Tag Archive for Wi-Fi

| September 4, 2014
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Will iOS 8 Crush Your Network?

– Updated 09-09-14 – At their presser today, Apple announced that iOS 8 will be publicly available on Wednesday, September 17. The update is free and compatible with 10 current products:

iPhone 5S
iPhone 5C
iPhone 5
iPhone 4S
iPad Air
iPad with Retina Display
iPad 2
iPad mini with Retina Display
iPad mini
iPod touch 5th Generation

How are you going to protect your network?

—

Will iOS 8 Crush Your Network?TechRadar speculates that Apple’s new mobile operating system, iOS 8 will be released on September 10 and MacWorld UK reports that iOS 8 will run on most iPads, iPhones, or iPod Touch devices when it arrives. This means that if you haven’t already done something about it any iDevice that walks into your Wi-Fi will want to download 100+ megabytes of data. And you know what means user complaints that the internet is broken and the network is slow.

iOS 8 will cruch your networkThe folks at Exinda, a supplier of policy-based WAN Orchestration recently put out some suggestions on how to keep your network functional during Apple’s (AAPL) iOS 8 update madness, unlike the iOS 7 release last year. Few organizations were prepared for the effects that widespread software updates would have across corporate and educational networks.

Shortly after the software launch, download requests bombarded networks which prevented users from accessing key applications or completing work on time. Boston-based Exinda says reports from last year showed that the iOS 7 update used more than 60% of bandwidth and caused several networks to crash completely.

Exinda logoExinda polled their community of networking experts to weigh in with three possible strategies to help you survive release week, no matter how complex your IT environment is.

Set an iOS policy

Set a policy to completely block software upgrades 20% of Exinda customers said that controlling iOS 7 upgrades was their biggest IT headache last year. If iOS 7 put a huge strain on your network last year, proactively blocking this year’s software release may be the best way to protect your network.

complaints that the internet is brokenBefore release week, simply create a policy using the Apple Software Updates application signature and set it to discard the traffic. This will cause all network traffic generated from iOS 8 to be discarded, effectively keeping your users from upgrading their devices on your network.

Limit the bandwidth software upgrades use

Depending on your network and users, you may have no choice but to let some of your users upgrade their devices during peak hours, particularly if you’re a school with a 1:1 iPad program. To control the amount of bandwidth iOS 8 can use on your network, set a policy that guarantees minimum and maximum levels of bandwidth that can be consumed during this upgrade. We recommend setting the minimum at 1 Kbps and giving this policy a low priority so it does not take precedence over your more important traffic.

Three stratgiesBruce Miller, vice president of product marketing at Xirrus in a Fierce Mobile article, advised IT administrations to deploy Wi-Fi network application control software that regulates how the network handles bandwidth-hogging apps and spikes in traffic.

IT needs to be savvy at the application level, identify when something like this happens and then be able to apply QoS [quality of service] or prioritization to applications, not just to users.

Cache iOS software upgrades

Cache software upgrades at the network edge – Last year many Exinda customers cached the iOS download at the network edge, which allowed their users to upgrade their devices without using too much bandwidth or hurting network performance. To do this, create a new policy to cache the iOS 8 upgrade. This means that after the software has been downloaded on the network once, each subsequent download request will be served up locally, letting you preserve your bandwidth and prevent network outages.

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The release of iOS 7 last year blindsided many IT managers. Large numbers of employees upgrading their devices at the same time caused many networks to crash, leaving users unable to access key apps or get work done on time.

I also blogged about how The NCAA Basketball and World Cup tournaments would be huge bandwidth wasters here. IT managers need to be more alert to events outside their network that can overwhelm the corporate network.

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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

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| November 19, 2013
Comments Off on Miami Pauses Tablet Project

Miami Pauses Tablet Project

Miami Pauses Tablet ProjectFinally some sanity in the rush to push iPads into schools. Miami-Dade school district Superintendent Alberto Carvalho decided to put a hold on the district’s $63 million 250,000+ tablet project. Mr. Carvalho cited problems in LA, Texas, and North Carolina as good reasons to slow down. “Those events put us in a position to say ‘we best pause and learn from their mistakes?” Superintendent Carvalho said according to the Miami Herald.

lack of planningThe article cites Leslie Wilson, CEO of the Michigan-based One-to-One Institute, which advocates successful digital convergence policies. She says that larger iPad efforts have seen a “high rate of failure,” which she blamed on a lack of planning.“We see precious little of that,” she said. (rb- I wrote how about the failure of leadership on these projects here and here.) Ms. Wilson applauded Mr. Carvalho’s decision to step back and look at others’ pitfalls. “When Miami-Dade’s superintendent says ‘I’m pushing the pause button,’ I say bravo. There’s no reason not to get this right,” Ms. Wilson said.

