ZyXEL N4100
802.11b/g/n Hotspot Gateway

Overview:

A Complete Hospitality Solution with Wireless LAN, Internet Access and Billing System

The introduction of the ZyXEL N4100 802.11b/g/n Hotspot Gateway gives hospitality businesses the opportunity to deploy full Internet services needed to create new revenue streams, and to retain and attract customers. As an addition to the ZyXEL range of Hotspot/Service Gateways, the ZyXEL N4100 WLAN Hotspot Gateway provides a fully flexible solution supporting the IEEE 802.11b/g/n wireless standards.

The latest 11n technology truly offers enhanced connectivity required by businesses, which in turn enables users to enjoy Internet connections for all latest wireless devices including laptops, notebooks, PDAs, gaming devices and Wi-Fi mobile handsets. The ZyXEL N4100 not only offers flexible connectivity but also increased performance with the "2 Transmit, 3 Receive" MIMO antenna technology.

The ZyXEL N4100 is the latest Hotspot Gateway from the established world leader in Internet Hotspot solutions. The 11n-capable N4100 is designed to work as an access controller for service providers and hospitality businesses to deliver Internet services with its own unique, built-in billing system. It is an ideal solution for hotels, coffee shops, airports and conference facilities to offer instant high-speed Internet connection.

In addition to the newly launched N4100, the ZyXEL Hotspot/Service Gateway Series includes VSG-1200 V2 Service Gateway to meet various needs.

Features:

• Comprehensive wireless Internet access solution
• "Zero Configuration" IP Plug and Play
• Unique ticket printer for easy service and accounting
• Web-based user authentication, account monitoring and billing profiles
• High-performance standards-compliant solution
  - IEEE 802.11b/g/n support (N4100)
• RADIUS Client, walled garden as well as advertising URL links and forwarding to portal
• User activities logged with session trace for auditing
• Comprehensive range of gateways providing Internet connectivity from 1 to 250 users
  - N4100 up to 100 users
  - N4100 with optional license up to 200 users
  - VSG-1200 V2 up to 250 users

Benefits:

Standard-based high-performance wireless connectivity

In today's business environments demanding always-on Internet connectivity, people travel more and need to stay connected with family, friends and offices via many wireless mobile devices such as laptops, netbooks, smart phones and even game consoles. This change has driven the need for more bandwidth and higher density in Internet wireless solutions offered by hospitality businesses and Wi-Fi service providers for public use. The ZyXEL N4100 Hotspot Gateway has been optimised to deliver flexible connectivity for Wi-Fi devices through the standard-based 11n RF wireless technology.

The new 11n Wi-Fi standard offers a peak data throughput of up to 300 Mbps, providing approximately five times the bandwidth compared to standard 11b/g Wi-Fi devices. The N4100 also offers the "2 Transmit, 3 Receive" MIMO antenna technology and advanced 11n features to provide more flexibility and better coverage within the business location. With these advantages, the ZyXEL N4100 Hotspot Gateway offers many benefits to users in need to deploy and use Internet services.

Simple operation for delivering Internet access

To enable easy configuration and operation, the ZyXEL Hotspot/Service Gateway Series can be used with the optional SP300E Service Gateway Printer. With this combination, business owners can easily enable their staff to operate the gateway solution to give end users the information they need to access the Internet. This is achieved by simply pushing a button on the SP300E, and then it automatically prints the Internet access information. This removes the need in smaller deployments for a dedicated PC to manage the authentication and billing within the business. In larger business environments, the ZyXEL Hotspot/Service Gateway Series can support up to ten SP300E printers installed in different locations around the premises. This provides an ideal solution that can scale as the business expands and where greater Internet coverage is required.

Plug-and-play connectivity

Users who want to access a business Hotspot are usually faced with various technical issues to establish connectivity and need information such as IP configurations, static IP, DHCP clients, etc. The ZyXEL Hotspot/Service Gateway Series is equipped with IP Plug and Play technology so that users do not need to change their existing IP and other network configurations to connect to the Internet. The access is fast, easy and trouble free thus increasing usage and encouraging more users to use the service. This offers the hospitality businesses more opportunity to attract and retain customers while delivering new revenue streams. In addition, the ZyXEL Hotspot/Service Gateway Series can be configured to interact within an existing network and can be installed in different modes such as a gateway, DNS, proxy as well as dynamic and static IP address assignments. This eliminates the need and associated costs of hiring dedicated IT staff.

Strict security and regulatory compliance*

The "EU Data Retention Directive", which is Directive 2006/24/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 March 2006, stipulates the retention of data generated or processed in connection with the provision of publicly available electronic communications services or of public communications networks and amends Directive 2002/58/EC. It requires business owners of places where Internet services are provided to keep several elements of the user data for a certain period of time. ZyXEL is aware of the difficulties of business owners to deploy a service and meet the requirements. The ZyXEL Hotspot/Service Gateway Series is a core part of the solution when installed along with a ZyXEL network attached storage device and ZyWALL Unified Security Gateway to enable businesses to meet the expectations of the directive. This is achieved by ensuring that session traces are logged and user activities are kept for government audit if required. ZyXEL's Hotspot/Service Gateway Series is the right choice for business owners who intend to provide regulation-compliant public Internet access.

* The implementation of the directive varies dependant on the local definition by the EU member country.

Secure Internet gateway with scalable simultaneous wireless connections

The ZyXEL Hotspot/Service Gateway Series can be installed either as a standalone device connected directly to a broadband router to be an all-in-one Internet wireless Hotspot solution, or just as part of a larger network. This flexibility provides businesses with a device of full authentication, authorization and administration capability to control the wireless users. This functionality enables businesses to define the policy about how users can be offered secure Internet access either for free or for a fee through a simple charging mechanism. The introduction of the N4100 extends the wireless technology to 802.11b/g/n for better coverage while supporting 100 simultaneous users as standard and 200 users through an optional license. The last product in the Series is the VSG-1200 V2, a rack-mount service gateway designed for larger networks and supports up to 250 simultaneous users.

Key Applications:

Basic—Internet services

The application includes the operations of N4100 and SP300E to offer basic Internet access, in which laptop and desktop computers can be connected wirelessly over a range or 23-100 M. The N4100 also offers billing and authentication functions to the connection.

Professional—complete solution

This application provides a complete solution for excellent Internet services in all areas, including a billing system and possibilities for logging user data; in addition, it also provides a connection to the hotel PMS system.

Specifications:

The ZyXEL Hotspot/Service Gateway Series includes two parts: WLAN Hotspot Gateway and Vantage Service Gateway to meet various needs.

WLAN Hotspot Gateway:

The N4100 is all-in-one Hotspot gateway providing a fully flexible solution with support for the IEEE 802.11b/g/n wireless standards. They are designed to work as access controllers for service providers/Hotspot operators and hospitality businesses to deliver Hotspot services.

Vantage Service Gateway:

The VSG-1200 V2 Vantage Service Gateway is a freestanding or rack-mountable service gateway with a built-in authentication server to provide access to the Internet for large hospitality facilities.

Documentation:

Download the N4100/VSG-1200 V2 Hotspot/Service Gateway Series Data Sheet (PDF).