Select Comfort on Network Instruments

“The knowledge and insight provided by Observer is priceless. How can I quantify how much money and time we’ve potentially saved by locating rogue access points? Observer ensured our data wasn’t susceptible to hackers - I can’t tell you how much that is worth.”

-- Christian Wilson, Network Administrator, Select Comfort

Customer Profile - Creators of the revolutionary Sleep Number® bed, the Select Comfort Corporation is the nation’s leading bed retailer, holding 26 U.S. issued or pending patents for its personalized sleep products. The company designs, manufactures and markets a line of adjustable firmness mattresses featuring air-chamber technology, as well as foundations and sleep accessories. Select Comfort products are sold through its 368 retail stores nationwide, including 13 leased departments in Bed Bath & Beyond stores, through selected bedding retailers and through its national direct marketing operations.

Vendor Profile - Network Instruments provides in-depth network intelligence and continuous network availability through innovative analysis solutions. Enterprise network professionals depend on Network Instruments’ Observer product line for unparalleled network visibility to efficiently solve network problems and manage deployments. By combining a powerful management console with high-performance analysis appliances, Observer simplifies problem resolution and optimizes network and application performance. The company continues to lead the industry in ROI with its advanced Distributed Network Analysis (NI-DNA™) architecture, which successfully integrates comprehensive analysis functionality across heterogeneous networks through a single monitoring interface. Network Instruments is headquartered in Minneapolis with sales offices worldwide and distributors in over 50 countries.

Challenge - When the organization desired to implement an 802.11 wireless network, network administrator Christian Wilson needed a solution capable of effectively and efficiently monitoring WLANs, including the ability to perform a Wireless Site Survey, monitor for rogue access points, maintain network security and load balance wireless traffic.To perform all these tasks,Wilson turned to Observer Suite, a comprehensive network analyzer with the ability to monitor both wired and wireless traffic.

Solution - Using Observer’s wireless monitoring capabilities, Wilson could instantly measure signal strength, signal quality and determine optimal access point locations. With Observer’s baselining features,Wilson stabilized WLAN traffic levels and monitored for sudden spikes in WLAN traffic, which could indicate a security threat. Observer also identified rogue access points inside the building, causing Wilson to implement a new wireless security policy. By taking advantage of Observer Suite’s comprehensive features,Wilson can easily ensure Select Comfort’s wireless network is well-protected and well-managed with the same network analyzer that watches over the wired network.

Protecting the Wireless LAN As You Sleep

Select Comfort® uses Observer® Suite to perform site surveys, find rogue access points, and enforce corporate polices for their wireless network.

The Select Comfort Corporation (NASDAQ: SCSS), creator of the revolutionary Sleep Number® bed, has over 2,600 employees, 368 retail outlets, and reported net sales of $458 million in 2003. Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Select Comfort also has two manufacturing plants in South Carolina and Utah.

For years, network administrator Christian Wilson has used Observer to monitor, manage and troubleshoot the company’s network. Recently, when Select Comfort implemented an 802.11 wireless LAN,Wilson used Observer to deploy access points, load balance wireless traffic, find rogue wireless devices and implement WLAN corporate policies.

Select Comfort’s WLAN first emerged in 2002. Inventory movement transactions are generated by scanning with wireless handhelds used by employees throughout the company’s manufacturing locations. These handhelds provide real time visibility of accurate inventory data. Inventory consists of materials relating to the manufacturing and engineering of the Sleep Number bed including: mattresses, foundations, pillows, and pumps. Scanning and tracking inventory is essential for the Just-in-Time inventory system Select Comfort uses to manage costs and stock levels.

“At first, our WLAN was created solely to support the devices used by employees managing inventory,” said Wilson. “Over the years it has grown to support our corporate users as well.With Observer’s many WLAN features, I can monitor utilization,watch for rogue access points, run usage reports, and perform baselining activities – improving the performance of our wireless network.”

A Sound Return on Investment

Select Comfort first started using Observer Suite in 2002, when Network Administrator Christian Wilson was looking for an alternative to Network General’s Sniffer® analyzer.

"I had used Sniffer for three years and started looking for alternatives. I've been a solid Observer user for the past two and a half years. Observer not only competes head-to-head with Sniffer -- it also beats Sniffer in many categories. Many features you would normally pay extra for with Sniffer are included with Observer. For example, wireless support is included with Observer where as with Sniffer it was an additional cost. When you throw in the price difference, Observer wins hands down."