Troubled school tablet projects

Despite the troubled school tablet projects across the country, The Herald says board members push Superintendent Carvalho to move forward. “I hope we will not be delayed in terms of getting devices into kids’ hands as soon as possible,” said School Board Member Carlos Curbelo.

sticker shockLAUSD’s Apple iPad experiment still seems in shambles, costs have just jumped 14%. The LA Times reports that the Apple (AAPL) iPads will cost nearly $100 more apiece — or $770 per tablet. The earlier lower cost estimate for each iPad “preceded the actual procurement process,” the district said in response to questions from The LA Times. “The negotiated discount [i.e. $678] does not go into effect until the district has reached the $400-million spending threshold. “This sticker shock can be avoided, but only after the L.A. Unified School District has spent at least $400 million for the devices. In other words, the district would have to buy nearly 520,000 iPads before getting lower prices.

Other cost increases announced included classroom carts, that charge the iPads and keep them secure, cost rose for this first phase rose from $2.6 million to $3.2 million, according to the paper. The iPad curriculum from Pearson Education Inc. (PSO) is still being developed and not available to those schools that have received their iPads. It is unclear if LAUSD will receive a credit from Pearson for late delivery or if it will ever be available.

Project management failAnother topic at the same meeting was the progress in preparing the schools for iPads. The district reported less than half a percent (40 of the over 1,000 school network) of the schools’ Wi-Fi infrastructure was upgraded for the iPads – so far. (rb- I wonder if they have addressed the proprietary Apple Bonjour issue, and how they are going to limit the number of devices (Apple TVs, Printers, other iPads, Mac’s etc.) that can be selected.

LA parents also have expressed confusion about their responsibility for the devices. And officials have yet to purchase mechanical keyboards that will be necessary to use the iPads on new standardized tests.

Budget shifts

the board shifted iPad project costs to the general fundTo keep the overall budget in check the board shifted iPad project costs to the general fund, which is used for basic operations. That shift is relatively small, about $550,000 at this point, although it’s unclear whether more expenses would be transferred in the future. The price per device, higher than retail, includes a protective case, a limited three-year warranty, technical assistance and training, and one Apple TV setup per 20 students.

The LA Times also reports that these problems have prompted four LA schools to opt-out of the troubled program. Another LA Times article seems to show that the iPad debacle may cost controversial LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy his job.

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no plans or funds on how to sustain their projectsLike I said in my last post on this issue, the LA iPad debacle is driven by the politicians with no real sense of the work required, and I am sure not enough budget to do the work. When I spoke with educational “leaders” about what they were going to do with the iPads they wanted to implement them without solid articulated plans. As is always true in education, there were no plans or funds on how to sustain their projects, they spent all of their money to get the iPads in never mind a plan.

Despite doing the right thing in Miami, the politicians are pushing the Superintendent to just throw the expensive iDevices at the students without any planning.

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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

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| November 7, 2013
Comments Off on 802.11ac Wi-Fi – Don’t Bother Yet

802.11ac Wi-Fi – Don’t Bother Yet

802.11ac Wi-Fi - Don't Bother YetThe new iPads are here! The new iPads are here! There’s no 802.11ac here! But that’s expected. Experienced Apple watchers know that Apple likes to let new radio technologies mature before they integrate them into their new idevices. So that means most enterprises can slow their plans to upgrade their Wi-Fi to the new standard according to Kevin Fitchard at GigaOM.

The new iPads are hereThe latest Apple (AAPL) tablet doesn’t sport the new soon-to-be-completed IEEE 802.11ac standard, even though Apple’s latest generation routers, PCs, and laptops all support it. GigaOM reports Apple is providing is a speed boost to the now thoroughly established 802.11n networking standard in the form of multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) smart antenna technology. Like many Wi-Fi routers on the market, the iPad Air has dual antennas, allowing it to wend two parallel paths over the unlicensed airwaves. The MIMO implementation will double the speeds at which the iPad can access Wi-Fi networks, according to Apple.

