Understanding the next generation of Wi-Fi

Our society is becoming increasingly mobile. Industry analyst firm IDC predicts that by 2015 1.2 billion mobile workers will be using some 470m smartphones and tablets.

Now that using our own mobile devices has become part of the accepted business landscape, we are seeing BYOD (bring your own device) as a popular trend in the enterprise. As a result, in addition to carrying a corporate device, many of us are bringing to work one or more personal mobile devices to carry out daily business tasks while also managing our personal lives. This has led to IT managers being challenged with new network design requirements.

With mobile applications growing in parallel to device use, there has also been a meteoric rise in bandwidth demand. This demand is driven to a great extent by the popularity of streaming video on Apple iPhones and iPads and other mobile devices. For mobile operators, this increased demand has taxed their network capacity and many have abandoned their ‘all you can use’ data plans.

This is now being mirrored in the corporate BYOD context, where users expect Wi-Fi at work to perform as quickly and as efficiently as it does at home. This had led to an unprecedented demand for Wi-Fi that provides sufficient bandwidth all day every day. Streaming video, VoIP and cloud-based storage and access are applications that place ever-increasing demands on a network’s ability to provide consistent and reliable performance.

At the start of 2014, we saw the advent of the new IEEE 802.11ac standard, replacing the existing 802.11n standard, offering significant advantages, including the prospect of Gigabit speeds.

Like many new technologies, 802.11ac was adopted first in the consumer space for wireless multimedia streaming. But for the enterprise, 802.11ac represents a better way to deploy Wi-Fi in the 5 GHz band. It is a rich technology standard, and the improvements in radio performance it brings provide more efficient deployment in the 5 GHz band.

As 802.11ac client devices come into the enterprise, 802.11ac will enable IT departments to build Wi-Fi infrastructures that make more efficient use of the 5 GHz band, creating high-capacity voice systems and multimedia streaming. Enterprise Wi-Fi networks can also use 802.11ac technology to create VHT wireless backhaul links or wireless bridges.

Creating the right conditions for 802.11ac
To take advantage of 802.11ac, a company’s existing IT architecture must be fully prepared for the migration to the new standard. IT administrators also need to understand the wireless application requirements.

Since 802.11ac only supports the 5 GHz band, and an existing WLAN infrastructure may only be designed for the 2.4 GHz range, it requires a comprehensive survey to ensure WLAN coverage for tablets and smartphones with low radio range. Since older network devices will only operate in the 2.4 GHz band, companies should consider deploying devices that can support 802.11ac or 802.11n in the 5 GHz range.

IT administrators should also look at the specific properties of 80-MHz channels in planning for an 802.11ac network. The correct configuration of existing equipment will deliver maximum data rates and all 802.11n, 802.11a and 802.11ac devices will work seamlessly with the best throughput. Using a special channel management program that runs on the wireless controller means that interference from different devices can also be prevented.

A successful 802.11ac deployment should consider the following:

Cost
1. New access points (AP) must be purchased, along with making provisions for upgrading any existing controller firmware.
2. To maximise the increase in data rate with 802.11ac, a second 1 Gbps Ethernet link may need to be run to an AP configured to operate two 5 GHz channels. This results in a 2+ Gpbs aggregate data rate to the backhaul.
3. Ensure that the wired infrastructure can properly support the higher data rates—deployment of CAT-6 or CAT-6a cabling may be required.

Network design
1. Plan for supporting 2.4 GHz devices for the next four to seven years.
2. Channel plan for 80 MHz wide channels to reap the maximum data rate benefit possible.
3. Leverage context-aware layers (CALs) where it makes sense to isolate applications to enhance their security, performance and reliability.

The emergence of 802.11ac, or Gigabit Wi-Fi, is already delivering very high throughput for streaming multimedia devices, improvements in range, expanded overall system capacity and network resilience to interference — boosting application performance for any organisation with a high density of mobile devices.

Fortunately, 802.11ac technology can be easily integrated into an enterprise’s existing Wi-Fi network and will add the necessary bandwidth to support the influx of new Wi-Fi devices and multimedia-rich apps now and in the future.