HITEC 2016 NEWS: Nomadix Reveals New Capabilities for Service Engine
With the introduction of Nomadix Service Engine (NSE) version 8.7, Nomadix Inc. showcases new bandwidth management and security features for its AG 2400, AG 5600, AG 5800 and AG 5900 bandwidth management and access gateways. These popular gateways service internet connections for guests in locations such as hotels or convention centers – or anywhere there is a visitor network.
The quality of high-speed internet continues to rank as one of the most important factors for guests when choosing to stay at a hotel. One of the biggest factors in determining the quality of that access is the ability to effectively manage bandwidth. Bandwidth limits, or caps, can be useful in managing bandwidth by limiting the amount of bandwidth each guest consumes – but there is an even greater level of granularity that can be provided beyond traditional caps. With NSE version 8.7, Nomadix continues to invest and innovate by adding bandwidth management capabilities beyond caps. Version 8.7 adds support for distribution of unused bandwidth and utilizes Weighted Fair Queuing (WFQ) together with Class Based Queuing (CBQ). This contributes to improving the guest experience and helps Managed Service Providers (MSPs), and ultimately hotels, extract more value out of purchased bandwidth.
Specific capabilities offered in version 8.7 include:
Bandwidth Management
Concurrent CBQ and WFQ usage – NSE now integrates its WFQ and CBQ to improve Quality of Service and therefore improves the guest experience. NSE will now allow for subscribers with differently defined individual upper bandwidth limits to be weighted appropriately within the class to which they are assigned. This approach can be applied to multiple classes at the same time. In each class, traffic is shaped in a fair manner. This ensures that subscribers in higher tiers can get a proportionally higher share of bandwidth.
Share Unused Bandwidth – Subscriber bandwidth allocations can now be proportionally increased when excess bandwidth is available. With this enhancement, service providers will now have the ability to assign proportional weights instead of static caps.
New Default Subscriber Bandwidth setting – Valid subscribers that have no specified bandwidth setting will be assigned the default bandwidth.
Security – The customization of the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) will improve the ability to perform network monitoring. To overcome an ISP limitation enforced on SNMP operations, NSE will now allow MSPs to change the listening port for SNMP – thereby increasing the security to monitor NSE and its visitor-based network. This customization also helps to avoid opportunistic vulnerability scanners that look to create denial of service attacks.
Platform Enhancements
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) and Option 82 (Relay Agent Information Option protocol extension) – NSE now allows information to be included in a relayed DHCP request. The features allow MSPs to utilize a central DHCP server in communication with multiple NSEs at different sites.
Expanding XML Portal SubID length (36 byte string) – The Portal SubID is an optional element that can be included in the XML Radius_login command. It simplifies implementation of cloud-based portal Operations Support Systems (OSS) deployed in a distributed environment.
Expanding length of user-definable fields – enhances NSE’s external API, providing portal OSS even more flexibility. Specifically, it increases the amount of information (128 bytes) a portal OSS can associate with each subscriber profile.
Reporting subscriber usage statistics – helps MSPs meet SLAs by providing a clearer indication of NSE subscriber license utilization. This can be used as an early indicator of when to increase the number of licensed subscribers.
Nomadix gateways are designed to meet the needs of any size property. The AG 2400 gateway serves smaller properties, such as hotels with up to 150 rooms, and supports the deployment of wired or wireless networks with up to 500 simultaneous mobile devices. The AG 5600, AG 5800 and AG 5900 gateways serve larger venues with up to 2,000, 4,000 and 8,000 simultaneous devices, respectively.
NSE 8.7 will be available in Q3 2016.
The quality of high-speed internet continues to rank as one of the most important factors for guests when choosing to stay at a hotel. One of the biggest factors in determining the quality of that access is the ability to effectively manage bandwidth. Bandwidth limits, or caps, can be useful in managing bandwidth by limiting the amount of bandwidth each guest consumes – but there is an even greater level of granularity that can be provided beyond traditional caps. With NSE version 8.7, Nomadix continues to invest and innovate by adding bandwidth management capabilities beyond caps. Version 8.7 adds support for distribution of unused bandwidth and utilizes Weighted Fair Queuing (WFQ) together with Class Based Queuing (CBQ). This contributes to improving the guest experience and helps Managed Service Providers (MSPs), and ultimately hotels, extract more value out of purchased bandwidth.
Specific capabilities offered in version 8.7 include:
Bandwidth Management
Concurrent CBQ and WFQ usage – NSE now integrates its WFQ and CBQ to improve Quality of Service and therefore improves the guest experience. NSE will now allow for subscribers with differently defined individual upper bandwidth limits to be weighted appropriately within the class to which they are assigned. This approach can be applied to multiple classes at the same time. In each class, traffic is shaped in a fair manner. This ensures that subscribers in higher tiers can get a proportionally higher share of bandwidth.
Share Unused Bandwidth – Subscriber bandwidth allocations can now be proportionally increased when excess bandwidth is available. With this enhancement, service providers will now have the ability to assign proportional weights instead of static caps.
New Default Subscriber Bandwidth setting – Valid subscribers that have no specified bandwidth setting will be assigned the default bandwidth.
Security – The customization of the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) will improve the ability to perform network monitoring. To overcome an ISP limitation enforced on SNMP operations, NSE will now allow MSPs to change the listening port for SNMP – thereby increasing the security to monitor NSE and its visitor-based network. This customization also helps to avoid opportunistic vulnerability scanners that look to create denial of service attacks.
Platform Enhancements
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) and Option 82 (Relay Agent Information Option protocol extension) – NSE now allows information to be included in a relayed DHCP request. The features allow MSPs to utilize a central DHCP server in communication with multiple NSEs at different sites.
Expanding XML Portal SubID length (36 byte string) – The Portal SubID is an optional element that can be included in the XML Radius_login command. It simplifies implementation of cloud-based portal Operations Support Systems (OSS) deployed in a distributed environment.
Expanding length of user-definable fields – enhances NSE’s external API, providing portal OSS even more flexibility. Specifically, it increases the amount of information (128 bytes) a portal OSS can associate with each subscriber profile.
Reporting subscriber usage statistics – helps MSPs meet SLAs by providing a clearer indication of NSE subscriber license utilization. This can be used as an early indicator of when to increase the number of licensed subscribers.
Nomadix gateways are designed to meet the needs of any size property. The AG 2400 gateway serves smaller properties, such as hotels with up to 150 rooms, and supports the deployment of wired or wireless networks with up to 500 simultaneous mobile devices. The AG 5600, AG 5800 and AG 5900 gateways serve larger venues with up to 2,000, 4,000 and 8,000 simultaneous devices, respectively.
NSE 8.7 will be available in Q3 2016.