The Wi-Fi Alliance only began certifying commercial 802.11ac devices in June, and even those devices only incorporate partial versions of the full 802.11ac spec. The IEEE isn’t expected to fully complete the standard until 2014. Very few smartphones and tablets have ac embedded as of yet, though the technology is making its way into consumer and enterprise routers and PCs, including Apple’s newest MacBooks and iMacs.

iPad AirBut waiting another year for 802.11ac-enabled iPhones and iPads also means we’ll probably have to wait another year before we see wide-scale adoption of the standard in public hotspots and access points. Unlike in the home, most outdoor and public Wi-Fi connections are made over mobile devices, not PCs.

In an interview with GigaOM, Boingo VP of corporate communications Christian Gunning said it hasn’t turned up 802.11ac in any of its hundreds of thousands of owned and managed hotspots yet, simply because it’s seeing very few devices with ac radios trying to access its network.

higher-powered 802.3at Power over EthernetFierceCIO‘s Paul Mah offers more reasons to delay the roll-out of 802.11ac. The advanced 802.11ac radio is more power-hungry than earlier iterations of Wi-Fi. So it will more likely need the use of the higher-powered 802.3at Power over Ethernet (PoE) to run 802.11ac with all its bells and whistles. It is possible that businesses still on 802.3af PoE (rb- Majority) may well have to incur extra infrastructure costs to deploy 802.11ac today. Mr. Mah contends that it is yet to be seen if improved 802.11ac chipsets will allow firms to stick with legacy PoE. (rb- For a refresher on PoE, check out these posts 802.3af and 802.3at)

Another consideration according to FierceCIO is clients. The handful of business-grade 802.11ac wireless APs on the market today typically support three spatial streams, which allows for a (theoretical) maximum data rate of 1.3Gbps in the 5GHz band. Though this is a significant improvement over 450 Mbps 802.11n, the dearth of 802.11ac client devices renders this a moot point. Some will argue that Apple did incorporate 802.11ac into the new MacBook Air laptops.  However, they did not include it in the new iPads, or the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C smartphones. And with no smartphones or tablets equipped with 802.11ac capabilities today, this does make deploying it a rather pointless strategy for BYOD.

802.11ac "second wave"Finally, Mr. Mah points out that while 1.3Gbps is a good speed to have, we should keep in mind that 802.11ac does have a theoretical maximum speed of 7 Gbps. A “second wave” of 802.11ac that implements four or more data streams for much faster speeds should be arriving in the second half of 2014. He says current signs are that this second wave of 802.11ac devices might need new processor chips–which means you will have to buy new 802.11ac hardware to benefit.

GigaOM’s Fitchard stresses Apple’s influence when it comes to popularizing new technology, he says the iPhone and the iPad’s reach shouldn’t be underestimated. As an example, new Passpoint-certified phones have been out for more than a year, but it wasn’t until Apple started offering support for Passpoint’s automatic login technology in iOS7 that the wireless industry took notice. It was only after Apple made iOS7 publicly available, that Boingo started Passpoint trials.

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I’m not saying 802.11ac is a bad thing, but enterprises need to ignore the hype cycle and make decisions that are best for them and not the multi-billion dollar networking industry. IMHO 802.11ac is still immature, there are few devices out there that can fully take advantage, the full feature set is not fully implemented in silicon and you finished the upgrade to 802.11n yet?

What to do?

What does your wired network look like? Are you still connecting your AP’s at 100 Mbps? That is a bottleneck with 802.11n.

Do you have enough juice? What is your PoE status? Do you have enough PoE+ ports? Are they being used for just an access port – wasting the extra costs of a PoE port?

Both switches cost money, is there a budget available for these items or is IT going to spend an operational budget to address a structural issue?

 

Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

Category: wi-fi | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
| October 17, 2013
Comments Off on A Close Look at 802.11ac Wi-Fi

A Close Look at 802.11ac Wi-Fi

TA Close Look at 802.11ac Wi-Fiech pundits argue that the new Wi-Fi standard 802.11ac will replace wired gigabit Ethernet networking. 802.11ac is a supercharged version of 802.11n, offering link speeds ranging from 433 Mbps, up to multiple gigabits per second.

Wi-FiTo make 802.11ac dozens of times faster than 802.11n, the new standard works exclusively in the 5GHz band uses a huge chunk of bandwidth (80 or 160MHz), operates in up to eight spatial streams (MIMO), and a technology called beamforming.

