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CUSTOMER ALERT: Microsoft Windows 8 & Cisco Centralized Wireless Incompatibility Issue

October 10, 2012 by Leave a Comment

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is a serious software issue that has arisen from an incompatibility issue between Microsoft Windows 8 and Cisco’s centralized wireless solution. All Cisco centralized wireless controller versions which support pre-standard Management Frame Protection (MFP) will render Windows 8 devices completely unable to connect to Cisco APs under centralized control. This is as a result of Microsoft Windows 8 software, currently in release, which supports only IEEE 802.11w.

What this means:

Organizations that are implementing Microsoft Windows 8 and have Cisco’s Wireless MPF will find that they cannot connect to their wireless system if they have WPA or WPA2 AES encryption enabled.  It is not possible to address this by disabling the MFP functionality on the Cisco infrastructure and currently 802.11w cannot be “turned off” for Windows 8 clients as Microsoft considers it a security feature. This bug affects versions 5.2.178.0 and above, but not 4.2 or earlier, nor does it affect autonomous IOS APs.

There are two solutions:

  1. There is a workaround solution from Cisco, however this is not our recommended fix, as the resulting wireless system often has reduced speed and security.
  2. Our preferred solution is to update your controller code.  This fix does not implement 802.11w but instead ensures that the communication from 802.11w on enabled clients is interpreted correctly by the Access Point.

Softchoice’s Wireless Consultants are ready to help

The Softchoice team is ready to help you manage this issue BEFORE you start receiving those calls from users wondering why their wireless is not working.

To find out more, contact your Softchoice Account Manager directly, or leave us a note below in the comments section with your thoughts or questions and we’ll respond as quickly as we can.

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Licensing Tablets For The Enterprise: A Primer

June 2, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Tablet guy

As consumers increasingly use tablets in their work life,  IT and licensing managers are facing a new series of headaches. Like it or not, though, tablets in the enterprise are here to stay.

Softchoice wanted to help take the sting out of this brave new world with a primer designed to give guidance for delivering and licensing business apps through tablets.

This new brief, written by Softchoice’s virtualization and licensing experts, focuses on the burdens of trying to license a non-Microsoft OS tablet, such as Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS. In it, we cover three common methods to do so:

  • Method 1: VMware infrastructure
  • Method 2: Citrix Infrastructure
  • Method 3: Microsoft only Infrastructure

Download the eBook

Hopefully, getting you the help you need can turn this tablet predicament into a bright spot. After all – enabling workers to be more mobile, and productive, can be an incredible strategic feat.

As the licensing guidelines become more clear in this area (the laws seem to be getting written, as we speak), our team of licensing experts will report back regularly. If you had any specific questions, today, fill in this request form and we’ll get back to you with helpful advice right away.

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Podcast: Office 365′s key obstacles and approaches

April 8, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Office 365 for IT leaders might not be an all in decision

Many IT leaders might not be "all in" with the cloud

Microsoft is “all in” with the cloud. Just take a look at their (sometimes awesome) marketing spots as proof. But the reality is, you probably aren’t. Not yet anyway.

In a great new podcast from the guys over at Talking Office 365, Softchoice sat down to discuss a few key considerations and obstacles leading up to Office 365′s launch: [Read more...]

Filed Under: Business Solutions, Licensing, Pricing, Product Roadmaps, Tech Support Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Microsoft pushing out IE9 via Windows Update; business web apps may be affected

March 30, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) is being pushed out in June 2011

Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) will be pushed out through Windows Update in June 2011

As Microsoft plans on broadly rolling out Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) to users at the end of June 2011 by using Windows Update, according to official blogs, IT leaders will need to understand how this impacts their web-based applications.

[Read more...]

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Windows 7 SP1 is out: Highlights and FAQ

February 24, 2011 by Leave a Comment

screen grab of Microsoft download centerMicrosoft has just announced the general availability of Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1) through Windows Update and the Download Center.

There are numerous stability, compatibility and performance improvements. Also, there’s more scalability and availability for DirectAcces, plus there are a couple of key features included in the SP1 release around enhanced virtualization features for Windows Server, RemoteFX and Dynamic Memory.

[Read more...]

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Rest Assured Part 2: TechNet Direct vs. TechNet Subscription

January 24, 2011 by Leave a Comment

technet logoTechNet Direct vs. TechNet Subscription – How are they different?

As Microsoft SA Sales Specialists, one of the questions we are most often asked is “What is the difference between TechNet Direct and TechNet Subscription?”  It’s easy to understand why this question is asked so often: both are highly sought after benefits, and they sound almost exactly the same. For this reason, TechNet Plus Direct will simply be referred to as “DIRECT” for the remainder of this post, and TechNet Subscription will simply be referred to “SUBSCRIPTION”.  So, to set the record straight:

[Read more...]

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