Mbr900 Provides Constant Internet Connectivity For Small Offices

By Author: Ki Grinsing
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In business class network with centralized ERP database application, branch offices and tele-workers generally create secure tunneling to the central office (where ERP application is hosted) to access the application database. Citrix with Terminal services are usually used to access the remote application. Virtual Private Network (VPN) with constant connectivity from branch office to the central office is typically used. Implementation of the VPN via the public network (aka internet) is cheaper than leased line connection.

Generally leased line connection provides constant connectivity with Quality of Services for the bandwidth used which is ideal for remote access to the database application in the central office. Constant VPN connection from branch offices to the central office via public network depends on the constant internet connectivity. To provide constant internet connectivity, your router should support redundant connectivity to the WAN with failover feature in case of the main connection fail. MBR900 Cradlepoint router with failover feature is an ideal solution for such the case.

What this Product Does

MBR900 ...
... CradlePoint Router is essentially two routers in one for both wired broadband WAN and wireless mobile Internet. The router supports Ethernet based WAN connection (including Cable, T1, or DSL) and mobile / cellular broadband Internet connection (3G/4G via USB Modem).

MBR900 supports 3G/4G via USB modem and is compatible with more than 100 EVDO, HSPA, and WiMAX Cellular Network Devices available in the market today. For wired broadband connection, the router includes one 10/100 Ethernet port you can connect to the modem (Cable or DSL).

You can configure the wired-Internet as the primary connection while cellular Internet as the backup connection. Whenever the primary connection fails, the systems will failover to the backup connection automatically (with 30 seconds delay). Once the wired-connection is restored, the router failback to the primary connection automatically. This makes constant internet connectivity from the branch offices to the main office by means of VPN tunneling.

MBR900 CradlePoint Router supports concurrent IPSec, L2TP and PPTP VPN pass-through sessions. This helps you create secure tunneling from the branch office to the central office. For small branch office, you can share a single broadband data modem signal with up to 30 client connections.

Security Features

MBR900 CradlePoint Router, like other wireless N routers, supports industrial wireless security encryption Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA/WPA2) both Personal & Enterprise, as well as WEP (64/128 bit) for connecting to legacy client devices. To prevent un-authorized access, the router supports access control including Encryption, open modes, and password protected. You can control to show or hide the SSID for additional security. By hiding the SSID, you need to connect the network by manually typing the network name (SSID name). This feature will prevent the un-authorized users to scan your network.

For network protection and DoS attack prevention, the router supports NAT (network address translation) and SPI (stateful packets inspection). NAT helps hide the private network from the public network (aka the internet) and it also allows Internet connection shared. SPI helps inspect the inbound traffic for possible false positive packets.

Compared with MBR1000 cellular router which provides range coverage up to 750 feet and connects up to 64 devices, MBR900 provides up to 600 feet and connects up to 30 wireless devices. But when connected to the Ethernet WAN, both routers provide unlimited wireless connection.

When you compare MBR900 or MBR1000 with MBR1200 Cradlepoint router, MBR1200 supports 5 (five) ports for 3G/4G modem including 3 (three) USB 2.0, 1 ExpressCard, 1 PC Card. MBR1200 supports Gigabit 10/100/1000 Mbps WAN Ethernet port too and One LAN Ethernet Port re-configurable to WAN for redundancy.

For small branch offices or SOHOs, MBR900 CradlePoint router is an ideal solution for affordable constant internet connectivity. For more 3G/4G modem options, you can consider MBR1200 Cradlepoint router.

By Ki Grinsing

Ki Grinsing has prolonged years of working experiences in IT projects. Please visit the articles: mbr900 cradlepoint router and d link dir-412 router