One of the most significant developments in enterprise computing has been virtualization. Virtualization optimizes the computing power of an enterprise allowing for cost-effective scaling of critical applications. Single purpose servers tied to only one application are a waste of resources and now seem like a relic of a past era in computing. Yet this outdated approach is exactly the design of most conventional WLANs. An expensive controller sits in the middle of a group of APs. And with the advent of higher data speeds and more users, the burden of the controller only becomes greater. But Bluesocket took a different route. Rather than building a bigger, more expensive controller, Bluesocket merged the power of virtualization with the WLAN. The vWLAN. Rather than being tied to the scale and reliability of a single controller, an enterprise can leverage the scale and reliability of their data center. Bluesocket is the only company to provide WLAN control through a VMware ready application.

Scaling a conventional controller-based WLAN is anything but graceful. Adding an AP? Better check the AP count on the controller. Adding a location? That’s another controller. By virtualizing the control of the WLAN, some amazing things happen. No longer is an enterprise tethered to the LAN for control of the WLAN. Control can happen anywhere. Sounds like cloud computing? It is. Need to add an AP to vWLAN? No need to check a controller’s limitation. Need to add a new site? With vWLAN, an access point can be anywhere in the world. One instance of vWLAN can control a worldwide deployment of access points. That’s graceful scaling.

Remove the controller from the WLAN and suddenly you remove complexity. With conventional controller -based architecture, you have to figure out which controller you need. Plus which hardware modules. And which software modules. You need to take into account number of access points, of course, but also number of remote access points. And don’t forget number of users. You do know how many Wi-Fi devices all the users are carrying, don’t you? With vWLAN, you don’t consider any of these factors. Just access points and the enabling software. That’s it. Did you say you need to support mobility? Get ready for some mind-numbing schemes in the old controller-based architecture to support layer 3 mobility from one controller to another. Mobility in vWLAN? Simple. With no controller mobility domains there are no complications.

Bluesocket’s heritage is in security for wireless networks. You would expect and industry-leading network security in vWLAN and, once again, Bluesocket delivers. Bluesocket offers security at a variety of layers in the network. Only Bluesocket offers integrated NAC (Network Access Control) which is special software designed to verify that connecting clients are clean of malware. This is performed without any software required to be loaded and maintained on the user device. Moving from the user layer to the edge layer of the network, Bluesocket enforces security policies at the access point. Why drag unwanted traffic onto your LAN? Bluesocket stops unwanted traffic at the AP with a stateful firewall. Think you might need a separate firewall for your wireless users? Think again. With Bluesocket, the firewall is integrated with the control function.