Intelligent CIO Africa Issue 44 | Page 46

FEATURE : WI-FI
Rapid growth in data use is also placing strain on existing Wi-Fi networks . Highbandwidth applications , such as 4K UHDTV , augmented reality and virtual reality are becoming widely used in education , enterprise and healthcare sector . Industry pundits share insights with Intelligent CIO Africa on why Wi-Fi deployments on the continent are meeting the emerging technologies requirements .

It has taken less than two decades

for Wi-Fi to become a ubiquitous aspect of modern enterprise organisations , with customers and employees alike expecting easy access to fast and reliable networks .
So , when the Wi-Fi network fails them , not only is this embarrassing for the network provider , but it also leads to lost productivity and sales .
As enterprise organisations accelerate their Digital Transformation initiatives in Africa , the pressure to invest in latest-generation wireless network technology is growing – not only to meet today ’ s expectations , but to ensure that wireless networks can also flex and evolve to meet emerging requirements .
Ali Benhaddou , Network Solutions Architect , Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise , said Wi-Fi is no longer a nice-to-have , but a business necessity and expectations of what it can deliver and how easy it should be to use for mobility , are being continuously redefined .
“ The deployment complexity comes from the multiple aspects involved in building a reliable Wi-Fi solution . The first challenge is related to addressing the individual needs of the business and implementing a scalable design providing high speed connectivity with optimal radio coverage built on the latest technologies , insuring the right performance and high availability ,” he said .
Benhaddou added that with the Internet of Things ( IoT ) proliferation trend that the market is currently seeing , it has become necessary for the WLAN networks to be ‘ IoT ready ’ providing mechanisms for the IoTs identification and secure containment on the network .
Wi-Fi standards
As rapid growth in data use and high bandwidth applications are placing strain on existing enterprise networks , it is vital for organisations to deploy Wi-Fi technologies / standards that enhance performance and avoid user frustrations .
Benhaddou observed that obviously the 802.11x standard , commonly known as Wi-Fi 6 , benefits both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands as it has been developed specifically to solve the main wireless connectivity challenges .
“ Wi-Fi 6 is designed for the lower-latency and bandwidth hungry applications , offering network services for real-time audio and video . In addition , it supports user experience in the denser environment thus maintaining network connectivity for the users in highly populated areas and

Meeting

intelligent connectivity

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