Featured Topic: 802.11n in the Enterprise
802.11n is greatly anticipated for the freedoms it will bring to highly mobile users of collaborative applications, many of which are multimedia in nature. To deliver four- to six-fold performance improvements or two-fold range improvements over earlier WLAN iterations, 802.11n specifications have been designed with a number of new properties. 802.11n products accomplish this by using multiple transmit and receive antennas, spatial multiplexing, 40MHz bonded channels and frame aggregation. While backward compatible with earlier WLAN standards from an interoperability standpoint, the differences in the 802.11n standard alter the RF propagation landscape a bit. And running 802.11n in mixed mode with legacy clients in a single spectrum band will degrade the throughput improvements of newer 11n clients by about a third.
After many years of revisions, the 802.11n amendment was finally ratified in September, 2009. Very often, new 802.11 technologies do not find their way into the enterprise until a year or more after ratification of an 802.11 amendment. However, 802.11n technology debuted in the enterprise prior to ratification of the 802.11n amendment. Most of the major Wi-Fi vendors debuted enterprise 802.11n solutions in 2008 and have already continued to direct their customers to High Throughput (HT) technology.
As with any new technology, opportunity is accompanied by a few new challenges. Accurately planning, optimizing, securing and troubleshooting 802.11n networks, both in the presence of 802.11a/b/g networks and in green field deployments, requires new tools that are up to the job.
Here are nine key recommendations for both 802.11n greenfield deployments and for migrating from legacy WLANs to 802.11n technology:
- Verify Wi-Fi Alliance 802.11n-2009 2.0 compliance
- Review WLAN vendor migration and deployment recommendations
- Invest in tools that speed deployment and troubleshooting
- Perform an 802.11n site survey
- Choose a PoE solution
- Upgrade wired infrastructure to meet data flow needs
- Upgrade clients prior to access points
- Deploy new 802.11n access points
- Upgrade monitoring capabilities
To learn more about 802.11n strategies for migration and deployment download the Guide to Deploying 802.11n Wireless LANs
Newest content
On-demand Webinar: Industry expert Joanie Wexler discusses the challenges of 802.11n
Joanie discusses the challenges of 802.11n and strategies to address the following issues: RF Management, AP placement and migration, wired infrastructure capacity, power requirements, and security issues.
Questions and Answers: Follow-up Q&A from the webcast listed above
Question: Would you recommend we migrate completely to 802.11n or keep our existing legacy devices if we have the budget to do so?
Joanie Wexler (Answer): If you mean you have the budget to move entirely to 802.11n-both your AP infrastructure and all your clients-and you need the capacity for your applications, go for it. I don't know what kind of business you are in, but if you are in one that must support guests or others using clients of their own choosing (hospitality/hotels, universities, for example), 802.11n will accommodate everyone, even the 802.11n early adopters.
For a complete list of questions and answers from this webinar, download 11n Questions and Answers Guide