Aruba Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARUN), a global leader in wireless LANs and secure mobility solutions, today announced its new Virtual Branch Network (VBN) solution. The VBN transparently and securely connects remote users with enterprise applications and resources, greatly simplifying the management of branch offices, clinics, home offices and telecommuter while significantly lowering costs. The remote networking market targeted by VBN comprises roughly half of the nearly USD $11 billion WAN edge market.* Growth in this segment is expected to be driven by the need to support increasingly dispersed workforces, lower operating expenses by reducing real estate holdings, and encourage sustainability through teleworking, among other factors.
The VBN solution includes new software for data center-based Aruba Controllers, as well as three new families of wired and wireless Remote Access Points (RAPs) and Branch Office Controllers (BOCs). One of the new RAPs, the RAP-2 make it the least expensive, centrally-managed enterprise branch networking solution on the market.
Today, networking solutions replicate routing, switching, firewall, and other services at each remote location. The equipment required is expensive and the services are complex to set-up and manage, consuming IT resources during the initial deployment as well as subsequent adds, moves, and changes.
Instead of replicating complexity at each remote location, Aruba ’s VBN solution virtualizes complex tasks at data center controllers and pushes them to inexpensive RAPs and BOCs for execution.
A centrally-controlled, policy enforcement firewall in the data center controller governs user access to the network and its resources by pushing policies to dissolvable firewall agents in every RAP and BOC. These agents automatically enforce the policies for every user and service.
Since all of the complex tasks are centrally managed and automatically disseminated, RAP and BOC set-up is quick and easy. Secure one-click installation allows a non-technical person to provision a branch office in minutes, with no intervention or assistance by IT. RAPs and BOCs are transport-independent, and work with virtually any wide-area network - including 3G cellular for instant connectivity. A RAP can literally be mailed to a remote user, connected to power and the WAN, and be fully commissioned following a single data entry. No truck roll, no IT intervention. VBN does for branch connectivity and security what data center virtualization did for desktop applications.
“The VBN solution lowers the cost, complexity, and IT overhead associated with deploying branch offices and teleworkers,” said Keerti Melkote , Aruba ’s co-founder and chief technology officer. “Taking a page from the application virtualization playbook, we are bringing the cost-saving and security benefits of centralized control and management to remote networking. One button installation, zero-touch IT involvement in simple deployments, and a range of elegantly simple and remarkably inexpensive RAPs and BOCs – these are the remedies for the pain points users experience with remote networking today.”
Introduced as part of the VBN solution are three new families of remote devices. All of the devices offer policy-based local and remote packet forwarding, and Adaptive Radio Management (ARM) technology for optimized Wi-Fi operation. A diagnostics feature displays status on a simple user interface, and provides one-button debugging and one-button reset to factory defaults. Other key features of the new product families include:
RAP-2 Family: No larger than a deck of playing cards and designed for use by 1 to 5 users, the RAP-2 is ideal for teleworkers, micro-branches, and SOHO applications. An 802.11b/g Wi-Fi radio and two Ethernet ports for use with wired devices, such as VoIP phones.
RAP-5 Family: The stylish, book-sized RAP-5 includes 5 high-speed Ethernet ports, a USB port for a broadband 3G cellular modem, hardware accelerated encryption, and, optionally, an 802.11n Wi-Fi radio with integrated antennas.
600 Branch Office Controller Family: Designed to be a “branch-in-a-box” for offices with up to 256 users, the 600 family offers a broad range of WAN connectivity, network-attached storage, gigabit Ethernet, power-over-Ethernet (PoE), Express Card, and USB options. An integrated 802.11n Wi-Fi radio option rounds out the package.
A single Aruba 6000 Multi-Service Controller equipped with VBN software will support up to 8,000 RAP or 600 series devices, and up to 32,000 users.
“Aruba’s new VBN solution addresses a challenge faced by India’s enterprises for years, namely how to simply and economically network remote facilities,” said Alok Kothari , Managing Director of Aruba Networks India Pvt. Ltd. “Simple set-up, centralized management, and an extraordinarily low price – these characteristics should make VBN an attractive option for a very wide range of branch office, call center, teleworker, and temporary work applications. Businesses ranging from small enterprises through the largest corporations have the potential to reap significant operating cost savings from this novel solution.”
The RAP-2, RAP-5, and controller software are shipping now. The 600 family will ship in June 2009. For additional information please visit us at www.arubanetworks.com
