As we enter 2019, it’s no secret the Internet of Things (IoT) is going to continue to grow at an exponential rate. From smartphones and tablets to wearable technology and appliances, these devices are everywhere and quickly becoming an expectation of doing business.

New Security Risks

Companies, responding to this growing trend, allow employees and guests to connect to their network for work, collaboration and personal communication. With a huge increase in the number of IoT devices on a company’s network, increased security vulnerabilities are a given and businesses need to be ready.

Aruba ClearPass

At DataVizion, we’ve been implementing Aruba ClearPass as an integrated solution for businesses of all sizes. ClearPass gives IT the tools needed to centrally develop, automate, enforce and audit network access policies across their network.

Benefits include:

• Visibility: The ClearPass platform provides ability to capture device information across all networks, ensuring that security policies leverage device attributes and ownership for all authentication services.
• Security: Enforcement, auditing and reporting features enable customers to comply with relevant regulations and legislation, demonstrate compliance, and mitigate the risk of a breach in access security.
• Workflow: Users are able to connect securely and easily from tablets, smartphones, and laptops delivering an improved mobility experience across both corporate owned and user-owned devices (e.g. BYOD).
• Mobility: Employees are given the flexibility to work from their preferred locations and devices while maintaining security posture.
• Cost: The automated workflows and reduction in IT help tickets through self-service and the reduced number of appliances required to secure enterprise mobility, make the ClearPass solution efficient and cost-effective.

IoT devices are going to continue to become more and more integrated as a way of doing business and will present unique challenges and security concerns for organizations. But, with Aruba ClearPass it’s manageable.

If you are interested in learning more about Aruba ClearPass or other security solutions, give us a call or visit www.datavizion.com.

Click here to read how DataVizion partnered with Aruba Networks to bring Midland University a secure and scalable wireless solution to support current needs and meet growing demands.

From answering emails on a smartphone and employees working remotely to creating a collaborative workspace with digital services and amenities, mobility needs in the workforce continue to rise substantially and are crucial to your success.

The result of a Gallup poll found that businesses that hire remote employees have grown from 39% in 2012 to 47% in 2016.¹ The use of smartphones and telecommunication channels are also continuing to increase and provide a competitive edge.

These mobile connections are allowing employees and customers communicate in unprecedented speeds, and this is proving to pay off. According to Forbes, “SMBs that adopt mobile technologies are seeing double the revenue growth and are creating up to eight times as many jobs as their less mobile-ready peers.”²

Don’t let your business miss out on growth opportunities because of a lack in your team’s mobility and network support of these technologies.

While it’s one thing to provide mobility within your company, it’s also important to ensure your network can keep up with the demands. Older networks are being challenged while more devices are hitting the workforce. By 2020, it’s expected that each person will have four or more connected devices.³ And network functionality doesn’t stop at devices. The type of content being viewed also effects network functionality.  For example, video accounts for 35% of all smartphone traffic and over 50% of tablet traffic.⁴

Make sure your network is ready for the challenges of a mobile workforce. As an Aruba Platinum Partner, DataVizion’s dedicated team can deliver simple, reliable and affordable networking solutions for small and midsize businesses. These products can help your business mobility growth by offering:

·       Cloud based networking solutions

·       WI-FI improvement tools

·       Network flexibility to support the addition of new mobile solutions and cloud-based applications

·       A secure network foundation that’s easy to manage

Contact us today at (402) 327-1880 for more information about how we can help your business grow with Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company, products.

1 Blueprint, “The Rise of ‘Technology Mobility’ in the Workplace,” February 2018.

2 Forbes, “Mobile Technologies Becoming A Growth Engine For Small And Medium Businesses,” February 2015.

3 Mobile World Live, “The number of devices to hit 4.3 per person by 2020—report,” October 2014.

4 Ooyala.com Videomind, “Mobile video traffic to grow 13X by 2019, straining already congested networks,” June 2014.

The number of network-connected devices per person is expected to be nearly seven by the year 2020*. Seem like a lot? Not when you consider smart phones, tablets, laptops, fitness trackers, iPods and more.

