building the perfect wi-fi network with xirrus

1 © 2014 XIRRUS :: All Rights Reserved © 2014 XIRRUS :: All Rights Reserved

ENABLING DIGITAL LEARNING

BUILDING THE PERFECT WI-FI NETWORK

Perry Correll, Xirrus, Principal Technologist

2 © 2014 XIRRUS :: All Rights Reserved

A PERFECT SOLUTION Perfect (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/perfect)

1. Conforming absolutely to the description or definition of an ideal type

2. Excellent or complete beyond practical or theoretical improvement

3. Exactly fitting the need in a certain situation or for a certain purpose

4. Entirely without any flaws, defects, or shortcomings

5. Accurate, exact, or correct in every detail

6. Thorough; complete; utter


WI-FI IN AN IMPERFECT WORLD Your daily Challenges

1. Variable Spectrum and Channel usage

2. Variable Device Densities

3. Variable Client Capabilities

4. Evolving Use Cases & Application Usage

5. Evolving Wi-Fi Technologies

6. Limited funds


A PERFECT WI-FI SOLUTION Perfect (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/perfect)

1. Conforming absolutely to the description or definition of an ideal type

2. Excellent or complete beyond practical or theoretical improvement

3. Exactly fitting the need in a certain situation or for a certain purpose

4. Entirely without any flaws, defects, or shortcomings

5. Accurate, exact, or correct in every detail

6. Thorough; complete; utter


VARIABLE SPECTRUM AND CHANNEL USAGE

802/11 a/n/ac


VARIABLE DEVICE DENSITIES

Classroom

Cafeteria

Auditorium/Gymnasium

Outdoors Library

Back Office


VARIABLE CLIENT CAPABILITIES

Capabilities vary greatly by type of device

Device 2.4GHz 5GHz Antennas Max Rate POS scanner X Some 1 54Mbps Media Players (iPod Touch) X Some 1 65-150Mbps Smartphones – low end X 1 65Mbps Smartphones – high end X X 1 433Mbps Tablets – low end X 1 65Mbps Tablets – high end X X 2 433-866Mbps Laptops X X 2 or 3 300Mbps – 1.3 Gbps


EVOLVING USE CASES & APPLICATIONS 2010

•  Overlay network •  1:1 devices to users •  Design for coverage •  Design RF for laptops

•  2.4GHz centric •  Application focus – Email/Web Surf

2015

•  Primary network •  2:1 to 3:1 devices to users •  Design for capacity •  Design RF for tablets/phones

•  5GHz and 2.4GHz both required •  Application focus – Anything


EVOLUTION OF WI-FI TECHNOLOGY

Wi-Fi Standards Evolution

• Every 2-3 years there is a new standards

• New standards are at 5GHz and beyond

11ax


THE REALITY OF YOUR NETWORK

= 2.4GHz

= 5GHz 1.3Gbps

65Mbps

65Mbps

300Mbps

52Mbps

13Mbps

13Mbps

45Mbps

6.5Mbps

13Mbps

120Mbps

52Mbps

2.4G and 5G 450Mbps Max



=

=

=

Wi-Fi performance varies with distance, device, band, interference


TODAY’S WI-FI CHALLENGES

Unpredictable volume of application use

Unknown and uncontrolled recreational app use

Unpredictable types of BYOD devices on the network

Large variety of devices on the network

Congestion in crowded 2.4GHz spectrum

Changing requirements moving from 2.4GHz to 5GHz

Unpredictable wireless usage – numbers of devices

Limited wireless capacity based on available spectrum


SPECTRUM OPTIMIZATION

5GHz 2.4GHz

Match Infrastructure to Clients

•  7x more channels available in 5Ghz (expanding), fixed band radios limit b/w

•  Selectable 5GHz or 2.4GHz radios can adapt to changing Wi-Fi client mix.

•  Auto Band, assigns radios to 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz based on client counts


• Device Identification and Classification   Identify device types (iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows, etc.) and apply

device-specific policies, e.g. QoS, filters, etc.

• Band Steering  Move 5G-capable devices to the higher performance band when possible

• Mode Steering  Move and group high performance devices (11n, 11ac, ..) to radios operating

on the higher performance modes when possible

• Roaming Assist  Help ‘sticky’ mobile devices move from AP to AP

DEVICE CLASSIFICATION & OPTIMIZATION


APPLICATION OPTIMIZATION “When we first enabled Applica4on Control, it was a revelatory experience for us to see what was actually running on our wireless network.”

Apple Update Traffic Shaped App


CAPACITY/SCALABILITY OPTIMIZATION

Rock solid wireless…no matter how many devices Less equipment = 20-30% lower TCO

More Capacity

Right-size from 2 to 16 radios One size (does not!) fit all

More Capacity?

Xirrus Traditional

Benefits


2 Radio APs

28 APs ONE WAY TO DEPLOY


MORE SCALABLE WAY TO DEPLOY

XR-500 (2 Radios)Offices, Isolated Areas

XR-2400 (4 Radios)Classrooms

XR-4800 (8 Radios)Lecture Halls

14 Xirrus APs/Arrays

HALF THE EQUIPMENT, CABLING

20-30% LOWER TCO

FAST DEPLOYMENT


TECHNOLOGY OPTIMIZATION


THE REALITY • Wireless will inevitably congest – it is shared!

 Classroom: 30 laptops fire up for class, plus iPhones running iOS updates  eLearning: Faculty accessing digital training starts downloading 200MB file  Auditorium: 1000’s of users with tablets, smartphones, laptops,…

•  Important apps must be prioritized to work acceptably on wireless  Classroom/mission-critical applications such as Digital Blackboard  Bandwidth/latency sensitive applications such as video and voice

• Other apps must be de-prioritized to limit impact  File sharing – BitTorrent, Apple Update, Dropbox,…  Social media – Facebook, Pinterest, Friendster,…  Recreational video – Netflix, YouTube, FaceTime, Hulu,…


XIRRUS AT A GLANCE

Xirrus provides Wi-Fi networking gear to the Fortune 500,000

Recognized for Product Innovation, we are deployed in over 4000 networks and serve the most demanding customers worldwide.

First AP Xircom’s Netwave (1994)


WIRELESS ACCESS PORTFOLIO

XR-500 XR-600 XR-2000 XR-4000 XR-6000

AP AP Modular Array Modular Array Modular Array AP AP

11n 2x2 11n 2x2/3x3, 11ac

2x2/3x3

11n 2x2 / 3x3, 11ac

upgradable

11n 2x2 / 3x3, 11ac

upgradable

11n 2x2 / 3x3, 11ac

upgradable

11n 2x2 External

Antennas

11n 2x2 External

Antennas

2 Radios 2 Radios 2 or 4 Radios 4 or 8 Radios 8 or 16 Radios 2 Radios 4 Radios

Common Feature Set

Integrated Controller

Application Control

Zero Touch Provisioning

On-Premise or Cloud Management


Monitor and control over 1300 apps at the network

edge

11ac Wave 1 & 2 upgradable, and software

programmable radios

2 to 16 radio solutions from small offices to extreme

density

SCALABLE SOLUTION

APPLICATION CONTROL

FUTURE PROOF

Zero-touch set up/config

with integrated controller

EASY TO USE

WHY XIRRUS? IT’S A ‘SAFE’ BET

Less equipment reduces TCO by

20-30%

Predictable performance for

critical apps

Deploy in minutes, reduce learning curve

Adapt to change with no forklift

upgrades

building the perfect wi-fi network with xirrus

Technology