Author: keenanj

There’s no question that the recent pandemic has affected every aspect of our daily lives. For some, it’s served as an interruption. While, for others, it’s been a permanent game changer. K-12 education is a group that has been hit the hardest. In addition to figuring out immediate solutions for the 2019-2020 school year, they’re scrambling to put together plans for the uncertain 2020-2021 school year.

While there are a lot of issues to consider, never have schools been more reliant and dependent on a secure and trustworthy Wi-Fi system. School sites getting smarter, with more devices and more digital content in the classroom, as well as additional IoT is unlocking increased conveniences, efficiency, and safety. Adding to that, the lack of high-speed Internet at home has forced students to connect to the schools Wi-Fi in order to complete assignments during quarantine. A number of schools are fast-tracking the addition of outdoor Wi-Fi to meet this critical demand.

With Wi-Fi 6 emerging on the scene, each school district should consider the different options regarding how to best upgrade their aging wireless LANs. Wi-Fi 6 is the industry certification program based on the IEEE 802.11ax standard, and it provides the capacity, efficiency, coverage, and performance required by users today in the most demanding Wi-Fi environments. Some key benefits include:

• Higher data rates
• Increased capacity
• Performance in environments with many connected devices
• Improved power efficiency

Of course, even before the pandemic took hold, school IT budgets are notoriously stretched thin and scrutinized. Each district needs to evaluate the needs of their physical locations as well as the needs of their students and faculty, both for today and in the uncertain future. Here are four reasons to consider migrating to Wi-Fi 6.

Deliver a better experience

Wi-Fi 6 is ready to handle a growing and diverse amount of applications and traffic. Multiple devices connected to an access point can communicate at the same time. Wi-Fi 6 is designed to handle demanding applications like voice, collaborative applications, and streaming video with ease. And it enables the fast growing contingent of IoT devices to share the airspace nicely.

Eliminate Wi-Fi pain points

Wi-Fi 6 is ideal for ultra-high-density mobile environments, like large multipurpose rooms, auditoriums and stadiums. If students and faculty are reporting poor wireless connectivity in these areas, consider deploying Wi-Fi 6 strategically.

plan for the Future

If you’re considering a network refresh or extending Wi-Fi to new areas, it makes sense to put the latest Wi-Fi technology into the consideration mix. Deploying Wi-Fi 6 now will enable your district to move forward with a great educational and operational experience, without worrying about Wi-Fi capacity for the next several years.

Build a solid network foundation for IoT

When mounted on the ceiling, access points are ideally positioned to provide coverage for devices that use Wi-Fi, Zigbee and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE). The 410i/e Access Point from Extreme Networks, for example, is a tri-radio AP with Wi-Fi 6 data rates up to 4.8 Gbps and dedicated dual-band threat sensor and is ideal for temperature controls, intrusion detection, energy management, asset tracking as well as wayfinding and geofencing for location services. Wi-Fi 6 can even extend the battery life of IoT devices. It has a power-efficient operating mode that minimizes battery drain, allowing allows devices to sleep for longer periods between checking in with the access point.

Naturally, there are a number of questions to be answered before decisions can be made. Will Wi-Fi 6 connect with current endpoints? Will we need to re-haul our entire system? Which vendors are best suited for Wi-Fi 6? The Wi-Fi experts at Keenan Systems are available to help you answer these questions and more, allowing you to make an educated decision before moving forward.  With a new year right around the corner, perhaps a new Wi-Fi system is just what’s needed. Connect with Keenan Systems to ensure you’re ready for the new normal… whatever that may be.

There’s so much to consider when running a hotel or any type of hospitality venue. And in 2020, that number has increased exponentially? Now that Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) has been introduced, is it critical that it be considered? The answer depends, really, on if your business model focuses on giving guests what they want and if you aim for repeat business. Oh, it is? And, you do? Well, then… read on.

It turns out, reliable WiFi is extremely important to business travelers. According to Motorola Solutions’ “The Growing Importance of WiFi in Hotels,” a recent study reveals that more 90% of business travelers want reliable WiFi access in their rooms, while a third stated they would not return to a hotel that did not meet this expectation. Another study reports that one in three people travelling for leisure purposes would not return to a hotel with poor internet access. In other words, lesser-quality Internet service could translate into a painful loss of business.

Many travelers have, in fact, ranked quality Wi-Fi is their #1 hotel amenity. That’s why it is incumbent upon hospitality businesses today to offer high-quality, seamless connectivity for their customers. Smart network infrastructure from manufacturers such as Extreme Networks meets the unique business and physical needs of the mobile-driven hospitality environment, including switching, centralized management, and contextual network analytics. And Extreme offers the ability to outfit customized, high-quality guest wireless across any property regardless of the existing infrastructure deployed, enabling organizations with the ability to:     

• Connect with guests across an environment, regardless of the existing infrastructure deployed
• Harness actionable analytics and better understand guest engagement behaviors and preferences
• Identify, secure, and manage the broad range of ‘Things” (or IoT) connecting to the network 
• Leverage location-based services and create a value-added personalized experience.

So, what about this next generation of Wi-Fi? It is designed to work even better in high-user-density situations such as stadiums, airports, malls – and yes, hotels and convention centers – anywhere with a lot of simultaneous users, or even locations with a lot of Internet-enabled devices or applications such as videoconferencing that use a lot of bandwidth.

Wi-Fi 6 enables eight simultaneous communication streams, as well as implements beamforming technology to aim those streams more accurately at the receiver’s antenna. It also incorporates several other existing technologies, many from the cellular space, and uses them together in new ways to improve Wi-Fi performance in other ways. For example, more data can be transmitted per packet, and the available communication spectrum can be used more efficiently, making it easier for devices to find a clear path to the access point.

It’s important to note that Wi-Fi 6 is not just the next in a series of technology advancements, it’s a leap to the next level with visible benefits. And it’s designed specifically for high traffic applications, such as hotels. So, does it benefit you to upgrade? Absolutely. Do you NEED to? Well, that’s a question you should discuss with the Wi-Fi experts at Keenan Systems. They are available to help you answer these questions and more, allowing you to make an educated decision before moving forward.  Connect with Keenan Systems to ensure you’re as relaxed and comfortable as you try to make your guests.

I wanted to show some of the great client statistics available with the EnGenius Cloud network management system.

In the main clients page you can see the clients and select a time frame from days to a month. You can also filter on name, OS Clint MAC last AP and IP address. You can show traffic for all SSID’s or narrow it down to a single. The client fingerprinting will show device vendor, client name, MAC address and IP address. You can also see how much the client downloaded / uploaded during the period. The radio statistics show rate RSSI and band.

If you click on the more button you can see that application analysis details with how much traffic for each.

Lastly there is the awesome client timeline feature. This show the AP’s that the client has associated to . With the timeline feature you can troubleshoot roaming and other issues that the client has. You can also get client location and see where your users are spending most of their time. You can even use this to enhance physical security by having the ability to see who was on location and at what time.

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