Nowhere is this more evident than on college campuses, which can put a huge strain on existing networks. For colleges that want to keep up, it’s time to move to a mobile-first campus with Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company’s, Mobile First Architecture.

The Aruba Mobile First Architecture will allow your campus to seamlessly transition your existing network to a software-defined enterprise, with new features and functionality all while supporting your legacy systems.

Features include:

Mobile First:  It allows users and devices to connect to the network and receive the same policy and permissions regardless of how they connect, wired or wireless, making them truly mobile.

Open: No business wants to be locked-in and limited by a single vendor’s architecture. This solution supports open standards, but also provides rich API support for a seamless integration.

Secure: This solution provides security for both the wired and wireless infrastructure with signed code, secure boot, and cryptographic hardware protection. Rest assured, user data is protected with strong encryption and per-user level policy.

Autonomous: Machine learning uses massive amounts of analytics data in order to understand the operational and security state of the network. Automated systems optimize performance and will alert administrators of changes or highlight potential changes that require acceptance via on-premise and cloud-managed network operations.

If you want to learn more about what Aruba Mobile First Architecture can do for your campus, give us a call at 402-327-1880. DataVizion’s certified mobile-first engineers are ready to get started!

Source: https://www.statista.com/statistics/678739/forecast-on-connected-devices-per-person/

In an ever-increasing digital world, the use of mobile and other IoT devices will continue to rise along with the expectations of users. Whether it’s at work, on campus or while shopping, users expect to seamlessly access information, without having to worry about network issues.

However, as any IT professional knows, the increase in devices also means that networks are becoming more complex. So what happens when network issues do occur throughout your business? It can take hours or even days to troubleshoot and resolve wireless problems, during which the user experience is less than ideal.

To help our client’s combat this, DataVizion is implementing Aruba NetInsight, which gives your IT professionals access to AI-powered network analytics and assurance to detect problems and help optimize network performance.

“Through the use of Aruba’s AI- powered assurance and analytics, DataVizion is able to proactively customize our customers’ networks to meet their dynamic needs and dramatically improve the quality of experience for users on the network,” Kelly Schrad, DataVizion’s CEO and President, said.  “With a seamless and secure network, our customers can better focus on the user experience instead of reactive network management.”

Not only does Aruba NetInsight help detect issues, but also the web-based dashboard takes the guesswork out of troubleshooting by allowing network administrators to view insights along with root causes. Better yet, it provides recommendations to fix immediate and foreseeable network performance issues.

In addition to improving the network, NetInsight also allows our customers access to data visualizations.  This can provide information such as how people move around your business location or what areas they congregate in, all of which are valuable when it comes to planning and preparing for growth.

If you want to learn more about how AI-powered analytics and assurance can improve your business network, give us a call at 402-327-1880.  Read more about Aruba NetInsight here.

Recently, a group of our DataVizion team members, made their way to Las Vegas, Nevada, at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center for Aruba Atmosphere 2018. Hosted by Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company, it’s the largest mobility conference in the world, that brings together networking experts from across the globe.

During the action-packed week, our DataVizion team members, along with several of our customers, attended keynotes from top-performing industry professionals, and hands-on sessions and demonstrations. Along with our customers, we learned about the importance and implementation of intelligent edge, and how to enable its capabilities throughout businesses with Aruba Mobile First Architecture.

We also had the opportunity to hear from Partha Narasimhan, CTO at Aruba. During his presentation, he spoke about the need of Al-powered analytics and assurance. Al-powered analytics and assurance solutions provide connectivity insights that let you measure and manage application responsiveness, so that you can see how your network is performing for your users, in real time.

“Not only does this event enable us to learn more about Aruba and where they are headed, from a partners perspective, is also enables DataVizion to bring customers together to learn more about what can be achieved with the solutions they are considering implementing,” said Tom Burke, Channel Sales Director.

