We’ve been rolling out a lot of incremental feature enhancements to SputnikNet, and recently updated our change log to reflect that. Some highlights:

• A new content management system for dealing with captive portal images, CSS, JavaScript, HTML and text snippets that make them easy to reuse across multiple portals

• An improved captive portal design subsystem

• Improved device, PayPal and user authentication systems

• Block private nets enabled by default in all new authentication systems, for enhanced security

• Wi-Fi site survey now available as a router command, enabling rogue AP detection from the cloud

And lots more!

Please visit our change log for more information. And stay tuned, there’s lots more coming.

To enhance the security of your Wi-Fi routers, Sputnik-Powered firmware (available free from our download site) requires a password change upon setup.

However for customers running stock DD-WRT firmware, or who are concerned about the security of Wi-Fi routers in the field, here’s how to change your router’s web admin password from the cloud, using SputnikNet.

Busy Wi-Fi hotspots need a sufficient number of DHCP leases for guests who connect to the network. However the growth of Wi-Fi enabled smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices has dramatically increased the number of “ambient” Wi-Fi connections that also request DHCP leases – even though they might never actually authenticate onto the network. In SputnikNet, these ambient requests show up as unauthenticated sessions.

It is important to ensure that routers in busy hotspots are set up with large, frequently refreshed DHCP lease pools to keep up with this demand.

Here’s how to configure your Sputnik-powered router for high-demand sites, from the cloud.

Many busy Wi-Fi sites attract lots of visitors or passersby with smartphones in their pockets or purses who never actually log in. These ambient Wi-Fi sessions can create load on your router as it attempts to display your media-rich captive portal to each client as they grab DHCP leases.

The Pre-Login Portal is a slimmed-down captive portal that acts as a basic “CAPTCHA” or Turing test – it only displays your captive portal to users who request it, utilizing a minimum of router resources and bandwidth. This can reduce load on your Wi-Fi router in busy locations with lots of ambient Wi-Fi connections.

Here’s how to enable a pre-login portal to reduce the load on your router at busy Wi-Fi hotspots.

Captive portals are (usually) how people log into Wi-Fi networks using SputnikNet. And they’re a vital way to convey your brand, deliver messages to your customers, run seasonal promotions and welcome customers to your Wi-Fi network.

SputnikNet enables you to create unlimited captive portals. Once created, you simply apply portals to one or many Sputnik-Powered Wi-Fi access points. Then add one or many authentication systems (ways to log in) to each portal. Each Wi-Fi hotspot on your network can be different, or they can all be the same. This gives you tremendous flexibility to create the kind of experience you want to offer your customers.

In short, there are no limits. 2012 is a great year to use Wi-Fi to connect with your customers and communicate your brand.

Here’s how to create new captive portals in SputnikNet.

Routers commonly ship with USB ports nowadays, and Sputnik engineers have been cooking up some good ways to use them.

Here’s the first that we’ve shipped: content caching at the edge. And here’s what it does.

Content caching stores data from frequently visited web sites locally, on the router—or to be exact, on a USB flash drive attached to the router. That way, when the content is requested by a user’s browser it can be loaded locally, from the router, rather than over the Internet.

For example, lets say one of your users visits a popular site such as Facebook, Google News, Yahoo! News or YouTube. The first visitor fetches the web content from the Internet, and it is automatically stored by your Sputnik-powered router. The second visitor then only needs to fetch content that is unique to them—the rest is servved right from the router (at local network speed). As more content is added to the local cache, more and more becomes available to users on your local network.

It’s the same idea used by companies like Akamai to distribute content closer to the “edge” of the Internet, where users are. Only in this case, the “edge” is the Sputnik-powered router only a few feet from the user!

This can dramatically improve network performance and save bandwidth.

How much bandwidth? That depends upon your network. Customers are reporting savings of 10% or even more over time. (We’d love to hear from you if you’re running Sputnik-powered content caching to hear how much bandwidth you save.)

Content caching makes a big difference if the broadband network serving your hotspot is metered, or if you’re on a low bandwidth, high latency connection such as a sattelite.

Sputnik-powered content caching works with the routers we sell that include a USB port, for example the Cisco E200, Cisco E3000, Cisco E3200, Cisco E4200, Netgear WNR3500L and Asus RT-N16.* It requres a SputnikNet Pro subscription for that router.

