Versa Technology is pleased to announce that we will be reselling the ValuePoint NC-3500 Gateway. The ValuePoint NC-3500 is one of the leading gateways deployed in Hotspots across the country. From hotels to coffee shops the NC-3500 gateway takes care of all needs. It is one of the most robust gateways available on the market today. It features everything from Device Monitoring to a Walled Guard and Hilton Authentication.

We are really proud to bring you this hotspot gateway, because on top of all the other top quality products Network Engineers and Consultants get, now they can get the gateway as well from us. This makes us the one stop shop for everything you need for HSIA installations. Want to be able to put 400mw VX-AP400Pro high power wireless access points in your Hotspot and be able to monitor status. This is not a problem with the advanced device monitoring the NC-3500 has. You don’t need to stress over how to set up a Mikrotik or learn Linux to be able to do so, but through a super easy web interface you can configure or have us pre-configure for you and presto you are ready to go. Gone are the days where setting up a gateway required enough knowhow to launch a rocket to the moon. The Valuepoint NC-3500 was developed with the intent to help provide a gateway that is both easy to use, manage and yet provide the full range of services that most MDU/MTU, hotel and motel chains require.

The NC-3500 ValuePoint Gateway meets hotel and motel brand compliance as seen here .

ValuePoint Networks' 3500 Gateway Controller provides high performance, authenticated, and seamless broadband connectivity to Public Access venues such as Hotels, Airports, Marinas, and Multi-tenant properties, The 3500 Controller will automatically adjust to almost any foreseeable subscriber configuration and adapt to support that subscriber automatically and transparently. Subscriber access can be authenticated via Local User Database or RADIUS Authentication. Web browsing, VPN, and Email are automatically configured and supported by the gateway as well.

The NC-3500 ValuePoint Gateway has a powerful IXP 425/533 MHz CPU supporting 65 Mbps of throughput and 200 concurrent users. User-based & Global Bandwidth limiting with independent upload/download speeds as well as Session limiting prevents file sharers, PTP users and other network "hogs" from congesting or bringing down the network. Multiple NC-3500's can be stacked in a load sharing group to support 400 or more users.  In addition multiple WAN ports can be shared with failover services activated. Ideal for replacing aging gateways from Zyxel, IP3 gateways and even Cisco at only a third or a fifth of the price. Talk to a Versa rep today and see what services we can provide.

Hardware

-1 10Base 802.3 / 100BaseT WAN port
-4 10Base 802.3 / 100BaseT LAN ports
19" 1U rack mount
12 x 7 x 2 In. / 5 Lbs.

Performance

gateway controller
200 or 400 concurrent users -- Two NC-3500s can be stacked to support 400 concurrent users
2000 Local User Database
65 Mbps maximum throughput

User Authentication and Accounting

RADIUS-based authentication
-Funk Steel Belted Radius
-Free Radius
-Alepo
`Captive Portal` Login Page Redirection
Local Branded Terms of Service
Advanced Local Authentication
-User-accounts locked to MAC
-Subscriber pass-through after single login
-Detailed user statistics
Patent-Pending Cafe Account: Time and MAC limited free access
XML/SOAP OSS and Billing Provider Support
-Hampton Inn HSIA
-Authdirect (ICOA) Tollbooth
-DataValet
-Logisense
-Thinwires
-V-Link
-Wandering Wi-Fi
White List: IP and MAC Pass-through
Blacklist: MAC Blocking
Property Management (PMS) System Interface
-Compatible with Comtrol interface which includes 69 PMS
-Compatible with MICROS(TM) Opera/Fidelio

Networking

Auto IP: Supports any static IP configuration
Multiple VPN Support
Auto-Proxy supports any browser HTTP proxy
SMTP redirection supports most email configurations
TCP/IP Router
Dynamic DNS Support: dyndns.org
NAT
PPTP, IPSec, L2TP pass-through
DHCP Client, Server
PPPoE
PER User AND GLOBAL Bandwidth Limiting
Session Limiting
Vlan

Security

Secure HTML Login Page (SSL)
Real-time session list
Remote Management filtering
gre tunneling

Management

Web-based Management via SSL
Sophisticated Syslog Logging
Backup, Import, and Export Configuration and Local User Database
Safe remote firmware upgrade from the NOC reduces site visits

Local Services and Branding

Walled Garden
Portal Page
One time or Time based Advertisement URLs
Standard or Customized Login, Welcome and Logout Pages

Certification and Approval

CE Mark
VCCI Class B
UL

Warranty

One year parts and labor

If you are traveling on business and want to stay in a nicer hotel but do not want the added cost of 12.95 a day for Wi-Fi you might have a hard time picking a hotel to stay at. Every hotel chain is different depending on the brand under the main company. For example, Hilton Garden Inn is free while regular Hiltons charge. Also if you stay at the same Hotel chain you will build points and get free stays so you often want to stick with one major “Brand”

For Starwood, Four Points by Sheraton offers high speed internet for free but none of the rest offer free HSIA. The ones that charge include St. Regis, W Hotels, Westin, Sheraton, Luxury Collection and Le Meridien.

