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Introduction
This chapter provides an overview of the AP-2500 Public Access AP.
•
Introducing the AP-2500
•
Overview of Product Features
•
The Product Package
•
Minimum System Requirements
•
Management and Monitoring Capabilities
•
Active Ethernet
Introducing the AP-2500
The ORiNOCO AP-2500 is an all-in-one wireless access point and access gateway specifically designed for public
hotspot providers and enterprises. It is a cost-effective solution for small and medium public hotspots, such as coffee
shops, hotels, and airport lounges, and it enables enterprises to offer corporate visitors immediate wireless network
access regardless of their existing network or ISP settings. Supporting Wi-Fi 802.11b and 802.11a it ensures
ease-of-use and secure Internet access for mobile professionals. Each AP supports a maximum of 100 subscribers.
Advanced features include Radius AAA, VPN passthrough, dynamic address translation, home page redirect, internal
web server, walled garden, bandwidth management, and remote management providing service differentiation and
operating cost savings for hotspot operators. The AP-2500 is a true Hotspot-in-a-box solution.
Overview of Product Features
The AP-2500 supports two feature sets:
1.
Access gateway or Public Space features (that provide hotspot connectivity)
2.
Standard networking features included with many traditional wireless access points (such as the ORiNOCO
AP-2000)
Although in implementation there is some overlap between these feature sets, for the sake of simplicity this document
refers to the first set of features as the AP’s
Public Space
features and the second set as the AP’s
Networking
features.
Public Space Features
The AP-2500’s Public Space features are designed to provide a simple billing, management, and authentication
solution for hotspot operators and quick and easy access to the Internet for subscribers. Subscribers do not need to
change any settings (such as IP address or Internet proxy server configuration) on their computer to connect to the
hotspot.
Noteworthy Public Space features include:
•
Dynamic Address Translation:
The AP-2500 offers plug-and-play connectivity for subscribers without any
intervention required on the part of the subscriber. The AP-2500 supports all possible IP settings (static
addressing, dynamic addressing, static DNS server settings). A subscriber simply turns on his/her laptop and
launches a Web browser to connect to the Internet. See
Dynamic Address Translation (DAT)
for details.
•
Transparent Proxy Redirection:
The AP directs all HTTP and HTTPS proxy requests through an internal proxy
which is transparent to the subscriber. In other words, your subscribers don’t have to change their browser’ proxy
settings (if enabled).
•
Outgoing e-mail (SMTP) Redirection:
You can configure the AP-2500 to redirect outgoing e-mail messages to a
specified Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) server. Subscribers can send e-mails as if they were connected to
their home network. See
SMTP Redirection
for details.
