5 ways to improve your campus wireless network with Microsoft ISA Server
Wireless technology is quickly becoming commonplace on campuses as students, teachers, and parents expect an Internet connection no matter where they happen to be. Opening up a campus network to any passerby with a laptop computer poses a number of challenges to information technology (IT) administrators, including security, reliability, and performance issues.
Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server 2006 offers educational organizations effective protection against Internet-based threats while providing users with fast and secure remote access to applications.
1. | Limit access from wireless-to-wired networks. ISA Server can be configured to allow wireless guests access to the Internet as well as select resources on the campus network. Go here to learn more about authentication in ISA Server 2006. |
2. | Improve network performance through Web proxy caching. ISA Server is an extensible firewall and Web-caching server that improves both network performance and the end-user experience by storing frequently requested Web content in a local cache. Download this document to find out more: Accelerating the Internet with ISA Server 2004 Web caching (425 KB; Microsoft Word file). |
3. | Provide advanced user authentication and reporting. Working with Windows Server 2003, ISA Server allows administrators to control who may join the network and what resources they may access. Traffic throughout the organization can be centrally reported. |
4. | Restrict access to services through secure server publishing. With ISA Server, administrators can place servers behind the firewall, either on the corporate network or on a perimeter network, and publish their services. Find out how to securely publish your content for remote access. |
5. | Provide a high quality of service. ISA Server 2006 includes a new packet prioritization functionality that assigns a packet priority to different URLs. This helps to ensure that the most important traffic gets delivered first. Discover more about network concepts in ISA Server 2006. |
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