Managing complexity in wireless environments
June 2019
Industrial Wireless
In the decades since its infancy, wireless networking has undergone tremendous shifts, opening an avenue for enterprise wireless Internet consumption. The advances in speed, coupled with the sheer convenience of Wi-Fi for consumers who can work remotely, from any device, and wherever there is a connection, has caused adoption to snowball. However, as an increasing number of users connect more tablets, laptops, smartphones, sports trackers, and IoT devices to any particular wireless network, complexity grows and the possibility of performance deterioration gets higher.
So says Adeshni Rohit, business unit manager for Cisco at Axiz, adding that access point performance can degrade under crushing client loads, and adding more access points for additional capacity is not always a workable solution as it can initiate co-channel interference, which negatively affects performance. Multiple connections also mean multiple points of failure, particularly as there are a few steps each device needs to take to associate and pass traffic on a network. And any one of these can go wrong for a variety of reasons. “In this way, a causal nexus of greater client load, interference, and points of failure can develop if administrators are not able to quickly pinpoint the root causes of Wi-Fi issues,” she adds.
Consumers demand more
Alongside the growing complexity of wireless networks, guaranteeing a good end user experience is vital for enterprises which are looking to stay ahead of their competitors. “Taking into account the exponential growth in the demand for wireless, the burden on legacy infrastructure that was designed with coverage not capacity in mind is blatantly clear”, says Rohit. “Without a carrier-class wireless network that can cope with client load, and support the latest use cases for location-based client analytics and insights, business outcomes can be negatively impacted.”
Enterprises around the globe have moved from wired to wireless throughout their spaces, due to the cost effectiveness and efficiency wireless offers, and its convenience in terms of collaboration. The bottom line is that the need for strong, reliable wireless networks for business-critical functions cannot be emphasised enough, even though they are becoming increasingly complex to manage and maintain.
Cisko Meraki
“This is why Axiz uses Cisco Meraki to help its partners with their wireless needs,” explains Rohit. “Meraki enables next-generation wireless and wired networks that are managed over the Web, offering out-of-the-box management, security, and capacity, but without the expense and complexity brought by traditional networking infrastructure. This technology can help organisations of every type address a variety of modern network issues from bring your own device to content management.”
Meraki brings a unique and effective approach to wireless, shifting the complexity of the network from the infrastructure to the cloud, providing many benefits, including the ability to manage access points from a browser based dashboard, as well as no expensive controller hardware to buy, and no software to install. It offers reliable coverage and high performance, as well as secure access for employees, guests and devices. Finally, its Layer 7 visibility, gives businesses the ability to view and manage application usage.
For more information contact Evette Wessels, Axiz, +27 11 237 7000, [email protected], www.axiz.com
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