In this paper we describe the design and realization of a system that
allows guests to connect to a company’s internet-access channel via wireless
local area network (WLAN). The core of the corporate infrastructure stays
protected against unauthorized access. Although a growing number of
companies provide WLAN access for their employees, guest access is rarely
granted due to security concerns and substantial maintenance hurdles. Even if
a network administrator might be willing to provide such access, it often
would be done manually with substantial time delay. The solution we propose
to solve this problem and to simplify the whole procedure is based on
establishing a chain of trust. An authorized corporate user assumes the role of
a host who invites and trusts his guests, thus he issues access codes together
with the invitations. The system we propose is composed of two scenarios.
The first scenario is called the „consultant scenario“ and uses a Spontaneous
WLAN Guest Access Server (SpoGA Server). In the second scenario, the so
called „congress scenario“, we describe how to support a great number of
guests. Here we propose an „Extended Invitation Management System” (E–
IMS) for ease of use. This system can help organizers of events not only to
provide participants with wireless network access but also to support other
related tasks in the preparation of larger events. The current results as
described in the paper pave the way for field testing and broad enrollment. In
addition some considerations on further developments are provided
