User:Patro-claus/sandbox

Tanaza is a cloud-managed network infrastructure company that allows to manage multi-vendor Wi-Fi Access Points through a SaaS.

History
In the following the main facts related to the company :


 * Dec 2010 - The company is established in Milano (Italy). The original team includes Sebastiano Bertani (CEO), Cristian Piacente (Software engineer) and a board of advisors selected by Orma Prima, a seed investor.


 * Jul, 11th 2011 - Tanaza files a patent to the European Patent Organization (EPO) for the first cloud technology that allows to auto-discovery, recognize and manage multi-vendor Wi-Fi Access Points


 * Feb, 2nd 2012 — Tanaza Beta goes live. Release 1.1 allows users to manage only 4 models: Netgear WNAP210 - Netgear WNAP320 - Netgear WG103 - Netgear WN604


 * Apr, 27th 2012 — Release 1.2 - Added cloud management to: Netgear WN802T - Ubiquiti Unifi - Ubiquiti AirRouter - Ubiquiti Bullet2 - Ubiquiti PowerAPN


 * May, 25th 2012 — Release 1.6 - Added cloud management to: Tp-Link WR1043N - Tp-Link WA730RE - Tp-Link WA701N


 * Jun, 29th 2012 — Release 1.7 - Added cloud management to: - Tp-Link WA5110G - Tp-Link WA501G - Tp-Link WA901ND - Ubiquiti NanoStation2 (NS2) - Ubiquiti PicoStation2 (PS2) - Ubiquiti NanoStation M2 (NSM2) - Ubiquiti NanoStation Loco M2 (LocoM2)


 * Jul, 3rd 2012 - Tanaza trademark is registered at USPTO


 * Sep, 8th 2012 - Release 1.8 - Added cloud management to: Engenius EAP-3660 - Engenius ECB-3500; released Tanaza firmware for 5 models of Ubiquiti


 * Sep, 13th 2012 - Certified Wireless Network Professional (CWNP) writes a review after Tanaza presentation at Wireless Field Day 3 (WFD3)


 * Oct, 17th 2012 - Release 1.10 - Added cloud management to D-Link DWL 2100AP


 * Oct, 26th-27th 2012 - Selected as finalist at the 5th edition of Mind The Bridge Venture Camp, in partnership with the newspaper Corriere della Sera


 * Dec, 15th 2012 - Tanaza gets the The Rudy Ruettiger Award 2012, by SimplyWiFi, a wireless independent blogger


 * Jan, 17th 2013 - Patent application is published on WIPO register

Architecture
Tanaza architecture allows to centrally configure and remotely monitor Wi-Fi Access Points thanks to an architecture based on 3 elements: the Cloud Infrastructure, the Tanaza Agent and the Tanaza Web Interface.


 * The Tanaza Cloud Infrastructure is a set of servers that use a variety of technologies, including Java, PostgreSQL and LUA, to securely connect to the APs and to provide the user with an interface to manage them. It's hosted on Amazon Web Services.
 * The Tanaza Agent is a small software that allows the APs to be connected to the Tanaza Cloud Infrastructure. Thanks to the agent, the Tanaza Cloud Infrastructure can reach any Access Point with no need for a Public IP, a VPN or a Dynamic DNS. The agent can be deployed on a host, located inside the LAN of the Access Points, or inside the Access Point itself.
 * The Tanaza Web Interface is a dashboard that is accessible through a web browser, smartphone or tablet and allows checking the status of the Wi-Fi Access Points associated to the account of the user.

Rationale
Tanaza claims to be to only SaaS that allows to centrally manage Wi-Fi Access Points manufactured by different vendors, thanks to a technology internally developed. The rationale behind this choice seems to be explained through the well-known process of commoditization of the hardware in the Wi-Fi space. It basically states that the difference between a $30 device and a $300 device is mainly located in the software. Tanaza's intent is to add the missing features that allow to cloud-manage any of those devices.

Advantages
Compared to mono-vendor cloud management, Tanaza SaaS vendor-agnostic approach gives the freedom to select the hardware model that better fits with the requirements of each specific WLAN project. SOHO low cost Wi-Fi Access Points are supported (e.g. TP-Link), as well as SMB ones (e.g. Ubiquiti) and Enterprise autonomous ones (e.g. Ruckus Wireless).

Limitations
Compared to mono-vendor vertically integrated solutions (e.g. Meraki or Aerohive), that include cloud management software + hardware developed both by the same company, Tanaza cannot provide the same level of integration and smooth user experience.

Analogy
To use a well known example, in the Android vs iOS/iPhone battle, Tanaza would be Android: it doesn't provide the smoothest integrated user experience (such as iOS with iPhone does), as it has to support many different types of hardware (e.g. Samsung, HTC) that might be slightly different one to the other and create issues to the users, but it allows the user to avoid the vendor lock-in.

Target market
Tanaza target market is Wi-Fi System Integrators, WLAN VARs, Wireless Resellers, IT Managers that operate in the Small Business space, offering a product to hotels, branch offices, schools in a school district, clinics, manufacturing facilities, retail stores or shopping malls.