OK - that sounds good, so how do you get started? It couldn’t be simpler.

1. Order a Sputnik flash drive from our online store. (We provision and test each USB flash drive to ensure it works well with SputnikNet.)
2. Put the flash drive into your Sputnik-powered router.
3. Enable USB support and turn on content caching.
4. Wait 15 minutes for your first bandwidth saving report.

That’s all there is to it. We hope that you enjoy saving bandwidth and providing a faster browsing experience to your customers!

Want more detailed instructions? Check out our online documentation.

* Supported router list is subject to change over time.

Devices Offer Superior Wi-Fi Coverage for Large Wi-Fi Networks, and Management for High-Traffic Networks

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San Francisco - October 20, 2011 - Sputnik, a leading provider of cloud applications for managing Wi-Fi networks, today announced two new hardware models: the Sputnik 320 outdoor Wi-Fi access point, and Sputnik 750 managed network gateway.

Sputnik 320

The Sputnik 320 is a high-powered, rugged, cloud-managed indoor/outdoor 802.11 a/b/g/n wireless access point built for maximum range, flexibility, and performance. The Sputnik 320 embeds a Cisco e2000 router board running Sputnik-Powered DD-WRT firmware into a weatherproof, die-cast aluminum enclosure with a 7 dBi, 5 degree electronic downtilt omnidirectional antenna and PoE injector.

The Sputnik 320 is designed for flexible deployment in a wide variety of indoor and outdoor venues. The powerful long-range antenna enables the Sputnik 320 to be mounted overhead, against a wall, even locked in an equipment closet-- while still offering excellent coverage over a wide area.

Sputnik 750

The Sputnik 750 is a high-performance cloud-managed network gateway. Existing wired and wireless network traffic is routed through the Sputnik 750 for authentication, management and reporting. Powered by the Intel Atom Z530 CPU running at 1.6 GHz, with 1 gigabyte of RAM, and running Sputnik-Powered DD-WRT firmware, the Sputnik 750 is capable of authenticating and managing the busiest networks with ease. But it is not much bigger than a deck of cards.

The Sputnik 750 is ideal for large, high-traffic networks in hotels, multi-tenant dwellings, exhibit halls, conference centers, transportation facilities, campus environments, RV parks, stadiums, theaters, shopping malls

Cloud-Based Network Management with SputnikNet

As with all Sputnik-powered devices, the Sputnik 320 and Sputnik 750 are designed for remote management using SputnikNet.

SputnikNet enables:

• plug-and-play provisioning
• remote management of one or thousands of Wi-Fi access points through a simple web interface
• beautiful captive portal design
• multiple authentication methods for free, advertising-supported, or paid WI-Fi
• flexible network policies and bandwidth control over subscribers, routers, and applications
• detailed reports and real-time alerts

"The Sputnik 320 offers astounding Wi-Fi coverage," said David LaDuke, CEO Sputnik, Inc. "At Sputnik's office in San Francisco, we're seeing its Wi-Fi bubble cover nearly a full city block. The Sputnik 750 can authenticate, manage and track over 100 simultaneous users without breaking a sweat. These powerful new hardware devices will help our customers take Wi-Fi deployments to the next level."

Pricing and availability

The Sputnik 320 is $249.95. The Sputnik 750 is $459.95, with an optional heatsink for an $18.95. Both products are available in starter kits that bundle pre-paid monthly or annual SputnikNet subscriptions at a discount, and can be purchased from the Sputnik Online Store at http://store.sputnik.com.

After a one-time $49.95 account setup fee, SputnikNet is $19.95/month, or $199.50/year, per managed router. Volume discounts kick in automatically as providers add managed Wi-Fi devices to their networks. The Sputnik 750 requires a Sputnik Pro subscription at $49.95/month or $499.50/year, with volume discounts available. Providers can sign up for SputnikNet at Sputnik's online store.

About Sputnik, Inc. (http://www.sputnik.com)

Sputnik Inc. is a leading provider of cloud-based software that enables ISPs and wireless service providers to build custom-branded, access-controlled Wi-Fi services and manage them over the Internet. Sputnik's remote network and subscriber management features allow cost-effective operation in locations without onsite technical support. The company's easy-to-use, flexible software supports a wide range of businesses, service providers, and educational institutions, and has been adopted by customers in more than 100 countries around the world. The company is based in Sausilito, California.

