Wavelink Case Studies

WAVELINK SPEEDS WLAN DEPLOYMENT FOR CEBIT 2002

Mobile Manger configures and secures Cisco wireless network on the fly

CHALLENGE

Billed as the world´s largest computing trade fair, CeBIT sets the stage for technology innovation and leadership each spring at their extensive exhibition facility in Hannover, Germany.

When CeBIT set out to provide wireless Internet access for an anticipated 700,000 show participants this year, they knew they had a lot of work to do in a short time. To deploy the latest in Wireless network infrastructure, they needed to install, configure and manage over 200 access points across more than 25 different exhibit halls - and time was running short.

With less than a week before the show was to open, they called on Wavelink to help speed the deployment of the Cisco Aironet 350 access points and secure the network - even as show exhibitors were beginning to arrive and set up their own equipment for the show.

SOLUTION

Using predefined profiles and central management, Wavelink´s agent-based process saved hours of labor that would have been spent manually configuring each access point by Telnet connection.

Wavelink Mobile Manager software automatically discovers new access points as they are brought online. Then Mobile Manager creates a direct interface to each access point on the network to facilitate rapid, remote configuration and management.

Wavelink senior software engineer, Roman Mach, was on site to help engineers from Cisco and MobilCom Systems bring up the network as the clock ticked down to opening day. "From one central location, we were able to automatically configure 90% of the access points in less than two days while they were being installed right out of the box in the different exhibition halls," says Mach. "Access points were coming online at the rate of about ten an hour as each new Cisco switch was fired up and added to the network."

Once an access point is connected to the network, Wavelink Mobile Manager instantly detects it and automatically distributes pre-defined configuration parameters such as the IP address and wireless ESS ID. And the agent-based software can automatically update access point firmware whenever necessary.

"With Mobile Manger 5.1 from Wavelink, Cisco Aironet customers gain the end-to-end infrastructure visibility and manageability they need for wireless networks that are upgradable, scaleable and simple to maintain," says Mike McAndrews, director of product management for Cisco´s Wireless Networking Business Unit.

INSTANT VISIBILITY

At CeBIT, the Wavelink software worked in combination with the Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP) to automate the identification and configuration of access points across four subnets with over 50 Cisco switches serving more than 1000 available IP addresses.

"We´d see a new Cisco switch come on line and ten new access points would show up. In five minutes they were all configured and we were ready for the next switch," says Mach. "Our software configures multiple access points simultaneously."

Wavelink was called in after the installation process had already begun. The Wavelink Mobile Manager software quickly helped isolate and secure a handful of access points that had been previously installed but were not configured properly.

Mobile Manger provides robust visibility and control over wireless LAN components from multiple access point vendors including Cisco, Symbol, Nortel, 3COM, Ericsson, and Intel; and integrates with existing network management systems including Openview, Unicenter, and Tivoli.

While the objective at CeBIT was to provide universal wireless access for all attendees through a Cisco BBSM provisioning gateway, most companies want to secure their wireless network from unauthorized intrusion. Consequently, Wavelink Mobile Manager allows the quick dissemination and enforcement of access control lists to ensure strong security management for network administrators.

Through the use of access control lists, Mobile Manager helps network administrators specify exactly which locations mobile devices can access, propagate changes to large numbers of access points simultaneously, and easily rotate Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) keys throughout the entire network.

"We provided instant visibility of the CeBIT wireless network," says Mach. Network administrators could use Mobile Manager to monitor individual mobile devices as they came online and roamed from one access point to another. "You have the ability to see them all and get the information you need about how they are operating. So if something is wrong, Mobile Manager provides a clear picture of where to find the problem."

ABOUT WAVELINK

Wavelink Corporation is a leading provider of wireless communications software and the developer of a wireless platform that enables enterprises to develop, manage and deploy wireless applications. Since 1992, Wavelink´s innovative software has powered a growing number of Fortune 1,000 companies and is rapidly becoming a standard in wireless network development, deployment and management, with more than 40,000 installations in over 50 countries. Wavelink supports the world´s most popular programming languages and device operating systems, and has extended its expertise from wireless local area networks (WLAN) to the wireless wide area networks (WWAN) space. For more information, please visit www.wavelink.com or call +1-425-823-0111.