The New Frontier of Enterprise Wireless

The New Frontier of Enterprise Wireless

April 2009

On the 2.4GHz band, only 3 Non Overlapping channels.

Frequency Constrains

Radio Basics – Coverage <> Range

Distance

Client C

onnects @

54 Mbps

Client C

onnects @

6 Mbps

Client C

onnects @

1 Mbps

Radio Transmission Still Continues

Radio Coverage:

This is the area a client can hear an Access Point and reply successfully – Typically 10 Metres radius from the AP at 54 Mbps

Range:

The RF energy does not stop simply because the client and AP can no longer interpret the data, typical Range may be 2,000 meters

Radio Basics – Why Coverage <> Range

Multipath:When a client hears the same data from a single AP several times, this can corrupt the signal.

Reflection:Flat metallic surfaces tend to reflect RF energy

Refraction:Metal grids can distort the RF energy making it unusable

Absorption:Fluids usually absorb RF energy as in a microwave.

Wi-Fi So Far…

Traffic contention

Unreliable connection

Wi-Fi So Far… Traffic contention

Unreliable connection

Slow or wrong mobility

AP-to-AP interference

Coverage gaps hard to fix

APs individually configured

One AP serves all. QoS hard to be assured

Only one channel per area

Only one channel per area

AP to AP Interference

Up to 21dBm between 54 and 1 Mbps

Up to 21dBm between 54 and 1 Mbps

AP coverage can be more than double at low speed

AP coverage can be more than double at low speed

The Trouble with Cells…802.11 is meant for a Single-Cell Environment

Forces a Single-AP protocol to function in a Multi-AP Environment

Results in trade-offs: a “tug-of-war”

This architecture is impaired by the 802.11 Standard.

Trade-Offs

Coverage vs. Capacity

Capacity vs. Mobility

Mobility vs. Security

Wi-Fi Headaches

High OpEx» Radio Planning is an Expensive and long task

» Filling up network coverage gaps is a hard task often requiring AP repositioning

» Wireless Network Tuning is a continuous task requiring well trained professionals

802.11n with its ability to take advantage of multipath increases the pain

» Planning AP coverage is almost impossible because of unpredictable reflections

» AP coverage changes as people move, because being made mostly of water, humans absorb and diffract radio waves

Wi-Fi Headaches

Low spectrum usage» Cannot fully reuse channels In order to limit interferences

Network Performances depend upon client devices!» AP selection made by client

» The less performing client slows down the network

Lack of real mobility» Roaming decision taken by client

» Roaming Process is critical and not fully reliable as it must be in order to support VoWLAN applications

Weak physical security» AP, even if lightweight, store network critical data: Keys, Credentials,

Access Lists, etc.

» AP can be replaced by fake ones in order to access network and grab credentials

» Hence AP must be physically locked

How Extricom by ATI solves all those issues

A High-Performance Wireless IP Cloud –The Extricom Channel Blanket™

• AP-Anywhere (no need to configure)• Mobility• Guaranteed Bandwidth

The Channel Blanket™

Centralize 802.11 Logic, Distribute the Radio Only

A “single cell experience” gives:Steady Throughput

Any-Density RP PositioningConsistent Client Behavior

A “single cell experience” gives:Steady Throughput

Any-Density RP PositioningConsistent Client Behavior

Client I

ndepen

dent

Client I

ndepen

dent

Multi-Service WLAN Blankets



Multi-Layer WLAN

Distribute four radios, set to any combination of channel, band & mode

• Capacity• Simplified QoS• Dedicated Security Monitoring

+

1

6

11

Rogue

• AP-Anywhere• Intrinsic Mobility• Guaranteed Bandwidth

Traditional APs cannot use more than 1 channel in

each band

Traditional APs cannot use more than 1 channel in

each band

Multi-Service WLAN Blankets



Multi-Layer WLAN

Distribute four radios, set to any combination of channel, band & mode

• Capacity• Simplified QoS• Dedicated Security Monitoring

+TrueReuse™

Dynamic frequency reuse

• 3X Channel Bandwidth• Up to 10X System

Aggregate Bandwidth

+

1

6

11

Rogue

• AP-Anywhere• Intrinsic Mobility• Guaranteed Bandwidth

Cell Planning – Hard Work

Roaming = Poor Quality

Disconnect From AP on Channel 11Request to join AP on Channel 6Authenticate with central RadiusConnect and start recovering data

Disconnect From AP on Channel 6Request to join AP on Channel 1Authenticate with central RadiusConnect and start recovering data

Client D

epen

dent!