Content Caching at the Edge, Bandwidth Management, SMS Authentication

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San Francisco - October 20, 2011 - Sputnik, a leading provider of cloud services for Wi-Fi networks, announced several new features in SputnikNet, the company's flagship application. New innovations include:

Content Caching at the Edge

SputnikNet now enables customers to add a Sputnik-provisioned USB flash drive to popular devices, such as the Cisco E3200, Cisco E4200, and ASUS RT-N16 Wi-Fi routers, and enable content caching. This both improves network performance and saves bandwidth by storing frequently accessed web content locally, improving Wi-Fi user experience at the venue. In addition, new caching reports enable providers to view bandwidth savings and performance statistics.

Per-User Bandwidth Controls

Wi-Fi providers can set a maximum upload and download rate per subscriber, per session, and per Wi-Fi router. In addition, quality-of-service (QoS) throttling enables providers to limit popular peer-to-peer protocols such as BitTorrent.

SMS Authentication

SputnikNet offers a new SMS authentication system, enabling providers to text login codes to subscriber cell phones. Wi-Fi users simply enter their cell phone number into a captive portal and are texted the login code.

Sputnik has partnered with Essendex Limited for SMS messaging. As with all of Sputnik's payment-based authentication systems (for example PayPal, Credit Card, Prepaid), Sputnik does not charge any usage or revenue share fees.

Session Queueing

SputnikNet now enables providers to set the maximum number of Wi-Fi sessions on a router, after which users are given a place in line. (Similar to numbered tickets at a deli counter.) Wi-Fi users see a dynamically updated estimate of how long it will take for them to move to the front of the queue and get online.

Assets

SputnikNet now includes a new content management system for assets used in captive portals such as images, javascript, css, and html snippets. This feature enables providers to quickly upload graphics and other files into SputnikNet for reuse in portals. It also enables them, for example, to quickly change selected graphics across a range of portals.

Other Enhancements

SputnikNet contains many other improvements, including:

• Enhanced user interface for faster, easier access to useful information and controls
• Context-sensitive help, integrated documentation search and live support chat
• Quick MAC lookup to survey Wi-Fi devices on networks
• Radio scheduling to turn Wi-Fi off and on at defined intervals
• Improved user session reports, enabling time and bandwidth summaries by router, subscriber, authentication system and captive portal
• Captive portal preview in list view
• Ability to harvest subscriber emails for building marketing lists

"Our engineers have been working hard to bring great new capabilities to SputnikNet," said David LaDuke, CEO Sputnik, Inc. "But we're not resting. Expect to see new innovations over the coming months as we maintain a laser focus on building the best, easiest-to-use application for cloud-managed, access controlled Wi-Fi in the world."

Pricing and availability

After a one-time $49.95 account setup fee, SputnikNet is $19.95/month, or $199.50/year, per managed router. Volume discounts kick in automatically as providers add managed Wi-Fi devices to their networks. Certain features require Sputnik Pro subscriptions at $49.95/month or $499.50/year, with volume discounts available. Providers can sign up for SputnikNet at http://store.sputnik.com.

Sputnik Agent firmware, which enables Wi-Fi routers from leading vendors such as ASUS, Cisco, EnGenius, NETGEAR and many others, is free. Sputnik firmware is available at http://www.sputnik.com/support/download.

Pre-formatted Sputnik USB cache drives are $49.95 and can be ordered at Sputnik's online store.

About Sputnik, Inc. (http://www.sputnik.com)

Sputnik Inc. is a leading provider of cloud-based software that enables ISPs and wireless service providers to build custom-branded, access-controlled Wi-Fi services and manage them over the Internet. Sputnik's remote network and subscriber management features allow cost-effective operation in locations without onsite technical support. The company's easy-to-use, flexible software supports a wide range of businesses, service providers, and educational institutions, and has been adopted by customers in more than 100 countries around the world. The company is based in Sausilito, California.

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We’ve updated our documentation to make it easier to connect SputnikNet to your Microsoft Active Directory database for authenticating hotspot users. (Tip of the hat to one of our awesome customers who helped us improve this.)

So, if you use Microsoft Active Directory, your employees can use their normal login credentials to sign into your Wi-Fi hotspots. And of course, with SputnikNet, you easily add one or more guest authentication systems for members of the public.

Here’s how to use Microsoft Active Directory with SputnikNet, in six steps.