In Cisco is all set launch its OfficeExtend platform in May. It is designed to make telecommuting easier and more secure for both the teleworker and the company.
Cisco Systems officials, who have been vocal about the issues surrounding the rapidly growing telecommuting trend, are unveiling new products designed to increase the manageability and security around teleworkers who want to wirelessly connect to their companies networks.
Cisco, on March 21, introduced its OfficeExtend solution, which includes new access points and wireless controllersincluding a dual-band 802.11n access point designed for teleworkersthat will start shipping in May.
The new offerings are part of Ciscos larger Borderless Network initiative, which aims to enable network connectivity from any device at any time from any location.
The new products come at a time when a greater percentage of employees are working out of the office, either telecommuting from home or on the road. The proliferation of mobile devices, cloud-computing architectures and the push by companies to drive down costs are helping to fuel the trend, which analysts say is gaining steam. Some market research firms have said that currently as much as 40% of information workers in the United States work from home at least part time.
In addition, Ciscos own look at the market indicates that the trend will only go up. In a workplace study released in October 2010, Cisco found that three of five workers worldwide say they dont need to be in an office to be productive, and that some would choose lower-paying jobs if it meant greater flexibility in where they could work.
In addition, two out of every three of the 2,000 workers surveyed say their IT staffs should allow them to use any devicewhether personal or issued by the companyto access corporate networks, applications and information.
In an interview with eWEEK, Sylvia Hooks, Senior Manager of mobile marketing at Cisco, said the vendors OfficeExtend platform enables IT staffs to extend the same network found inside the companys office into the teleworkers home.
The products make it easier for employees to work outside of the office, while enabling IT staffs to ensure the same type of security and manageability for teleworkers that are found within the companys walls, as per Hooks. "Some of the key hurdles to telecommutingfrom complicated setups in the house to security issues to remote management, are addressed by the platform," Hooks said.
"The key is that products within the OfficeExtend platform are enterprise-level," she said.
Were not using consumer-grade appliances and trying to band-aid (a) work-at-home (solution), Hooks said.
For example, Ciscos Aironet 600 Series OfficeExtend access points are designed to let teleworkers use separate SSIDs (Service Set Identifiers) to separate corporate and personal network traffic. Hooks said it was the first dual-band 802.11n offering, supporting both a 2.4GHz radio band for home network traffic and a 5GHz band for corporate traffic. There also are four Ethernet ports for connecting such network devices as IP phones and printers.
The Catalyst 6500 Series Wireless Services Module chassis supports up to 500 corporate and teleworking access points, enabling easy scalability of wireless LANs for businesses, as the number of mobile devices running rich-media applications like video conferencing and virtual desktops and accessing the network increases. The chassis also supports such Cisco technology as CleanAir for managing interference, VideoStream multicast video over wireless networks and ClientLink to boost client performance.
In addition, Ciscos 2500 Series Wireless Controllers and software for the vendors ISR G2 Services-Ready Engine offer smaller networks 802.11n service for up to 50 access points and 500 clients.
Source: eWeek
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