Information Week notes that Aruba Networks has installed a new Wi-Fi network serving 20,000 soldiers at Joint Base Balad, the largest U.S. military base in the region. The new "self-healing" mesh network is comprised of ruggedized access points, and is supposedly a significant step up, given the article says soldiers previously had to rely on "hard-wired solutions in Internet cafes" to access their e-mail. "With both the embedded user-based firewall and WIDS [wireless intrusion detection system] in the Aruba architecture, the network is logically protected from both inside and outside attacks and rogue devices," assures an Aruba rep.