Dubbed the 'virtual branch office', the system uses software-upgraded versions of the company's current range of data centre-based hardware controllers connected to one of five models of branch office controllers (BOCs).

The access controllers range from the US$1,500 (list: £1,495) 8-port 802.11n model 650 Wi-Fi access switch for workgroup remote offices, right down to a basic $99 (List £95) 2-port RAP-2WG 802.11G box that, the company said, could be used to connect single teleworkers.

The key to the system is that the routing, switching and security functions are virtualised in the data centre itself, leaving the access points to do no work beyond providing a physical or wireless connection to the branch office users. Aruba contrasts this with a conventional IPsec remote access setup, where hardware is replicated at every location and routing is configured between physical devices on a point-to-point basis.

"They can give one of these [the RAP-2G] to every single employee," said Aruba's EMEA director of marketing, Roger Hockaday. "It will automatically connect to the company network and their phone will work as a corporate extension it would in the office." He said.

One of these could literally be mailed to the user or remote office and connected or 'auto-provisioned' into the data centre LAN by entering a single address, he said.