The Changing Role of Wi-Fi Are You Ready for the Wireless Explosion? Ron Groulx Empowered Networks
Abstract Wi-Fi Users have gone from "connecting" accessing Web pages and email at low bandwidth to "consuming" streaming music and video, playing multiplayer games, and teleconferencing and voice. And the number of users, device types, and applications continues to grow exponentially. How many new Wi-Fi devices and connections came into your home or workplace this Christmas? Poor or unpredictable Wi-Fi is no longer just an inconvenience. Users and clients expect more from Wi-Fi. Meet escalating demands is an imperative, driven by the need to cost-effectively support new applications, use cases and customer engagement models. This session explores what ITS engineers must understand to design flexible, scalable, secure, and most importantly, reliable Wi-Fi networks, to meet tomorrow s needs. Attend this session to Learn: Why you can t ignore Wi-Fi anymore. Understanding how to scale performance and capacity Making wireless flexible, upgrade-able, and future-proof The Critical Success Factors for making Wi-Fi utility-grade
Agenda The Wi-Fi Explosion - BYOD The Evolution of Wi-Fi Designing Enterprise Wi-Fi Infrastructure Q&A
4 Wi-Fi Explosion!!! BYOD
Wi-Fi vs. Wired Ethernet Enterprise applications are mobilizing via the cloud Wired Wi-Fi Cloud-based Data, Voice & Video nterprise Adoption Ra ate Mainframe Data-centric Client / Server Data, Voice & Video Client / Server Data over Wi-Fi Data, Voice & Video over Wi-Fi Data & Voice over Wi-Fi E 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010
Wi-Fi vs. Wired Ethernet Client devices are now engineered with Wi-Fi only Wired Wi-Fi Tablets Enterprise Adoption R ate Desktops Laptops VoIP Phones Netbooks ipads Netbooks Smartphones 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010
The ipad Changed Everything Tablets Sold Annually, 2010-2020E (in Millions)
Tablets are Wi-Fi Devices Connection Type by Device Source: comscore Device Essentials, U.S., August 2011 Mobile Access WiFi Access Mobile 62.8% 37.2% Tablet 9.2% 90.8% Other 1.9% 98.1%
Cellular is Not the Answer Cellular 4G capacity is ~5-10X greater than 3G Carriers moving from unlimited to metered usage Wi-Fi Wi-Fi capacity is ~5-10X greater than 4G Users are moving to Wi-Fi to avoid the fees 9
Wi-Fi vs. Wired Ethernet Wi-Fi to the desktop will soon be on par with Wired Wired Wi-Fi Ent terprise Ad doption Rat te Ethernet Fast Ethernet Gigabit Ethernet 802.11b 802.11ag 802.11n 802.11ac 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015
Wi-Fi Standards are Evolving 1 Gbps Wi-Fi standards coming in the next couple years New standards are at 5GHz and beyond 802.11ad >5Gbps 60GHz 802.11a 54Mbps 5GHz 802.11n 600Mbps 802.11ac >1Gbps 802.11 2Mbps 802.11b 11Mbps 802.11g 54Mbps 24GH 2.4GHz 802.11n 300Mbps 1997 1998 1999 2000 2002 2003 2004 2008 2009 2011 2012 2013 11
Wi-Fi Will Not Advance in 2.4GHz 2.4GHz a 3 lane road with potholes 675Mbps = Total Bandwidth 5GHz a 24 lane open freeway 5.4Gbps = Total Bandwidth
Agenda The Wi-Fi Explosion - BYOD The Evolution of Wi-Fi Designing Enterprise Wi-Fi Infrastructure Q&A
Today s Users Expect Good Wi-Fi
By 2015, 80% of newly installed wireless networks will be obsolete because of a lack of proper planning. Paul DeBeasi, October 2011
Designing Enterprise Wi-Fi Infrastructure Design from the start for Reliability Security Performance Growth
Design for Reliability Radio Resiliency Network Resiliency AP Resiliency
Design for Security Wi-Fi has Multiple Security Layers Physical Security Enclosures Layer 1: RF Security Spectrum Analyzer Layer 2: MAC Security 802.11i Layer 3: Network Security VPN Layer 4-7: Application Security HTTPS
Design for Performance More Radios Multi-State radios 2.4/5 GHz Limit Tablets per radio Coverage for both bands 2.4GHz for Legacy Devices 5GHz for BEST performance Leverage Client Steering Services Steer clients towards higher performance radios Steer clients towards 5GHz band
Design for Tablet Performance Tablets have unique wireless characteristics that must be considered in the network design Tablet Factor Design Factor Lower transmit Provide sufficient signal strength in all areas of power usage, minimum -65dBm for Tablets Rich media hungry Max 65Mbps data rate Provide 5GHz support and sufficient radio density for ~15 Tablets per radio Deploy more radios as opposed to more bandwidth per radio, turn off 802.11n bonding
Wi-Fi Demand Kills Performance As density and usage increases wireless performance deteriorates Traditional Approach: Deploy more APs Challenge #1: 2.4GHz Channel Overlap! Challenge #2: 5GHz Reduced Cell Size! Challenge #3: Limited Network Resources!
New Wi-Fi Design Approach Deployments need smarter, higher performance, higher h capacity APs Add more radios to scale for future growth Reduce RF Interference issues and costly network resources Use new AP technology (ie: Beamforming) to increase performance and coverage
Beamforming Technology
Physical Beamforming Traditional APs
Design for Growth Wi-Fi equipment replacement cycles typically 4-5 years New technologies will emerge (802.11ac/ad) Over that period, devices, apps, and density requirements will change Essentials to support future growth: Modular, upgradeable hardware Software upgradeable functionality Horsepower to support the next gen technologies
Without proper planning, Enterprises deploying ipads will need 300% more Wi-Fi Tim Zimmerman October 2011
Summary Design from the start for Reliability Security Performance Growth