At its core, 802.11ac is essentially an updated version of 802.11n, according to Sebastian Anthony the author of an ExtremeTech article “What is 802.11ac WiFi, and how much faster than 802.11n is it?” 802.11n was a huge performance increase over 802.11a and g. 802.11n introduced some key technologies that brought massive speed boosts. Where 802.11n had support for four spatial streams (4×4 MIMO) and a channel width of 40MHz, 802.11ac can use eight spatial streams and has channels up to 80MHz wide, which can be combined to make 160MHz channels. This means that 802.11ac has 8 x 160MHz of spectral bandwidth to play with, versus 4 x 40MHz – a huge difference that allows 802.11ac to send vast amounts of data across the airwaves.

Beamforming

What is new in Wi-Fi

802.11ac also introduces 256-QAM modulation (up from 64-QAM in 802.11n), which sends 256 different signals over the same frequency by shifting each signal to a slightly different phase. In theory, this quadruples the spectral efficiency of 802.11ac over 802.11n. Spectral efficiency is a measure of how well a given wireless protocol/modulation/multiplexing technique uses the bandwidth available to it.

802.11ac also introduces standardized beamforming Matthew Gast, Director of Product Management at AeroHive Networks published an article, “Investing in Beamforming: Is it worth it?” that explains beamforming.

Aerohive logoRather than transmitting a radio signal in all directions, beamforming figures out where the receiver is, and focus the energy towards the receiver. Instead of spraying radio energy all over the place, send packets as a “rifle shot” directly to the receiver’s antenna Mr.Gast explains.

Beamforming is a two-step process: First, figure out how to “aim” the transmission at the receiver, and second, send the transmission. With beamforming, a transmitter is betting that by paying the cost of the channel measurement process, the data transmission that follows will speed up enough to pay off the cost.

802.11n Beamforming was non-standardized, in 802.11ac, there is only one method of beamforming, called the Null Data Packet (NDP). (rb- Read the AeroHive article for a full description of NDP)

Aerohive’s Gast concludes that by steering the energy towards a receiver, beamforming enables you to take a step up to a higher data rate. Mr. Gast estimates that 802.11-based beamforming gives you a 3-5 dB gain.

802.11ac is speedyIn theory, at the 5GHz band with beamforming, 802.11ac should have the same or better range than 802.11n  However, Mr. Anthony says the 5GHz band, has less penetration power so it doesn’t have the same range as 2.4GHz (802.11b/g). The ExtremeTech article concludes that’s an acceptable trade-off: there simply isn’t enough spectral bandwidth in the cluttered 2.4GHz band to allow for 802.11ac’s gigabit-level speeds.

ExtremeTech‘s Anthony calculates there are two answers to how fast is Wi-Fi 802.11ac, the theoretical max speed, and the practical max speed that mere mortals will get surrounded by lots of signal-attenuating obstacles.

He calculates the theoretical max speed of 802.11ac is eight 160MHz 256-QAM channels, each of which is capable of 866.7Mbps – a grand total of 6,933Mbps, or just shy of 7Gbps. That’s a transfer rate of 900 megabytes per second. Compare this with 802.11n’s max theoretical speed, which was 600Mbps. He then says in practice, the current max speed of 802.11ac devices is 1.7Gbps.

ExtremeTech points out there will be a second wave of 802.11ac devices – due in 2014 after the standard is finalized – before 160MHz channels and multi-gigabit speeds become a reality. The max speed over an 80MHz channel is 433.3Mbps, and there aren’t any 802.11ac chipsets that support up to eight streams.

Broadcom logoKevin Fitchard at GigaOM reports that recently the Wi-Fi Alliance kicked off its 802.11ac certification program. First to get the official Wi-Fi stamp of approval was the Samsung Mega 6.3, followed by two other Samsung models.

As with the 802.11n certification process, the Wi-Fi equipment makers are moving faster than the standards bodies. The IEEE is actually still putting the finishing touches on the 802.11ac standard, which is not due until 2014.

Wi-Fi certifiedThe Wi-Fi Alliance expects the first batch of ac devices will support speeds of 433 Mbps and progress into more advanced levels of the standard. The Alliance has pre-certified systems from companies like Broadcom (BRCM), Qualcomm (QCOM), Realtek, and Marvell (MRVL). Cisco (CSCO) was one of the first vendors to get an access point certified.

“AC is going into mobile and portable devices first…,” Wi-Fi Alliance Marketing and Program Management Director Kelly Davis-Felner said. ABI Research estimates that 40 percent of all ac devices shipped in 2013 will be handsets.

