We have a wireless guest portal (homegrown) that has been satisfactory, but we
want to move into another solution for several reasons that I won't bore you
with.
I'm familiar with Bluesocket (actively talking with them) and know that
Colubris used to compete with them in the gateway space. HP now owns Colubris,
and a request for more info went unanswered. So- wondering if anyone knows of a
commercial solution that competes with Bluesocket.
We're looking for this sort of functionality:
Single guest SSID- all functions come from easy-to-use portal. Single IP
space/VLAN for all guest groups. Scale to 1500 accounts/500 simultaneous users.
Possible failover pair setup.
1. SU NetID Holders
* Ideally, OS could be identified. If Windows or Mac, users forwarded on
to a page that tells them to (and how) to use the secure network
* Non-Windows/MAC NetID Holders get on with generous throughput and
minimal restrictions (compared to other guest-path users)
1. Sponsored Guests- Sponsored by SU NetID Holder
* Everyone in our AD with a regular account (staff, faculty, students)
can sponsor a guest- gateway verifies sponsor is in AD
* Guest logins limited to some period of time yet to be defined
* Guest credentials may get sent (SMS text) to guest cell phone number or
forwarded directly by sponsor
* Different set of protocols - must allow VPN
* Easy batch creation of accounts for the likes of conferences
1. Self-sponsored Guests- provision their own
* Accounts will be limited to 4 hours (or something), then can't be
reactivated for say 12 hours (or some other time-related constraint)
* Requires valid cell phone number, as that is where gateway will text
the credentials
* More tightly limited in bandwidth and throughput
* Limited number of accounts per month.
Not looking to build our own any more- off the shelf is desired in this case.
Welcome to any input on solutions beyond Bluesocket.
Please don't consider this a hit against Bluesocket- we have not discounted
them, just looking for what else is out there that I am not aware of.
And please- no off-topic sales calls.
Thanks-
Lee
Lee H. Badman
Wireless/Network Engineer
Information Technology and Services
Syracuse University
315 443-3003
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