802.11ac: network readiness action plan

CONFIDENTIAL

© Copyright 2011. Aruba Networks, Inc.

All rights reserved CONFIDENTIAL © Copyright 2011. Aruba Networks, Inc. All rights reserved

CONFIDENTIAL


All rights reserved

802.11ac: Network Readiness Action Plan

Keyur Shah

Sr. Product Marketing Manager Craig Mathias

Principal, Farpoint Group

CONFIDENTIAL © Copyright 2010. Aruba Networks, Inc. All rights reserved 2

House Keeping

• Q&A

- Ask your questions in the questions box in the GoToWebinar panel.

- Questions will be answered during the Q&A at the end of the webinar or in the Q&A blog post on Airheads Social within the next few days.

• How to get slides/replay/more info

- All registrants will receive a follow-up email after the webinar with access to the recording, slides, and Q&A blog post.


What We Will Cover Today

• Why 802.11ac is important to enterprise IT

- Background

- Market drivers

• 802.11ac applications

• Specific actions to take now

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Our Featured Speaker for Today…

Craig J. Mathias

Founder (1991) and Principal with Farpoint Group

Advisory services for wireless and mobile

Member, IEEE

Advisory Board Member for Interop Las Vegas and New York

Columns for TechTarget and other publications

Blog at Network World

Copyright 2013 – All rights reserved

Getting Ready for 802.11ac

Craig J. Mathias ⦁ Principal

Our Topics For Today…

New technologies in .11ac – a quick review

How will 802.11ac impact enterprise wireless

LANs?

Capacity, not just throughput

Evolution, not revolution

Increasing demands – users, devices, applications

What should the enterprise do now?

Wired infrastructure

Network management

Logistics

Initial and dense deployments

Conclusions and recommendations

802.11ac – Breaking the Gigabit Barrier

<1 Mbps

Proprietary

1-2 Mbps

802.11 1997

100%

11 Mbps

802.11b

550%

54 Mbps

802.11g/a

490%

300/450/600 Mbps

802.11n

833%

433/866/1300 Mbps

802.11ac

288%

(to 6.93 Gbps)

7-28 Gbps?

802.11ad

538%

1989 1991 1999 2003

2009 2013 2013

Gratuitous clipart - Please ignore

Source: Farpoint Group

802.11ac Applications and Markets

Wireless Display

In Home Distribution of HDTV and other content

Rapid Upload/Download of large files to/from server

Backhaul Traffic (e.g. Mesh, Point-to-Point)

Campus / Auditorium deployments

Manufacturing Floor Automation

802.11ac – Key Technologies

256-QAM Modulation

80-, 80x2-, and 160-MHz. Channels

Multi-User MIMO

New Modulation and

Coding Schemes (MCSes)

(from 6.5 to 866.7 Mbps/Stream)

Beamforming

……………. ……………. ……………. …………….

……………. ……………. ……………. ……………. ……………. ……………. ……………. …………….

……………. ……………. ……………. …………….

Modulation + Coding Rate +

Spatial Streams +

Channel Width + Guard interval

20, 40 MHz.

AP


It’s Not Really About Throughput –

It’s About Capacity

Dense Deployments

• Driven by BYOD

• Time-bounded traffic (streaming video; voice)

• Maximize channel efficiency

• Maximize throughput/reliability by minimizing range

RF Management Techniques

• Beamforming

• Beamsteering

• Bandsteering

• Auto channel/power selection

• Spectral analysis

Traffic prioritization/Airtime fairness

Load balancing


1. Wired Infrastructure

Consider Two Cat-6 Cables

To Each AP Location

Backhaul Capacity –

Identifying Bottlenecks

Consider 802.3at PoE

Router Capacity

Switch Capacity

• Gig-E switches remain fine for the near term

• Consider 10+ Gb uplinks


2. The Increasing Importance of Network

Management

(W)LAN

Management

System

Planning

Configuration/

Deployment

Administration

Monitoring

Alerts, Alarms,

Exceptions

Troubleshooting

Remediation

Reporting

Compliance

Security

Integrity

Functional Definition

Planning Tools

Testing/Verification

Floorplans

Policy Definition

Automatic Discovery

Provisioning

Helpdesk integration

Guest Access

Service Enabling/Restriction

Location Services

Maintenance Operations

CoS/QoS

Optimization (e.g., load balancing)

Performance

Reliability

Capacity

Spectral Analysis

Status

Problem Identification

Snapshot/Rollback

Firmware Upgrade

Policy Definition

Encryption

Key Management

Authentication

IDS/IPS

DoS Detection/Mitigation

Rogue APs (often a wired problem!)

SNMP/XML

Other Network/Enterprise

Management Systems

Industry/Legal Compliance


3. Initial 802.11ac Deployments

Channel Planning

• Coexistence with .11n

• 40-MHz. .11ac channels

• Ignore 160-MHz. channels for now

Greenfield Test Case (if possible)


4. Dense Deployments

…Remain the overriding strategy

APs are Cheap…

People are Expensive

Optimize for Capacity


Minimal range =>

Maximum Throughput

5. Logistics

Coexistence/Migration

Planning with Vendor

Budgetary Analysis

Begin the Operations

Planning Process

Non-Disruptive, Gradual

Upgrade Strategy


802.11ac Timeline

2013 2015 2018 2012

Replacement of

802.11n

First 802.11ac

products

First enterprise-class

products

First embedded

products

Standard finished

Wi-Fi Alliance specification

Critical mass – enterprise infrastructure

Critical mass – clients


6. Continue to Deploy 802.11n

Proven

Low Cost;

Quick Payback

Predominance of 802.11n clients

Up to 450 Mbps


Conclusions (for now…)

802.11ac will replace 802.11n – but not for many

years

802.11n projects should continue to be evaluated

(and deployed) based on current ROI

Go through the checklist items presented here –

make sure your network is ready

Talk with your vendor about coexistence/migration

plans

And remember: there’s more to successful WLAN

deployments than radios!

Think architecture


More Speed = More Devices


Top 5 Recommendations


Resources & Learn More

• www.802-11ac.net

Whitepapers

Videos

Executive brief

• AirHeads community

Collaborate and share ideas

Ask questions and learn from your peers

Webinar_Ready11ac_042613

http://www.802-11ac.net



http://community.arubanetworks.com/

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