Aruba offers mobile access to enterprise nets

Aruba Networks has launched Mobile Edge to connect mobile workers to enterprise networks from any location that offers Internet access.

Keerti Melkote, Aruba's founder and vice president of marketing, said Mobile Edge is a network architecture that makes wireless local area networks the primary connection to enterprise networks, reducing the need for wired connections. Mobile Edge provides a set of wireless access points, some tailored for use at home or office and others for travel.

Mobile Edge gives users access to their organization's enterprise network from anywhere, Melkote said. A centralized controller handles encryption instead of individual access points having to encrypt. That arrangement minimizes data security risks.

The Mobile Edge products are certified under a federal cryptographic standard, Federal Information Processing Standard 140-2, said Royal Collette, the company's federal program manager.

"We spent a lot of time getting to the point where we had that FIPS approval," he said.

Most agencies now have policies regarding wireless networks, which gives Aruba an opening for its technology, Collette said. "We're in a strong place in the federal government already," he added.