Patent ID: 7961725

Claim:
A method for communicating a data packet from a wireless communication device to an entity in a restricted network segment of a central site in an enterprise network, comprising: storing, at a wireless switch that is coupled to a plurality of access ports and being located at a remote site in the enterprise network, a wireless communication device database (WCDD) comprising: a list of wireless communication devices associated with the wireless switch indexed by respective MAC addresses of each wireless communication device, respective addresses of each wireless communication device, a WLAN which each wireless communication device is associated with, a mapping table of WLANs-to-VLANs, and a mapping table of WLANs-to-tunnels; receiving, at the wireless switch, the data packet from a wireless communication device via an access port coupled to the wireless switch; determining, at the wireless switch based on the data packet, whether the wireless communication device is associated with one of: an unauthorized access WLAN; and an authorized access WLAN that is mapped to a Generic Routing Encapsulation (GRE) tunnel implemented over the IP network and that is designed to allow communications with an IP router at the central site via the wireless switch over the GRE tunnel, wherein the GRE tunnel extends an IP subnet from the central site to the authorized access WLAN.