While obtaining an Aruba Mobile First Expert Certification, our DataVizion team members gained insight on:

• How to turn IT resources into assets for businesses
• Closing security gaps while supporting workplace flexibility
• Providing the right collaboration tools for organizational creativity
• Helping organization’s gain an innovative edge;
• Embracing the flexibility and scale of cloud and on-premises solutions.

If you are interested to learn about how mobile-first implementations can benefit your business network,  give us a call at 402-327-1880.

Aruba ClearPass Helps You Embrace BYOD

Regardless if you run a bank, hospital or retail organization, one thing’s for certain: your employees and customers have come to expect Wi-Fi access. But if the thought of letting anyone and everyone onto your network scares you, you’re not alone.

With the Aruba ClearPass Access Management System you can embrace the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) culture allowing guest and employee-owned devices like smart phones, tablets and laptops onto your network without losing control and visibility.

Here’s five other key benefits ClearPass offers:

1. Customized Guest Access Portal

Use your company logo and branding or create unique data-entry fields that users have to fill out to log on. You can even post customized advertisements and offers or other targeted content to create a unique user experience.

2. Seamless Integration

ClearPass is available as both a hardware-based or virtual appliance and can be deployed with any existing network infrastructure from any major vendor, which means you don’t have to replace existing infrastructure.

3. Real-time Analytics

With ClearPass, you have the ability to see which devices have connected to your network in real-time, which can be helpful when it comes to reporting, planning, auditing and compliance.

4. Comprehensive Security

ClearPass has an abundance of security procedures in place to protect your network. You can ensure devices are compliant with your policies before they connect, set a policy according to device type, block applications that don’t meet company policy, provide different service levels based on the user and more.

5. Easy Troubleshooting

ClearPass provides advanced troubleshooting and the forensics needed to easily pinpoint the root cause of a user’s network access or authentication issue. Your IT department will thank you.

So whether you have 10 users or 10,000 on your network, ClearPass will help create a better user experience while keeping your network secure. Curious if ClearPass would work for your business? Contact your account manager today.

Southwest Airlines was one of the latest companies to fall victim to what’s been referred to as a “computer glitch” resulting in hundreds of flight cancellations, delays, lots of unhappy customers and a negative impact to the company’s bottom line.

A router breakdown that led to a series of failures in critical technology systems has been blamed. The backup systems in place also failed to work as expected.

Even if you aren’t operating one of the nation’s largest airline carriers, if your company relies on technology (which, let’s face it, is most) a disaster recovery plan is a critical business need. Here are three reasons why:

1. Machines and Hardware Fail

Even the best hardware is not completely immune to failing. That’s where Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) comes in. In the event of a failure, your physical or virtual servers should be backed up by a third party so you can quickly and cost-effectively recover your data with as little down time as possible. In addition, you should be conducting regular network assessments and testing to avoid unreliable redundancy.

2. Human Error is Common

Ever had your computer crash or lost an important document? It happens to everyone. Having a disaster recovery plan in place can ensure you have online data backups that allow you to easily restore your data. In addition, having redundant firewalls, anti-virus, and anti-spyware software can help prevent security breaches that are often the result of human error.

3. Customers Have Little Patience

With the Internet, and especially social media, customers are quicker than ever to voice their frustrations and concerns to anyone and everyone. Those affected by the recent Southwest Airlines flight interruptions are a prime example. It’s not easy to earn a customers’ trust, and any downtime or inconvenience they experience, even if due to an IT disaster is a quick way to send your customers to your competition.

At any time, something unwelcomed can happen and affect your organization's overall IT infrastructure and your company’s bottom line. Call us to learn more about how VizionVault, our disaster recovery service, can help you prepare for the unexpected.

Wireless mobility – what used to be a convenient feature – is now an expectation that’s changing the way we live and work. From restaurants and airplanes to college campuses and sporting events, today’s 24/7 connected world expects anytime, anywhere mobile access.

