Higher Education

Hey everyone. Is there any interest in creating a petition directed to Sony and Microsoft about the lack of WPA2-Enterprise support on the latest game consoles? I'm thinking something similar to the petition to Apple re: mDNS services (AirGroup/AirPrint local discovery). While that petition didn't change much, at least the company has shown they are working on alternative solutions. 

 

I (personally) think that it's unacceptable and inexcusable to release a device in 2013 (practically 2014) that cannot at least connect to a WPA2-Enterprise network.

 

Thoughts?

I believe in power in numbers. That being said, I feel that Apple is still not interested in changing AirPlay or rather iOS to allow non-auto-discovery. While there is an ietf effort, it is seemingly filled with tangents, and Apple is pushing 3rd party fixes (AirGroup, etc). One could argue the petition was a waste.

In our higher ed environments wherein enterprise networks are commonplace, it is ludicrous that devices would not support wpa2-enterprise. However, when one looks at the purpose of the device (entertainment, play, etc), it's hard to argue the "enterprise" use case. I'm skeptical that Sony or MS would give our complaint attention.

Nevertheless, I'd likely sign, fwiw. :-/

I do not think we can compare video consoles with AirPlay & AirPrint.

 

Apple advertises AirPlay & AirPrint as being a good solution in enterprise conference rooms. If they had not listened to the petition & acted, they coud have been charged with false advertising.

 

Gam concsles are marketed for the home network and are not advertised at all for the enterprise. We are not their target market.

In the XBOX case, the hardware and software is already capable of WPA2-Enterprise, it's a matter of turning on the user facing GUI options. 

 

 

 

Apple can say enterprise all they want. They still expect you to run a flat, layer 2 network throughout the organization.

Don't forget that Apple added "conference room mode". That's all we wanted, right?..... *cough* ;-)

I agree with Bruce.

The petition mentioned in the OP  has cause Apple to start a discussion on a a standard way to support AirPlay & AirPrint on an enterpeise network

 

See http://its.syr.edu/itsnews/itsnews-articles/apple-reacts-to-educause-networking-petition.html

 

Unfortunately, Aruba was not among the vendors listed as participants of this IETF discussion.

Putting the Apple discussion aside, I think its important to ensure that Sony and Microsoft understand that a good majority of their target users of theses devices are using them in an "enterprise network environment" for 4 years.

My point is that enterprise users are a likely minority, not a majority of the target market.

A good majority of their target users of theses devices are using them in an "enterprise network environment" for 4 years.

I think this is false. Given that kids are playing these systems starting at least (i don't know...) 8 years old, the four year bound college student does not encompass the majority.

 

Given that there's no sensitive data or personal information hidden in the trenches of Call of Duty, I think open networks (or PSK if necessary) are quite sufficient for these devices in residence halls.

It?s not really about the type of data. It?s about the user experience of
having to use a different network for some devices and potentially having
to register it.

I'm all for it. Anything to reduce the number of SSIDs being broadcast is a good thing in my opinion.

 

Many consumer wireless routers have supported wireless 802.1x auth for years. It's time for these "Next Gen" deevices to catch up!