By: Gayle Levin, Senior Product Advertising Supervisor for Wi-fi at Aruba, A Hewlett Packard Enterprise Firm.

For those who’re like me and also you’ve been studying the information currently, the financial outlook is in every single place. It’s troublesome sufficient to prioritize IT spending and align efforts to help enterprise initiatives with out making an attempt to foretell the long run financial outlook. That’s why I wasn’t stunned {that a} current survey from IDC[1] confirmed that IT leaders are taking a measured method: Preserve budgets steady whereas on the identical time constructing in flexibility ought to the macroeconomic setting change considerably. To assist take management in these unsure instances, this weblog outlines six methods to modernize your Wi-Fi.

6 methods to drive operational efficiencies by modernizing your Wi-Fi community

1. Shift to cloud-based community administration. Cloud-based community administration will increase agility and permits resource-constrained IT departments to deal with optimizing the community, not deploying, managing, or upgrading the community administration system. Cloud-based community administration additionally higher aligns spend by means of a subscription, OpEx-driven mannequin.
2. Undertake AI to raised leverage present {hardware} investments. 54% of organizations say that their setting is extra complicated that it was two years in the past.[2] AIOps will help determine areas for optimization utilizing present {hardware} by combing by means of a tsunami of knowledge quicker than any human ever may. It isn’t about changing community operators with the following incarnation of ChatGPT; it’s about surfacing issues and making suggestions primarily based on an enormous knowledge lake throughout all verticals and all geographies to determine finest practices.
3. Future proof with Wi-Fi 6E. Wi-Fi 6E represents the newest technology of the Wi-Fi normal and relying on the geography, doubles or triples the quantity of obtainable capability for Wi-Fi. That is essential as a result of the present 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands are crowded. Though they embody wider channels which are perfect for latency-sensitive purposes like Microsoft Groups (important in hybrid work and distant work environments), in apply there’s not sufficient bandwidth to make use of the broader channels. With the additional bandwidth afforded by the 6 GHz band (as much as 1200 MHz), business-critical purposes can work flawlessly, larger volumes of shopper and IoT units might be supported, and new use circumstances reminiscent of augmented actuality and digital actuality might be deployed. I’ve heard from some organizations that they plan to attend for Wi-Fi 7; nevertheless, the largest change is the historic introduction of the 6 GHz band – different enhancements pale compared.
4. Automate safety enforcement. Handbook processes usually are not solely time-consuming however error inclined. A unified method to safety – throughout wired and wi-fi environments, in addition to massive campuses, midsized branches, even distant staff – streamlines safety efforts. That is essential as safety and community efforts turn out to be extra inextricably linked and the scarcity of expert safety professions turns into extra entrenched.
5. Eradicate guide AP surveys. Do you know that it takes roughly 10 minutes per AP to survey its location and place it on a map? This guide course of additionally introduces errors which might restrict the usability of Wi-Fi location-based providers. By automating the survey course of, networking groups can rapidly and precisely map the APs for use in a variety of purposes from conventional wayfinding and asset monitoring to extremely correct proximity triggers – at scale. These APs are additionally properly suited to help Wi-Fi 6E Customary Energy as soon as it beneficial properties regulatory approval because it requires a location utilizing common coordinates (latitude and longitude) to make sure incumbents are protected.
6. Begin utilizing APs as an IoT gateway. 96% of company networks have or could have Web of Issues units and sensors connecting to them[3]. By leveraging the AP’s potential to help a variety of units that use Bluetooth (BLE), 802.15.4/Zigbee, or USB ports, IT can securely onboard IoT units and streamline administration. New protocols reminiscent of Straightforward Join (also called DPP) resolve the issue: How do I securely onboard my system after I want the system to connect with the community to confirm its credentials?

Study extra at the moment:

Discover the infographic

Watch the video on Wi-Fi 6E

Discover ways to do extra along with your community

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[1]  Future Enterprise Resiliency & Spending Survey – Wave 11, IDC, December, 2022; n=840. In comparison with your group’s seemingly ultimate IT spending ranges for 2022, how will present disruptions have an effect on your group’s almost certainly IT spending ranges for 2023?

[2] Enterprise Administration Affiliation, Community Administration Megatrends 2022

[3] ibid

This weblog was printed on blogs.arubanetworks.com on 03/27/23.