Secure wireless

Overview

Wireless connectivity has become as important to the corporate infrastructure as the wired LAN.
Guest access, corporate access, mobile and tablet connectivity, IP/voice and security camera recordings all used to be primarily wired.  Recently however the tables have turned, like the floppy disk drive which was once a necessity it’s now an add-on, it’s the same with the LAN as the Ethernet port has become less of a necessary to provide connectivity for desktops and laptops and wireless connectivity is now accepted as standard.

Wireless networks do however present their own challenges with regard to security, flexibility and management; Security to prevent unauthorised devices, intrusion attempts and to stop the propagation of any malware; Flexibility to cater for laptops, VoIP devices, printers, smart phones and tablet devices whether owned by the business, an employee or guest user and manageable from a single centralised platform.

Market Trends

For many years businesses have been implementing wireless technology, some of these implementations have been merely around putting in an individual wireless device or access point to cater for guest access and some corporate access whilst other implementations have been around implementing a single controllable wireless solution throughout a LAN / WAN.  We have seen a shift recently with access points now including hardware encryption modules, large amounts of memory and even multi-core CPUs, in fact the access points have become powerful enough to function as a management platform and an access point at the same time which has led to clustered access points that are quickly deployable but nonetheless secure and resilient ensuring that smaller deployments become cost effective and easier to manage whilst larger deployments can take advantage of faster hardware and advantages of a controller based solution.

No one, especially the wireless vendors could have predicted the impact that Apple has played in the wireless arena. The iPad exploded into the market, which in turn led a push for wireless connectivity from senior level staff. This was unusual as for the most part the requirements for new solutions and technology is normally pushed from the ground up. The effect of the tablet PC, smartphone and Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) revolution means that both guest and corporate networks need to offer wireless connectivity and the challenge becomes how this can be managed securely.

As the demand from users for wireless becomes greater so does the bandwidth required to serve those users. New standards such as 802.11ac are currently under development and will become the next standard for wireless networks.  This new standard will offer gigabit speed (and above), improved performance, increased reliability and expand the range making this new standard very exciting and very important in the future to the design of wireless networks, although we’re not expecting to see this until 2013 even though there are some routers out on the market now that will support this.

Solution Benefits

Wireless connectivity is no longer a ‘nice to have’ but a necessity; whether this allows guests and visitors the ability to access the Internet or the IT support teams secured wireless access to routers/switches when in a server room.  In short the WLAN should be more secure and intelligent than the LAN but as simple to access and configure as plugging in a cable. We have highlighted some of the key benefits below:

• Reduced cost of ownership: While the initial investment required for wireless LAN hardware can be higher than the cost of wired LAN hardware, overall installation expenses and life-cycle costs can be significantly lower. Long-term cost benefits are greatest in dynamic environments requiring frequent moves and changes.
• Enterprise level wireless solutions provide businesses with the confidence that communications are secure. Only authenticated users and devices are able to connect to the WLAN providing control and ensuring security policies are applied to those users and devices.
• Scalability: Wireless networks can be configured in a variety of topologies to meet the requirements of specific applications and demand of the end user and is easier to provide greater bandwidth by adding additional access points.
• Installation speed and simplicity: Installing a wireless LAN system can be fast and easy and can eliminate the need to pull cable through walls and ceilings.
• Reduction in the port per user per switch scenario and reduction of the necessity to flood wire new buildings or floors.

Why SecureData?

SecureData is the largest Independent security service provider in the UK and offers a wide range of technologies and services.  SecureData have specifically worked within the Secure Wireless market for a number of years deploying all types of solutions and configurations to address business needs.  These range from straightforward wireless guest networks all the way through to global design and deployments for business critical applications in the most challenging and remote environments.

No two wireless requirements are the same which is why we work with a number of vendors enabling us to recommend and provide a solution that meets your needs. We have the highest level of technical accreditations possible with the vendors and maintain close relationships with their sales and technical teams.

Through extensive and continuous research of this market we are able to offer a variety of technologies to suit your requirements.  The technologies that we offer are seen as ‘best of breed’ within the security market and have been selected not only because of the features they offer but also because of the vendors’ commercial offerings, ability to provide global support, ability to include new features and support future trends.  We invest time in not only choosing the correct technologies to sit within our portfolio but also in Sales and Technical Training so that not only are we able to supply the correct technology to fit your requirements but are also able to offer Professional Services for Implementation and Training backed up by either a supported, monitored or managed service. We achieve the highest levels of technical and commercial accreditations with all those vendors that sit within our product portfolio.