The VAR Guy

Aruba Networks has developed networking technology it believes solves all of the issues associated with the bring your own device (BYOD) phenomenon impacting many IT departments.

Through a combination of homegrown and acquired technology, Aruba has created ClearPass, an access management platform that addresses the interaction between the network, security and the mobile devices themselves, said Robert Fenstermacher, director of product marketing at Aruba Networks.

“This is a new product platform that brings together three distinct developments — the acquisition we made [in December 2010] of Amigopod, the acquisition of Avenda and lot of internal development happening over last few months that never was productized — pulled all together into single appliance,” he said.

ClearPass is a device-agnostic, OS-agnostic solution that can be applied to any network regardless of vendor, Fenstermacher said. “It looks at the entire workflow of BYOD — rather than offer point products that solve pieces, this solution gives our channel partners the opportunity to offer a complete solution from onboarding to invoking and enforcing appropriate policies. Plus, it supports all major mobile devices.”

ClearPass “takes the complexity out of BYOD,” he said, and includes the following features, as per the press release announcing the solution:

• Automated device provisioning: Automatically set VPN, e-mail and network security settings, push enterprise applications and optionally revoke device access privileges.
• Self-service mobile device network configuration: Cloud-based self-configuration of a device’s 802.1X network security settings.
• Device profiling: Accurate device identification can be used to determine security requirements and enforce policies based on device type and ownership.
• Device risk management: Assessing the risk of mobile devices to the network, restricting access based on risk level, and remediating compromised devices.
• Guest access: Secure guest management with fully automated registration workflows, detailed reporting and targeted advertising.

As part of its support of ClearPass and the BYOD movement, Aruba also has developed what is says is the “industry’s first technical certification” to address the networking requirements associated with BYOD and the consumerization of IT.

The Aruba Certified Solutions Professional is not a mandatory certification, Fenstermacher said, but can go a long way to helping channel partners and network engineers figure out the ins and outs of designing networks to meet the challenges of BYOD and an increasingly mobile workforce.

“At the end of last year we announced the Airheads Community program, including an online social component, events and now certifications,” he said. “For many engineers, solving the technical challenge is only part of the problem; the other is figuring out how to design, build and maintain networks to support BYOD. These are hands-on technical certifications for engineers to bring together wireless LAN, network security and policy creation, onboarding, etc., that address mobile device characteristics.”

Aruba plans to begin training, which will include in-person and online training, for the new certification in April 2012.

There are a lot of vendors banging the BYOD drum — some a little louder than others — but no other vendor that I know of is backing up its belief in the trend with a full-on certification program. Clearly Aruba knows which way the warms winds are blowing.

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