Alcatel authenticated VLANs use industry-standard protocols such as LDAP and RADIUS, enabling wire-speed connectivity at a level of security beyond that provided by firewalls. Authenticated VLANs allow the administrator to create security policies once and then let the switches apply them on a facility- or enterprise-wide basis.

Alcatel authenticated VLANs are a secure mechanism for adding and removing users (not just devices) from a mobile VLAN. In an authenticated VLAN, membership is based upon a user's identity and a policy set defined by the network administrator instead of grouping a user based on data sent by an end-system.