Call it the fourth utility: wireless Internet is becoming as essential to building owners and occupants as water, gas and electricity. But unlike the other utilities, wireless Internet does not come from a single, regulated provider. IT managers have choices, and whether they work with one vendor or many they will want to think through a wireless Internet solution holistically.
“The expectation that consumers have now basically means that you’ve got to think through a Wi-Fi strategy and a mobility strategy pretty much in parallel,” said CommScope’s Philip Sorrells, VP of strategic marketing.
Other vendors are also recognizing the enterprise requirement for networks that combine Wi-Fi with cellular connectivity. Small cell manufacturers Alcatel-Lucent and SpiderCloud Wireless have both partnered with Wi-Fi access point vendors who will market their solutions to enterprise customers. Alcatel-Lucent has partnered with Ruckus Wireless and SpiderCloud Wireless has partnered with Cisco.
The software that network engineers use to build and deploy in-building wireless networks is also evolving to encompass Wi-Fi. IBwave has updated its network design software program to enable Wi-Fi and cellular indoor designs to be performed in a single tool. The company sees this release as a first step toward addressing the carrier-grade Wi-Fi network design market.
“Five years ago, Wi-Fi technology was pretty basic, but with all the new protocol releases it is much closer to LTE today,” says Mario Bouchard, IBwave’s CEO. “We are used to designing for the LTE modulation scheme and the way the traffic is handled, so handling Wi-Fi the same way is easy for us.”
IBwave recently agreed to be acquired by Corning, one of the top providers of in-building distributed antenna systems and other fiber-based network solutions. Corning is another vendor that is working hard to combine cellular and Wi-Fi solutions for customers.
“We’ve seen a number of customers adopt the idea of convergence,” said Corning VP Michael O’Day. “Convergence is really around taking multiple networks that are deployed in a building – from the network that deploys your LAN and your Ethernet applications to a Wi-Fi network to a DAS network – and converging them over one infrastructure to enable all of the applications. … The value prop has been overwhelming.”
Image source: Rackspace