Client D

epen

dent!

Cell Planning – No Need With Extricom

Even the most basic client gets seamless mobilityClient interacts with a single AP:Same SSID, Same MAC (BSSID)

QoS – Best Effort – All Channels Congested

Traditional Cell Planning

QoS – Guaranteed – All Channel Dedicated

Client I

ndepen

dent

Client I

ndepen

dent

TrueReuse: Multiply Bandwidth with Seamless Mobility

Client I

ndepen

dent

Client I

ndepen

dent

“Natural” Frequency Reuse - download

Multiple use of the same channel, geographically separated

» IEEE 802.11 standard – CSMA/CA – listen before talk

Distance between APs which will be “allowed” by the standard to transmit simultaneously on the same frequency

» more then 100m, dependent on the environment. (office environment, open space, wall types, etc.

Re-usedistance

Re-usedistance

Re-usedistance

Without TrueReuse

WLAN is a shared media, all clients will share the bandwidth available on the channel.

On every channel, only one RP or client will transmit at a time. This is protected by the Collision Avoidance mechanism of the 802.11 standard.

Client I

ndepen

dent

Client I

ndepen

dent

TrueReuse

Channel blanket dynamically “subdivided” into multiple collision domains, to create simultaneous multiple links without co-channel interference

Switch uses real-time knowledge of link differentials between all clients and all RPs to determine the re-use opportunity

TrueReuse – How it works?

The link difference is what matters:» If C1/I1 > Reuse Threshold, then permit transmission to Client 1

» If C2/I2 > Reuse Threshold, then permit transmission to Client 2

The switch uses received signal strength measurements to calculate the above ratio

C1I1

I2

C2

What about physical security

Extricom Radio Points (EXRP) are NOT AP» Are simple radio interfaces

» Do not contain any sensible information at all

» Do not have any flash memory to store any information

» Useless without the switch

Extricom Switches (EXSW) can be secured into locked cabinets or wiring closets

RP-Switch protocol is not Ethernet» It is real time with very tight timing constraints (some ns). Almost

impossible to spoof by a PC

» Even tapping into RP-Switch connection will show only what goes on air

IEEE 802.11NBenefits without Pains

Full .11n performances

Full-performance 802.11n (40MHz) is not possible. There is only 1 channel available

Mixing .11g traffic strongly affects .11n performances

11

1+6 ?

?

??

?

?

1+6

11

Full-performance .11n and .11g .11n and .11g traffic separated

on different channels

Channel Blanket

Cellular Approach

n

g

Captive Portal

Switch controls client’s access to the internet

After client connects to the WLAN, when opening it’s browser he will receive a login WEB page located on the switch

Clients shall enter their user-name/password, and the switch shall authenticate the user with the Radius server (using Radius client protocol)

User can customize default page by modifying text,

images and colors (no html knowledge needed), or upload own html page

Extricom Products

WLAN Switches Radio Points

Management & Planning Accessories

Technology Background: Multi Series 1000 Appliance Platform

High-performance Hardware Platform

Software-configurable

Gigabit Ethernet Uplink ports

Downlink ports: up to 16 GbE with IEEE 802.3af PoE(software-enabled)

Products using this platform:

EXSW-1600

EXSW-800G

Extricom WLAN Switches

EXSW-1600 / EXSW-800G GbE WLAN Switch» Support up to 16 or 8 UltraThin RPs (a/b/g/n)» Up to 4 simultaneous channel blankets» Hardware based 802.11i security» Built-in PoE

EXSW-2400 / EXSW-1200 FE WLAN Switch» Support up to 24 or 12 UltraThin RPs (a/b/g)» Up to 4 simultaneous channel blankets» Hardware based 802.11i security» Built-in PoE

EXSW800 / EXSW400 FE Small WLAN Switch» Support up to 8 or 4 UltraThin RPs (a/b/g)» Up to 2 simultaneous channel blankets» Hardware based 802.11i security» Built-in PoE

Extricom UltraThin™ Radio Points

Extricom UltraThin™ Radio Points» UltraThin - No software or processing needed in the RP

» Multiple 802.11n/a/b/g radios

» 802.3af Power over Ethernet (PoE)

» Anti-breach security and built-in Rogue AP detection

EXRP-20 / EXRP-40

Dual or Quad-Radio, a/b/g, Integrated Antennas

EXRP-20E / EXRP-40E

Dual or Quad-Radio, a/b/g, External Antennas

EXRP-40En

Quad-Radio, n/a/b/g, 3x3 MIMO,External Antennas

EXRP-30n

Tri-Radio, n/a/b/g, 3x3 MIMO, Integrated Antennas

Accessories

EXRE-10 & EXRE-20 PoE Range Extender» Double the range of PoE to 200m» In-line and self-powered» Drains 1.5W only

