March 2004 — Applications
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University of Florida Rolls Out Wireless Gateways for Secure Network Access, Control
Wireless Gateways
Initial rollout plans called for 10 Bluesocket Wireless Gateways (www.bluesocket.com) to be deployed, so the university's networking team began rolling out the Wireless Gateways one at a time. According to Grover, the network administrators have been so pleased with the level of control offered by the Bluesocket solution that they are exploring the flexibility provided by Bluesocket's approach to authentication and user groups. He says that the flexible options in user-group support offer potential solutions to some of the more difficult problems seen with wireless networking. "We're looking at the possibilities of giving users different roles and levels of quality to make applications like VoIP over wireless feasible," Grover explains.
However, the rollout, like most technology deployments, has not been without certain challenges. At the University of Florida, these have included questions about the best way to structure reports, as well as concerns over link aggregation and scaling with the particular user patterns seen in student populations. But when issues have come up, solutions have been found, according to Grover - referring back to the initial experience of custom code as an indicator of Bluesocket's willingness to work with the university to solve problems.
One of the pleasant side effects of the Bluesocket deployment has been its affordability when compared to other commercial solutions. "Even without the custom feature implementation, the Bluesocket solution was cheaper," says Grover. "All the candidate products were expensive, but Bluesocket offered better features and customization for the money."
Grover says that the university's administration is looking forward to the completion of basic rollout so that they can begin exploring features of the Bluesocket system that are, so far, unused. "The systems have a ton of features we're not using right now - we're deploying the boxes as authentication gateways," he says. "We're just beginning to look at the quality-of-service features and gateway services to contain users infected with viruses and worms." From Grover's point of view, the potential for wireless at the University of Florida looks bright and secure.
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