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Wi-Fi will replace wired Ethernet networkingWhile tech pundits argue that the new 802.11ac Wi-Fi will replace wired gigabit Ethernet networking at home and in the office. While the consumerization of IT and BYOD are strong forces, the life-cycle of cabling infrastructure is 25 years, a cost not lightly abandoned in the walls. it is more likely to happen at home first. Who wants all the crappy wires running all over the house?

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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

Category: wi-fi | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
| September 3, 2013
Comments Off on 802.11ac Wi-Fi Clears the Way for Collaboration

802.11ac Wi-Fi Clears the Way for Collaboration

802.11ac Wi-Fi Clears the Way for CollaborationThe emerging gigabit 802.11ac, Wi-Fi standard is the current darling of the hype machine. The standard will be finalized in February 2014. However, that has not stopped manufacturers from shipping 802.11ac routers, access points, and mobile devices. Shortel (SHOR) recently provided their opinion on what this means for your business.

IEEE 802.11acThe article points out that more people are using mobile apps and devices. Shortel calculates that a typical worker may have three IP addresses, while digital natives may have up to six IP addresses. These stats suggest that mobility has become a must-have and the author claims that 802.11ac can meet the needs of increasing mobility because 802.11ac is faster, more reliable, and delivers more Wi-Fi capacity. 802.11ac is:

  • Faster – 802.11ac is three times faster than 802.11n Wi-Fi. 802.11ac will deliver up to 1.3 Gbps, which is about three times faster than 802.11n. This capacity will be ideal for real-time applications, such as IP voice and streaming video. Faster data throughput means better battery life for mobile devices, too.
  • More reliable – 802.11ac is more reliable with less interference. 802.11ac operates at 5 GHz, which is far less crowded than the 2.4 GHz band that by 802.11b/g/n access points — as well as cordless phones, automatic garage door openers, and other home appliances. That means that there’s less interference from other Wi-Fi-enabled devices, which will result in a better user experience.
  • Improved throughput. 802.11ac uses multiple antennas for transmitting and receiving RF signals, and that means better data throughput. More specifically, MIMO, or Multiple-Input and Multiple-Output, is key to providing wireless performance that is more switch-like, compared to the shared media nature of 802.11n.

W-Fi Alliance logoShortel believes that Gigabit Wi-Fi can be a real asset for unified communications, streaming media, and other bandwidth-hungry apps. They plan to use the greater capacity of 802.11ac to support more devices and more apps. In the workplace, teams want to engage and share without hassle using modern collaboration tools with the devices of their choice creating the need for BYOD.

The newest generation of workers are digital natives, who are more inclined to use videoconferencing for quick chats or to share ideas. In addition, many people use tablets to stream media, and more organizations are turning to streaming media over Wi-Fi for digital signage, training, company meetings, and customer support. And those bandwidth-hungry applications will love the new gigabit Wi-Fi.

Wave 1 802.11ac only offers incremental benefits over 802.11nShoretel reassures those that have deployed an 802.11n WLAN recently, you don’t need to be in a hurry to move to 802.11ac. You can be confident in the investment that you made, as the first-generation 802.11ac will offer only incremental benefits over 802.11n. But if you are replacing old Wi-Fi or expanding your wireless LAN or looking to downsize your wired network in favor of wireless, you should weigh the options between 802.11n and the new 802.11ac.

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802.11ac will only get faster, the theoretical max speed of 802.11ac is just shy of 7Gbps, which you will never see in the wild, but don’t be surprised to see link speeds of 2Gbps or more in the next few years. At 2Gbps, you’ll get a transfer rate of 256MB/sec.

To reach such Wi-Fi speeds, chipset and device makers will have to figure out how to make second-generation chipsets with four or more 802.11ac streams in software and hardware. The engineers at Broadcom (BRCM), Qualcomm (QCOM), Marvell (MRVL), and Intel (INTC) are already working on ways to implementing four and eight-stream 802.11ac solutions. A lot of work will need to be done by the chipset and device makers to make sure that advanced features, such as beamforming, comply with the standard and are interoperable with other 802.11ac devices.

In general, then, you can certainly expect some impressive speeds from 802.11ac in situations where you don’t need the performance and reliability of wired GigE. But I do not believe that 802.11ac will replace a wired Gigabit Ethernet network just yet.

What do you think?

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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

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