Member Article

Wi-Fi in 2017: What Should You Expect?

Wi-Fi has experienced some rapid changes of and this year will bring plenty more; further IoT evolution, new wireless standards, and more enhancements to cloud-based Wi-Fi network.

The Internet of Things The Internet of Things (IoT) is expected to reach 10 billion devices by 2020. This precipitous growth will continue driving high density demands across networks, including Wi-Fi. We are nearing a time when the majority of global internet traffic will begin or end on Wi-Fi.

Wi-Fi remains a better option than LTE In many parts of the world we are seeing a battle between LTE and Wi-Fi in the 5GHz band. But Wi-Fi remains cheaper to deploy, provides faster operating speeds, and, in almost all cases, is free to the end user.

Cloud management holds keys to performance and simplicity The cloud has made reliable, secure Wi-Fi mandatory in the enterprise. At the same time, with so many businesses relying on “always on/always connected” access to the cloud, Wi-Fi networks must not only be secure, but also have 24/7 monitoring and self-healing capabilities.

Connectivity: A basic human need It’s not as far off as one might think! Wi-Fi now officially holds the lowest level in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs; a model that describes the essential necessities that motivate human behaviour. Beyond clean water, food and shelter, an Internet connection is now being considered to be a requirement by many in the world. Just as every person should have access to the basic needs of life, our society believes it should have access to other humans on the planet.

Keep 802.11ax and 802.11ad developments on your radar While interesting work continues outside of the 2.4GHz and 5GHz ISM bands, the majority of devices and networks will remain focused in these two bands for years to come, with increased use of the 5GHz band. Within this band, the next big advance comes with 802.11ax, which promises to deliver even higher speeds and better spectral efficiency than we have with 802.11ac. For now, 802.11ad has the status of an interesting emerging technology for 2017, which operates in the 60GHz ISM band. Think of it as Bluetooth on steroids: It does for video/monitor connections, docking stations and mobile device connections what Bluetooth did for audio connections!

By Dirk Gates, founder and executive chairman of Xirrus

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Xirrus News .