Wi-Fi access points are multiplying like bunnies as enterprises rely on them to keep employees and customers connected, carriers count on them to offload traffic, and consumers look for them to cut their cellular service bills. Mobile operators no longer see Wi-Fi as the competition; instead they are deploying Wi-Fi hot spots and learning to leverage new capabilities like location-based services and data analytics. Infonetics Research predicts that carrier spending on Wi-Fi will increase 88% this year, surpassing $1 billion.
For the companies that make Wi-Fi equipment, controlling the market means controlling the access points. Controllers configure and switch traffic for multiple Wi-Fi access points, and as access points have proliferated, controllers have moved to the cloud. Multiple access points can still be managed from one interface, but that interface does not require on-premise hardware. Enterprises can add new access points without purchasing a new controller.
Cloud-controlled Wi-Fi solutions typically leverage chipsets within the access points that incorporate much of the intelligence previously located in the controller hardware. One vendor, Xirrus, is actually building the controller into each access point, creating an alternative to cloud-controlled Wi-Fi.
“Putting the controller into the cloud … creates higher latency or delay and increases the risk of an outage if the connection to the cloud is interrupted,” said Xirrus CEO Shane Buckley. The company’s access points can be configured via the cloud, but are controlled at the device level. Its XD4 is the industry’s first 4-radio 802.11ac access point, and the company is targeting the emerging “Internet of Things” market.
“With different devices and applications competing for bandwidth on wireless networks, one AP is not enough to maintain acceptable performance,” said Bruce Miller, Xirrus VP of product marketing. “XD solves this problem by integrating more 802.11ac radios per AP than any solution in the market and eliminating the central controller from the network.”
Eliminating the central controller from the network is a key theme for Wi-Fi equipment vendors, but they take different approaches to replacing that on-premise hardware. Ruckus Wireless believes customers will value the flexibility offered by cloud-controlled Wi-Fi.
“Instead of having a controller onsite … you can take that software and you can virtualize it and you can run it anywhere you want,” explained Ruckus Wireless’ David Callisch, VP of corporate marketing. “It gives the customer a lot more flexibility because what customers want to do whether they have one access point or many access points is they want to have the ability to control those from wherever they are now. The ability to … virtualize that software and put it anywhere where you have a point of presence or you have a point of service delivery becomes really compelling, and it allows you to do some really interesting things in terms of turning Wi-Fi from a traditional infrastructure … to more of a service.”
For more on voice over Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi offloading, read the complimentary RCR Wireless feature report and watch the on-demand webinar featuring Republic Wireless, InterDigital Communications, Ixia and Senza Fili Consulting.
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