By Richard Watson
We get told by the pundits to brace ourselves for the impending tsunami that is IoT (Internet of Things) and the logical response to that warning is: What does it mean to me?
If you are in the education space and juggling a 
Wi-Fi network and an exploding number of mobile devices, the answer is: “A lot.”
We already know that an increasing number of mobile devices are being brought to campus every day - by students, educators and support staff alike. In fact, IDC projects that as many as 212 billion wireless devices will be competing for worldwide online access by 2020. These devices require management.
But moreover, the types of demands on the WLAN are increasing from the “things” themselves.
Consider today’s classroom. Use of Apple Bonjour services has become common. Individual students can wirelessly access video resources provided through AppleTV and printing services through Apple AirPrint. These services require support for new network entities for each printer and TV being integrated into the curriculum and network design. But wait, there’s more…
There are a number of products and feature requirements to be met that are just now coming on the market that are part of IoT:
- Wi-Fi security cameras: In-room and on-campus monitoring has now become more common in today’s schools to progressively ensure the student safety. Wi-Fi devices greatly simplify meeting this security need across a disperse campus.
- Wi-Fi enabled clocks: Responding to regional time changes via a Wi-Fi connection is much simpler than having to manually touch each clock.
- Wi-Fi facility security: Because campuses are often dispersed, running wired connections to each door or window security point is impractical, whereas a Wi-Fi connection provides installation flexibility not previously available.
- Wi-Fi in facility climate control: Use of air conditioning and electricity can be controlled with finer granularity using a wireless sensor as compared with older static devices. This saves time and money.
- Wi-Fi Intercom: Deploying a wireless intercom to make those famous morning announcements is much simpler and cheaper (no cabling to run) than previous solutions.
- Wi-Fi telemetry: Such devices can be used to alert IT of specific thresholds of temperature, pressure, time or other metrics being monitored and have been crossed.
Time to make an IoT plan
The above IoT list is only the beginning of what is possible in this new world. Having a school WLAN meeting a student’s daily need for online learning AND supporting the burgeoning plethora of IoT devices can be achieved, but will require:
- Understanding of a school’s education network strategies: Projecting network demand of voice- and video-based
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applications (including network services like Apple Bonjour, and general access to Internet for testing and learning services) and network user density. - Planning of the WLAN infrastructure to meet these demands: Support of 802.11ac for increasing the WLAN available bandwidth and perhaps upgrading the wired network components to support Gigabit data rates.
- Provisioning for supporting simple, secure user on-boarding: For students and school employees to minimize increasing workload for any IT resources.
- Monitoring network usage: Using management tools to build analytic history of network traffic and application usage to progressively assess a network user experience. This is important to aid in making any necessary network evolutionary changes as your network grows.
applications (including network services like Apple Bonjour, and general access to Internet for testing and learning services) and network user density.Planning ahead for this onslaught of network demand will serve the school well when it comes to the quest to ensure a rich and stable learning environment for the student body while leveraging the advantages of living in an increasingly IoT world.
Richard Watson has worked as a senior product marketing manager and product manager with 18+ years’ experience in the Wi-Fi market. He has worked for major networking and wireless companies including Meru, 3Com, Motorola, and Symbol Technologies where he contributed to development and release of numerous wireless solutions. He authored a book on FMC, has contributed to trade journals writing on leading edge topics on wireless VoIP and participated on panels at industry shows.