This blog is the first in a four-part series that will walk you through the “whats” and “hows” of making successful Wi-Fi network deployment decisions.
By Rich Watson
Businesses are finding it increasingly important to provide a “mobile” work environment. Associates in all market segments (retail, healthcare, education, hospitality, etc.) often perform a majority of their daily tasks away from a desk. Additionally, businesses are becoming more automated, which requires employees remain connected to a datacenter to perform those tasks.
In order to meet both requirements, a wireless LAN (WLAN) becomes a necessity. Many businesses already have a WLAN, while others may still be in a consideration phase.
But the fact is, the WLAN technology, standards, and application availability landscape is changing at such a rapid pace, it is often difficult to determine what is the next “best” step in deploying the appropriate 802.11 solution.
Wi-Fi standards
The international standard that defines how WLANs work is IEEE 802.11. This standard, first ratified in 1997, continues evolving to meet a maturing wireless market for faster and more reliable networks. The market is now at another inflection point with the availability of 802.11ac, which can support Gigabit data rates and provide increased reliable wireless connections. The wireless market matured with 802.11n solutions to the point that the WLAN became the “edge-of-the-network” and wireless became the prime network connection mode. The adoption of 802.11ac amplifies this situation where the wired network becomes nominally the “backhaul” service to Internet or remote connectivity.
On-premise or hosted?
Advances in WLAN data rates are not the only thing complicating WLAN deployment decisions. Consideration must be given whether to deploy a premise or a hosted solution, which can have major CAPEX or OPEX impact.
Also, planning for support of higher client densities and bandwidth demand becomes paramount in determining core architectural choices. Central to a successful network design is ensuring that traffic is routed in the most efficient manner. Routing data through a central server does not meet that criteria and results in a performance penalty. To meet the operational demands of today’s enterprise WLAN, local, direct routing of traffic is requisite.
On-boarding and BYOD impact
The impact of higher client densities also begs for a solution for the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) situation. Customers and business associates are bringing personal Wi-Fi enabled devices – such as iPhones and tablets - to work with the expectation that, at a minimum, Wi-FI for basic Internet connectivity will be available. However, on-boarding all these mobile devices can pose a significant drain on IT resources without some automated solution that minimizes the impact on IT.
Internet of Things also a challenge
Further exacerbating the client density challenge is the adoption of Internet of Things (IoT), where numerous machine-to-machine (M2M) devices now vie for wireless bandwidth along with the user clients. The explosive growth of bandwidth-hungry applications like voice and video also complicate optimal WLAN design considerations.
In addition to direct and indirect WLAN solution costs, total cost of ownership (TCO) will be impacted by “normal” operating items such as maintaining IT staff sizes with proper skill credentials, ancillary costs for application or management services, and having access to proper troubleshooting tools to remediate problems.
Finally, one must make sure a WLAN choice for today can be carried into the future without necessitating a network forklift upgrade.
There are a number of items that must be investigated when considering a WLAN purchase, but with so many options, the choice is often challenging. This set of blogs is provided to help you navigate through the forest of solution options and streamline the decision process to ensure that the best possible decision is made for your organization.
Next up: Which WLAN architecture works best for your organization?
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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.