To increase their competitive advantage, businesses of all sizes need a reliable and secure wireless network infrastructure. Here are five must-have components:

1. Future proofing

All signs point to a steep upward trend in wireless usage. Your network needs to be scalable enough to allow for proper coverage and density requirements as needed. And trust us – you’ll need it.

2. Indoor and Outdoor Coverage

Business doesn’t stop at the door and neither should your wireless network coverage. Even if you don’t start with it, make sure to leave open the possibility of adding outdoor coverage from the same platform.

3. Centralized Management

Regardless of how many access points you have, you’ll need a way to effectively manage updates and configuration changes from one central location.

 4. Access Management

Help solve wireless security concerns with access management systems such as Aruba ClearPass, which allows you to assign a role to the wireless device based on how it’s authenticated.

5. Mobile Device Management (MDM)

With a network full of mobile devices each running their own applications and programs, you need a MDM system to monitor and manage access.

We’ve designed and installed wireless network systems for companies of all sizes across the U.S. So whether you’re starting fresh or your wireless network needs an upgrade, we can help.

For our clients, who already have a lot of on their plate, it can be overwhelming to keep pace with emerging trends in the Information Technology world. Don't worry. We’ve got you covered.

At DataVizion, we stay on top of the latest IT offerings from our partners to provide a level of service unachievable by many of our competitors. Here are just some of the recent certifications achieved.

David Andersen, Project Engineer, and Ken Cousino, Field Services Engineer, recently passed the Palo Alto Networks Certified Network Security Engineer (PCNSE6) exam. From design and installation to configuration and troubleshooting, David and Ken possess a deep understanding of Palo Alto Networks technologies and can implement the best solutions to fit your needs.

DataVizion has been an Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company, platinum partner since 2014, differentiating ourselves from our peers with the highest level of engineering and commitment to Aruba products.

Ethan Shold, Engineer, became our newest member of the DataVizion team to pass the Aruba Certified Mobility Professional (ACMP) exam. And Mat Lehn, Engineer, passed the Aruba Certified ClearPass Expert (ACCX) exam. We’re now more ready than ever to provide the expert support for any Aruba solution you decide to implement.

So whether you’re looking to increase mobility or implement an entirely new network infrastructure, we have the skills and expertise to help make it happen.

DataVizion team attends Atmosphere 2016 in Las Vegas.

Our DataVizion team is back from an action-packed week in Las Vegas where we attended Atmosphere 2016. Hosted by Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company, it’s the largest mobility conference on earth and brings together networking experts from across the globe.

A special thank you to our clients: Boys Town, Immanuel, Kiewit Corporation, Lincoln Public Schools, The Buckle, UniGroup and University of Nebraska at Kearney for joining us.

We heard from top-performing industry professionals, attended breakout sessions and technology demonstrations on a variety of topics including creating a digital workplace, securing the #GenMobile experience with adaptive trust, boosting mobile engagement and making the most of agile data centers.

While we were blown away with all of the new features and third party integration with Aruba products, one of our favorites was Aruba Clarity. Many of our clients face increasing connectivity demands. This newly introduced network management tool enables us to better anticipate and resolve connectivity problems– before they happen. Amazing right?

We also had the opportunity to hear from Meg Whitman, president and CEO of Hewlett Packard Enterprise, who spoke about the success of HPE’s acquisition of Aruba last year. Everyone was incredibly proud of the progress that has been made in the past year and excited for the continued growth that lies ahead.

Conferences like Atmosphere 2016 definitely showcase how Information Technology, the ideas surrounding new technologies and the things we can do with them are constantly evolving. But, we love this stuff and are excited to be on the forefront of implementing these ever-advancing solutions.

If you are curious to know more about Aruba Clarity or the other state-of-the-art products showcased at Atmosphere 2016 and how they can benefit your company, give us a call.

Check out YouTube videos from the conference here.