Patent ID: 7865577

Claim:
A network element comprising: a short range transceiver, said transceiver adapted to communicate with a configuration device in order to authenticate the network element and adapted to establish a secure channel between the network element and a provisioning server, wherein the network element comprises one of a router, switch, firewall, or gateway, wherein said secure channel is adapted to download a configuration file from the provisioning server, wherein the configuration file is adapted to configure a network topology, addresses, and security parameters of the network element, wherein the network element is adapted to establish the secure channel by transmitting a serial number of the network element to the configuration device and receiving a shared secret from the configuration device responsive to the configuration device validating the serial number, wherein the shared secret is utilized to create the secure channel with the provisioning server, wherein the configuration device and the network element are shipped to a customer's site, and wherein the configuration device and the network element are communicatively coupled at the customer's site; and a controller adapted to manage communications between the network element and the configuration device and the provisioning server, said controller adapted to configure the network element once the configuration file has been downloaded from the provisioning server, the controller adapted to receive an acknowledgement transmitted from the network element, the acknowledgement indicative that the configuration file has been received and the network element has entered normal operation; wherein a web page and an applet from the provisioning server are received at the configuration device upon authentication of the customer at the provisioning server, the web page and the applet related to the network element; wherein a handshake is established between the applet and the network element; wherein a serial number from the network element is received, and wherein the downloading of the configuration file is responsive to the received serial number.