Surveying the Network

Observer’s Wireless Site Survey Mode offers scanning of multiple 802.11a/b/g channels displaying numerous wireless statistics including: frame types, management frames, speeds, signal strength, signal quality and channels in use. A channel map provides a quick view of current network status.

By performing a Wireless Site Survey, Wilson was able to measure signal strength and signal quality of his wireless devices. “Observer showed me our access points were not positioned well,” said Wilson. “Signals were bouncing back and bleed was out of control. We had to turn our access points down because Observer showed there was too much power going through the airwaves. Inventory also played a factor because cardboard absorbs waves while metal is reflective. So it varies and you never get the same signal twice. With Observer, I could find the most optimal location for the access point and ensure the antennas were positioned correctly for maximum signal strength.”

Safeguarding the WLAN from Threats

As Select Comfort grew, the network needs evolved. WLAN access was soon expanded to desktop and laptop users. Immediately, security became a concern. Fortunately, with Observer, Wilson could monitor WLAN traffic and protect the network from security threats.

“The security scare is very real,” said Wilson. “We were using WEP for encryption, but Observer showed all this traffic flying through the air and it made me worry about how easy it could be for a would-be hacker with a wireless card in our parking lot to get access to our data. We upgraded to IPSEC (IP Security), a much stronger encryption. Now our data is more secure, but I can still monitor the network since Observer has the ability to monitor key WLAN statistics like signal strength and quality, regardless of encryption.”

Many employees use laptops and wanted to take advantage of the corporate WLAN by bringing their laptops into conference rooms while still connected to the network. Unfortunately, a few employees decided to purchase an access point on their own rather than approach the IT department. This caused a concern for Wilson.

“With Observer, it’s easy to find rogue access points,” said Wilson. “I simply load Observer onto my laptop and walk around the building to find which access points are transmitting. I only had six access points deployed, but Observer saw a lot more. Employees were purchasing units on their own and installing them below their desks.This was incredibly dangerous from a security point of view. Thanks to Observer I created a new corporate policy to help protect our network that I could easily enforce with the analyzer I already had.”

Using Performance Indicators for Proactive Management

Observer also monitors bandwidth utilization by comparing actual network activity with network capacity offering insight into network load.This feature lets Wilson balance WLAN traffic ensuring no device is over-burdened.

“Each of our access points can handle about 10 or 15 users and with Observer I can quickly see how each access point is being utilized,” said Wilson. “It’s easy to juggle network traffic accordingly to get the maximum throughput on each access point.”

Observer’s Network Trending collects and stores network statistics so IT administrators can review and analyze the data over time.With this data, baselining activities can be performed to gauge how the network is performing.

“With baselining I can tell if something is out of the ordinary,” said Wilson. “At first my assumption was that our network traffic dies down in the evening, but after reviewing Observer’s reporting I saw this was not the case. The more you understand traffic levels the better you can engineer your network accordingly. Every morning, I check the bandwidth utilization graph for inconsistencies. For example, if the network traffic suddenly shot up at 2 AM, I know that is out of the ordinary and something I need to investigate.”

Every network requires upgrades, capacity planning and long-term adjustments.With Observer’s comprehensive reporting features, Wilson lets his management team generate Web reports at their leisure to understand network health.

“With this type of reporting and data, I have the evidence to persuade my manager to fund network upgrades,” said Wilson. “Observer’s capabilities provide a great deal of value to our entire department. Once you get your management on board, getting new versions is much easier.”

No More Counting Sheep

Observer has helped save Select Comfort key dollars in unnecessary equipment upgrades by pointing to the source of the problem. When the network began slowing down, the immediate assumption was capacity issues but Observer showed this not to be the case.

“With Observer’s reporting I could see our WLAN traffic was slowing down,” said Wilson. “I thought the issue fell with our current capacity and we needed to upgrade our access points. By digging a bit deeper with Observer,we saw a new application was actually causing the delay. This application was internally developed and by adjusting the program, we were able to get throughput back to normal – without having to purchase a thing.”

Observer’s ability to secure Select Comfort’s network traffic is the single most important benefit to Wilson.

“The knowledge and insight provided by Observer is priceless,” said Wilson. “How can I quantify how much money and time we’ve potentially saved by locating rogue access points? Observer ensured our data wasn’t susceptible to hackers – I can’t tell you how much that is worth.”

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