Low cost secure network connectivity for a municipal organization

Abstract: Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs) based on 802.11 technology were initially conceived with the aim of providing wireless connectivity to client devices in limited areas, such as office buildings, homes, etc. or in places where wires are too expensive to be placed. This ‘anywhere’ connectivity is said to have improved worker’s productivity by allowing one to work flexibly from various places besides one’s desk. Currently we are witnessing the growth of both public and private networks based on WLAN technology. Such hotspots are usually limited to the network owner’s premises such as her office, campus, etc. This limits the total coverage area of this network. It is often not economically feasible for a network access provider to install Access Points at all places that a network user might go. This has become a problem for many network access providers; a sensible solution would be to collectively address the problem by entering into roaming agreements as is already done by most Wide Area Wireless Network providers. Such operator specific roaming agreements can provide nearly continuous coverage over a much wider area such as an entire city. One of the goals of this project was to study potential cost effective technical solutions that provide WLAN access to City of Stockholm’s network based on 802.11 technologies; including evaluation from different technical aspects (e.g., capacity enhancements, improvements in handover latency, etc). Proper deployment and management strategies were also evaluated. Technologies permitting differentiated services for users, enabling provisioning of Voice over Wireless Local Area Network (VoWLAN) services and other interactive services were studied. Technologies for authentication, authorization and accounting were studied. Additionally technical means of providing secure access to the wireless network were investigated. Evaluation of architectures that allow inter-operator roaming were made. Today’s corporate users are increasingly mobile and there is a need to provide secure access to corporate data to these mobile users. The coverage offered by WLAN networks even with large roaming agreements would still have coverage gaps which can be reduced by relying on the 3G networks which are being widely deployed. Virtual Private Network technologies are successfully used for providing secure remote access to data and Mobile IP technology provides application persistence to mobile users even while switching between networks (e.g., WLAN to 3G). There is a need for them to co-exist in order to provide secure, mobile access to data. Such secure mobile access could also be provided without relying on the above, standardised solutions. A goal of this master’s thesis was to evaluate the technical solutions to enable such secure, mobile access to data. Current products were evaluated and a suggestion of suitable products for the City of Stockholm was given. The above solutions together would provide the City of Stockholm with secure wireless network connectivity[.]