Marriott on the other hand offers free HSIA at five of its 8 brands. Free HSIA can be found at the Residence Inn, Courtyard, Springhill Suites, Towne place and Fairfield Inn. The Ritz-Carlton, JW Marriott and Marriott all charge a premium per day though.

Hilton on the other hand tends to go more towards a pay model in all of its brands other than Hilton Garden Inn, Homewood Suites, and Hampton Inn. Hilton, Conrad, Waldorf-Astorias, Embassy Suites and Double tree all go the pay route.

InterContinental Hotel Group mostly offers free Wi-Fi in all of its hotels. Holiday Inn, Hotel Indigo, Staybridge Suites, and Candlewood Suites all offer free HSIA. Only Intercontinental and Crown Plaza will charge for IGH.

Hyatt is the best at offering free HSIA among its different hotel chains. Andaz, Hyatt Place, Amerisuites, Hawthorn Suites, and Springfield Suites all offer free HSIA while only Hyatt and Park Hyatt charge, mostly because their competitors get away with charging.

As you can see if you want to stay in business class hotel for a budget and not pay high fees for HSIA it is possible, you just have to stay within guidelines.

Pardon the leet speak but VARs are an essential client base at Versa and being one is both a very lucrative and profitable enterprise. This is not just a pitch it's a reality. Value Added Resellers, or Resellers for short often gain more then just a source for their business with our products but they become full fledge business offering turn key solutions when using our products and marketing them to existing or new clientele. From Ethernet Extenders to Fiber Media Converters, DSL DSLAMs, Wireless Access Points the full range of copper and fiber wireless solutions can be had via Versa Technology, Inc.

Versa's range of Ethernet extenders, IP DSLAMs, Fiber Media Converters, switches, Power Over Ethernet devices and High Powered Wireless Access Points provide a one stop location where just about every imaginable data transport solution can be found.

VARS or Value Added Reseller come into their own during these moments. VARS that specialize in High Speed Internet Service, Telco networks are very and highly specialized. Often times the equipment can either be very easy to use and manage, or also often they can also be complicated to install, operate and maintain as many errors in installation, configuration of these last mile solutions and equipment can lead to very expensive do-overs or more trips by the installers to remedy or fix a solution.

If you are in this field you will come to realize as well, that equipment went it comes to Ethernet extenders, DSLAMs, Fiber Media Converters, E1 or T1 Multiplexers and Wireless Access points and Gateways are from a very niche. What more if you are a HSIA provider and attempting to decide which equipment works best and if you had to demo and evaluate everything in the market this endeavor would be both costly and time consuming. Enter the VARs and here they can assist albeit for equipment that are at a higher cost should you buy direct but that cost easily pays for itself when you discover the savings gained from Not deploying the wrong equipment and then having to uninstall, pull out the gear and if you are lucky you maybe able to return some of it for credit.

Versa Value Added Resellers are qualified both through a process that allows us as manufacturers of network equipment to both ensure, school and test that they indeed can support if not build for a client workable and lasting solution using our equipment. With over 14 years of manufacturing as well as deployment experience we are well schooled on how to support our clients as well as our VARS. The process always begins first to try to keep things as simple as possible and when things get hard and complicated offer solid suggestions and pre-configurations and for a finer touch VARS can enter the picture and offer a full range of services, from configuration set up, firmware updates to installation quotes and advice if needed. With both a combined cost effective solution and a valuable partner, equipment such as wireless gateways, DSLAMs, Ethernet extenders and fiber media converters have become both easy to use and one that you do not need to pay for the Brand for example, Cisco, Motorola, Nomadix and bleed out of your nose needlessly to achieve similar if not results that exceed even what they can offer.

Our clients are often HSIA’s or installers that provide internet service for hotels, motels, campuses, apartment buildings and residential complexes. Now often times HSIA’s will try and pitch new wiring and sell it that way. Since the bigger the job, the larger the profits and hence the more the client has to commit to the installation and to the HSIA’s services. In the cash stripped economy we are in, few are willing to drop so much money and yet they do not want to rely on wireless entirely since supporting that service is both expensive, time consuming and often times just plain frustrating. In such times copper is King. 

Enter then the possibility of using existing phone wiring that is available in all these scenarios where wiring is not a possibility and why many HSIA’s come to Versa Technology Inc.  for their copper/twisted pair phone wiring solutions. 

When Cabling is No Nyet Nein:

1. Cost of new wiring is too expensive.
2. New wiring will destroy aesthetic look of the hotel.
3. The amount of time needed to do the wiring is too long. ( student housing/campuses)
4. Building is too old and renovations of any kind are out of the question.

In all of these scenarios, using existing phones and deploying an ADSL 2+ DSLAM to provide internet to the rooms is ideal. By piping in bandwidth to the phone room in these buildings, and deploying DSLAMs in the phone room that link to modems placed in the guest rooms themselves, no additional wiring or work is required. Voice would enter via the PBX into the DSLAM then with data injected it would return to the phone blocks and head to the rooms where the CPE modems are waiting to receive and filter to the phone and internet users. CAT3 or CAT5 it will work and not be a problem. It can share the same pairs where voice is running too.

