Apple I-pad, top’s the hit list of the products launched in 2010 both for its innovative idea and the controversy. It’s a new evolution to enter the world of digital text books. It’s neither compact like the I-phone nor bigger like the MAC book. It’s a complete digital reader, both online and offline and a perfect gadget both for personal as well as business users.
The I-pad is a multi touch screen digital notebook which can communicate and share information over the Internet as well as with other devices using the 3G and Wi-Fi 802.11n technology. The device has created more expectation due to the wide variety of applications which comes pre-installed and more than 10,000 applications which are available for download online. These applications facilitate browsing, mailing, social networking, photo sharing, music and movie downloads, online games and videos, reading, scheduling, etc. Also the Maps application powered using Google serves as a perfect GPS device.
Connectivity
By default all the I-pad devices have a Wi-Fi feature while specific models will be available with an inbuilt 3G modem and broadband service. At present I-pad with 3G modems can be used only with Internet providers specified by Apple. Also Apple has mentioned that I-phone tethering is not possible with a Wi-Fi only I-pad.
The maximum specified download speed of an I-pad powered with 3G mobile Internet service would be 7.2Mbps. The device is capable of seamlessly switching between the 3G and fast Wi-Fi which lowers the user’s effort to search for the available networks. Users can monitor their Internet data usage using an apple inbuilt application.
Business
Apple has mentioned that I-pad is a Business ready device out of the box. The type of exchange services, security features, easy configuration, enterprise and developer programs, I-work and other accessories makes business users fond of I-pad.
Microsoft Exchange
Microsoft exchange active sync allows the I-pad to communicate directly with the Microsoft exchange server. This helps users to access their email, calendar and contacts. Also access to Global address lookup, passcode policy enforcement and remote wipe capabilities. This feature enables users to sync live with their office environment over a firewall protected environment using the Microsoft exchange server.
The port number used by the exchange server is 443.
IMAP, Cal-DAV, and LDAP
IMAP is a mailing protocol which is available in the I-pad, while Cal-Dav and LDAP are calendaring and directory services respectively. Any network environment which requires a user authentication and SSL is accessible using these protocol and services.
The port number used by IMAP-SSL is 993, CalDav- SSL is 8443 and LDAP-SSL is 636.
Virtual Private Network (VPN)
I-pad can establish a secure connection between private and corporate networks using industry standard protocols like Cisco IPSec, L2TP over IPSec and PPTP. Company networks supporting one of these configurations does not require any additional or third party program for configuring VPN.
WPA2 Enterprise/802.1X
I-pad provides enhanced wireless security using WPA2 enterprise. It uses 128 bit AES encryption method which assures data protection to the maximum. Also the integration of 802.1x create a broader authentication environment which includes EAP-TLS, EAP-TTLS, EAP-FAST, EAP-SIM, PEAv0, PEAv1 and LEAP.
The protocols used for wireless security are WEP, WPA personal, WPA enterprise, WPA2 personal, WPA2 enterprise.
Digital Certificates
Digital certificates are generally used to authenticate users in to a corporate network without the need of username or passwords. These certificates comprises of public and private keys along with other user information. I-pad supports authentication using certificates for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync, Cisco IPSec, VPN and WPA2 networks, X.509 certificate, RSA key and file extensions like .cer, .crt, .der, .p12 and .pfx are supported in I-pad.
Device Configuration
I-pad configuration utility 2.2 can be used to easily create and install encrypted configuration profiles. These profiles are XML files which contain information and settings that allows the I-pad to sync with Enterprise devices.
Require passcode, Allow simple value, require alphanumeric value, Passcode length, Number of complex characters, Passcode age, “Time before” auto-lock, Number of unique passcodes before reuse, Grace Period for device lock, Number of failed attempts before wipe are the supported passcode policies in I-Pad.
Over-the-Air Enrollment and Configuration
One of the important feature of the device is the over the air enrollment and configuration which provides an configures devices in an enterprise automatically. This process includes authentication of a certain device and the user to distribute certificates automatically. The administrators can make the work of users easy by simply providing a URL to agree profile installation, upon which the installation and configuration begins with a single session.
The protocol used by I-pad for the purpose of over the air enrollment is SCEP.
This was a guest post for Geek With Laptop from Shahul Hameed