Allied Telesis Fiber Extenders» Up to 700m of cable between switch and RP» Fully transparent to Switch and RP

» 2 x AT-MC1000» Multimode fibre link» 1 x AT-6101G PoE Injector

100m 100m

ATI Labeling

Equipment Label

Carton Box Label

-50

-50

Allied Telesis Success Story

Kawashima Selkon Textiles Co. Ltd

Extricom Management Options

Internal Management» Web GUI

» Configuration

» Status

» Security

NMS (EXNM-2000)» Fault Management

» Performance

» Configuration

» Bulk operations on multiple Switches

EXNM Main Benefits

Single solution to manage large-scale, multi-device networks

Accelerated system rollouts and easy network updates

Full-featured fault management including notification capabilities

Real-time network health monitoring

Scheduled bulk operations on multiple switches

Integration with other major NMS solutions

Secure, auditable management of users and user groups

… all this, in an intuitive GUI

EXNM Features

Scalability» Auto-discovery of up to 2000 switches associated to thousands of

Radio Points (RPs)

» Group configuration of all discovered switches as if they were a single switch

GUI» Intuitive, Graphic Based

» Monitoring of the whole networkfrom a single screen

Northbound interface» for integration with existing NMS

Geographic Map View

EXNM Features – cont.

System Configuration

Configuration tasks on individual and group of switches (e.g. add same ESSID, reboot, upgrade firmware…)

Drill down to specific devices from High level Geographic map views

Security Management

Secured client/server sessions

Optional interface to LDAP servers for user authentication and management

Privileges based on profiles

Audit trails

Security Configuration

EXNM Features - cont.

Fault ManagementSNMP trapsReal-time statusVisualization of Extricom Network

PerformanceConfigurable statistics pollingGraphical reporting on statistical performance of individual devices or of the

whole system

InteroperabilityConfigurable Northbound interface

for 3rd- party systems (e.g. Tivoli™, etc.)

Ordering Information

Item Number Description

EXNM-2000/2E Max. of 2 Managed Switches 2 Users only

EXNM-2000/5 Maximum of 5 Managed Switches; 4 users

EXNM-2000/10 Maximum of 10 Managed Switches




EXNM-2000/U Maximum of Up to 2000 Managed Switches

High Availability

Higher resilience than “N+1” system integrity

» AP redundancy

» An option to create redundancy only in high availability areas

» Uplink Diversity

» Failover transparency

» Eliminating Single Point of Failure (SPOF)

Competitive pricing over “1+1” component level

» No need to duplicate AP’s

» 2nd switch licensed as cascaded

DHCP

Server

E-mail

Redundant EXSCMain EXSC

128.128.1.1 128.128.1.1

L2/L3

GRE tunneling

WLAN Switch is connected to a specific subnet

Using EXSC, a client can seamlessly connect to a WLAN Switch located in an other subnet

EXSC-1000: Subnet Roaming Controller

Internet

L2

About Extricom

ex.tri.com — from the English word extricate [Latin root extricare]

1. To free or release from entanglement or impediments.2. To untangle and/or simplify communications.

Extricom Mission Statement

Provide high-performance wireless LAN (WLAN) infrastructure for the Enterprise Market, enabling the converged triple play of data, streaming video, and voice over WLAN (VoWLAN)

About Extricom

Vitals» Principal offices in New York, Tel-Aviv, London, Tokyo

» Founded 2002

» Patented: 18 filed, 9 granted

» CTO is one of original members of IEEE 802.11 group

The Proposition» Superior performance and dramatic simplicity

» Multi-use infrastructure – voice, data, location, video, guest services

Product Recognition

TechWorld Wireless Product of the Year – Finalist (2008)

Communications Solutions Wireless Product of the Year (2007)

CMP CRNTech Top 10 Products of the Year (2007)

VARBusiness Tech Innovator of the Year (2007)» The most innovative products in the industry sold through the

IT Channel – Wireless Category

Communications Solutions Wireless Product of the Year (2006)

TechWorld Wireless Product of the Year (2006)» Awarded for Enterprise functionality, performance, and value

Internet Telephony Wireless Product of the Year (2006)» Awarded for innovation for VoIP over wireless

This is just the beginning!Thank you!

Visit us on www.alliedtelesis.com

Documents

The New Frontier of Enterprise Wireless