Typical deployment time is often completed within a day even for a property that is 50-100 rooms and if two installers are on location that is a guarantee. Wireless can also be provided since there are ADSL2+ modems that offer a 4 port hub and wireless connectivity as well. With the ability to monitor and throttle the bandwidth on these DSLAM’s installers and HSIA’s are able then to control and manage users from wherever they are via the DSLAM’s web or CLI interface.

Frequently Asked Questions about DSLAM installations in hotels are:

1. Will the voice or phones work if the DSLAMs fail or are out of order?

Answer : Yes it will, connectivity is hardwired and works whether the DSLAM is power on or not.

1. Will it work with a digital PBX?

Answer: Yes it will, only when a Digital PBX AND Digital phones are use will the DSL frequencies clash. We have never seen an incident of this ever.

1. Does installing this system far too much?

Answer: Nope cost per room can be as low as $67 a room for a wired and wireless solution to be install using ADSL2+, or mix up the install with some rooms wired and other wireless and costs per room can drop to as low as $15!

1. What is the top speeds?

Answer: 25Mb down and 3Mb up. Way more speed then you would get for the entire building or need to pipe to any one user.

1. What is the max range?

Answer: ADSL 2+ will go as far as 5km, even longer if you use repeaters so buildings are never a problem here.

Typical ROI for clients that charge for internet services range within 3-6 months before profiting from their one time expensive and this is a huge factor why a lot of our clients are big proponents of deploying this equipment. Contact Versa Technology Inc.  today if you have any questions and see for yourself the possibilities with xDSL. Though we only talk about ADSL 2+ here, VDSL2 and DSLAMs and CPE’s are also possible and ideal even for triple play solutions that are looking to install the best equipment for that purpose. With over 50,000 of our mini IP DSLAMs deployed worldwide and even more of our modems, this solution is one to stay and grows more cost effective every year.

Tune in next time when we discuss the other alternative when cabling is not possible. Wireless and how to do it Just Right.

The title is ludicrous and indeed it seems so but when we first heard it from Steve Shockman at Consolidated Smart Systems, we could not help but laugh and agree as shared good laughs over dinner. The economy has plummeted in the last year and the America that was two years ago is now near unrecognizable. Spending all across the board is down and everyone is looking for golden bullet to cut, slash and decapitate costs. Well we just so happen to have one for you if you are looking to grow the network. The VX-1000MD ADSL2+ DSLAMs that can be deployed in hours, no new wiring, and whopping range of up to 5km and speeds of 24Mb down and 3Mb up which is plenty fast for any end user no matter how you look at it.

Enter the era of Post Fiber Advanced Copper Technology championed by ADSL2+ and VDSL2 DSLAMs. The answer so simple yet apparent and constantly overlooked by ISP's and HSIA's looking to squeeze the extra margin from new installs and new client sites. No only is fiber expensive but also comes the construction cost built in, while running new fiber in a new construction is a grand idea, what about the building is 20 years old and projects managers thought we would never advance past telelphones. Even wireless often seems like the answer, well that is until you run into the plethora of problems that come with access points being stolen, unplugged or failing to connect ever frustrated wireless user, add to the known fact that any wireless install is one tech support heavy install that can rack up support call costs to a fault.

One commandment that rings true in just about any property on the face of this planet is that phone lines must exist and are ever present. Utilizing the existing phone lines and copper of a building to distribute and offer internet services is an old answer now echoing strong once more. The property owners will balk at the cost of laying fiber at their transceivers where DSL DSLAM's and DSL Modems can achieve the same at a fraction of the cost yet provide ongoing internet service that is plug and play and needs very little support should user require them. Whether in the US or in any other nation, the constant where phone wiring is available to pipe data and offer quick and easy access to people looking to gain internet service is irrefutable.

Traditional speeds of 100Mb that were dominatly allowed only to Fiber or short range Ethernet is a thing of the past, with Versa Technology's VX-MD3024 VDSL2 DSLAMs you can pipe pure bandwidths of up to 100Mb both up and downstream to users well beyond the 100 meter limitation of Ethernet and up to 2-4000 meters depending on twisted copper phone pair line quality on a voice line and not interrupt its services. Smart clients have learned to triple their gains by offering IPTV as well just by using the bandwidth of these new generations of copper DSLAMs and CPE's like the VX-1000LD 8 port ADSL2+ DSLAMS, VX-1000MD 24 ADSL2+ DSLAMS and the VX-MD3024 VDSL2 DSLAMS. Get a free consultation now from Versa Technology, Inc. on how this can be done. A FTTH deployment has an ROI of nearly 12 to 18 months; a VX-MD3024 DSLAM has an ROI of 3 to 6 months? Cash is king and the faster you can get the longer you will be around.