrating the best features from 802.11b and ‘a’. This combination brought speed and range, incorporating the 54Mbps bandwidth with a 2.4GHz frequency.

And so finally, in 2009 802.11n was born. Designed to improve on ‘g’, the new standard enables the use of multiple simultaneous wireless signals, as well multiple inputs and multiple outputs (MIMO), allowing the wireless network to have a greater range and improved data flow.

Where next for Wi-Fi?

Due for release sometime in 2013, the all-new 802.11ac standard has been developed with speed and strength in mind.

Far faster than its predecessors, it offers the user a data rate between 450Mbps and 1.3Gbps, and operates in the 5GHz spectrum only, to guard against interference. Wi-Fi’s newest standard also employs beamforming technology, which allows the signal to be intelligently strengthened towards the approximate location of the device in use. A revelation in terms of the technology and one that could very well see the next generation of Wi-Fi competing with more traditional wired gigabit connections… we shall see.

Any questions?

If this brief overview has left you with any questions, please comment below and we’ll get back to you! Also, if you feel like letting us know what you think of our blog, or have any suggestions for future topics or discussions, drop us a comment – we would love to hear from you!