The quarterly publication of the International Legal Technology Association
Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/51267
CASE STUDIES "I can manage 60+ devices through one interface." are managed through the Internet via an easy-to-use enterprise management console. Because our offices wouldn't be tied to a traditional hardware controller anymore, we would have a lower total cost of ownership (TCO), and we could base our decisions about access point purchases entirely on business requirements rather than technical restrictions. We piloted this solution with our Indianapolis office. Twenty access points were installed in just a couple of days, and attorneys and clients started attaching immediately after the install. We soon recognized other advantages of this cloudmanaged wireless solution besides the low cost and high scalability. The management dashboard is so intuitive that we can handle all of the configuration and daily monitoring ourselves. With a few mouse clicks, we secured our network to protect internal resources, established monitoring for rogue access points, set a maximum per- client bandwidth and blocked unwanted applications from our network. And with the built-in application traffic- 34 www.iltanet.org Peer to Peer shaping, we were able to manage traffic (business vs. personal, voice vs. iTunes) to protect our bandwidth. About six months after our Indianapolis pilot, we deployed the solution across the rest of the company. With the plug-and-play, self-configuring access points, our technology partner, ESI, completed the entire deployment (45 MR16 dual-band access points) across the remaining offices, most with multiple floors, in about 12 days. It was a simple concept and simple installation that has simple management. Meanwhile, our users are happy, and our IT team feels at ease with our "open device" option. I'm still amazed … I mean, really, how often does this happen? THE CLOUD: LOVE IS IN THE AIR The cloud plays an interesting role in enterprise IT today. Years ago, a technician literally sat next to the server; now I visit the server room once or twice a month. As technology continues to evolve, we're talking about putting the server room in a place I might have to fly to get to.