MissionMobility has been helping deployed forces tie back into their home networks for a long time. Driving data to the edge of the mission isn’t new but for the last decade it has been gaining steam, because it is generally understood that more data to more users makes for smarter employment of forces. As always a user connects back into their home network through the pairing of security devices and protocols and violé, they are connected to their office services far from home. While this is VERY common now, it has a number of limitations that we realized can be overcome. We do this with our latest technology, MissionPoint™.
There are surprisingly glaring limitations to secure remote connection when you stop to think about it.
If you believe that you are running the state of the art, answer a few questions and let me know how you fared.
A) Do you ever experience times where you believe that you have a valid connection to your services, but nothing is happening?
B) How many WAN links can you employ simultaneously?
C) If your WAN link drops, how long will you black hole traffic before you realize it and reset your setup?
D) If your gateway becomes inoperable, how do you get connected to the alternate (COOP Site)? Hint…if you have to reconfigure the IP routing, you might need an upgrade.
E) How many ports and/or protocols do you need to open in your firewall to support your system? Hint…if it is more than ONE, you may pass the IA test, but the minimum number of ports is always better, and one is as minimum as you can get.
F) Can you connect to multiple gateways (Base Stations) via multiple WAN links with multiple protocols….at the same time?
Second guessing your state of the art equipment?
If you see the future as an auto-configuring, auto-homing, super secure, auto-magical experience, then we see the same thing, only not in the future but in the present.
Today’s MissionPoint™ solutions will connect multiple WAN links to multiple (interconnected) gateways, through a single IP port, and failover in seconds all without the operator having to do ANYTHING. This is a complete paradigm shift for Mobile Communications Architectures. Part of the secret sauce is in the Cisco™ MobileIP architecture.
Yep, we told you the secret, but the question is why we are so confident in giving you that piece of knowledge. The answer is simple: for all the masses of Cisco™ Certified This and Cisco™ Certified That, those that can and have successfully deployed MobileIP solutions is small- sort of the 1%. No, more like .001%. MobileIP configuration is a departure from the norm. It is harder to conceptualize and is therefore harder to plan for and employ, even though typical implementations are nearly identical in their hardware footprint to the legacy solutions you are currently using.
The key addition is another Cisco™ router at the front end to manage more connections and set up a service called the Home Agent. In future MM blog articles we will discuss how all of this magic can combine to deliver you the most reliable and flexible mobile experience, and how we have employed it at a few key reference sites to demonstrate that it isn’t smoke and mirrors, but truly a fiery revolution that is coming for those willing to take a bold step into the future.Be bold, go mobile and Defend the Network.
-Steve Newell
