Aruba unveils portable access point for VoIP

Aruba Networks will announce this week an enterprise-class mobile access point that will put users at the edge of their corporate network no matter where they are located.

When it becomes available, the hardware-software solution will set up a tunnel across the Internet to the Aruba Centralized Mobility Controller sitting behind a corporate firewall. It will also include a choice of two access points -- a portable model, AP-65, measuring three-by-three inches; and model AP-41, designed for home office.

"It is as if the enterprise wireless went with them. It pops up as a corporate hot spot wherever you plug into," said the Aruba Networks founder Keerti Melkote.

The solution would look the same to end-users as a VPN for data. However, the solution is more manageable than a VPN because it includes an access point, according to Craig Mathias, principal with the Farpoint Group.

"It is, in effect, an enterprise-class product controlled by the enterprise switch," Mathias said.

Beyond data, the Aruba architecture will allow corporate users of VoIP systems to take their office phone number with them. By plugging in the access point to an Ethernet connection a mobile worker can use a wireless, IEEE 802.11x handset, and have his own phone number wherever and whenever he plugs in, noted Melkote.

AP 65, for the mobile office is priced at $495. Model AP 41, optimized for home/office, is priced at $195,

Both access points will be available by the end of the year.