Noisy Times in Wireless Welcome to Our World
Wi-Fi Powers the Post-PC Era Ultrabooks Environmental Systems Lighting Projectors A WORLD GOING WI-FI Annual Unit Shipments Source: isuppli 2012 2.8B Wi-Fi devices Tablets 874M 694M Ethernet devices 1.1B WHY WI-FI? 2010 2016 o Mobile data plans drive user demand for Wi-Fi o No spectrum fees for Wi-Fi service providers o Delivers over 775MHz of free spectrum o Low cost/bit in wireless data capacity 2
Wi-Fi is the New Ethernet Opens Up Massive New Market Opportunity Ethernet Switch Port Market ($ in billions) $25B Y E S T E R D A Y T O D A Y $1B 95 Source: DellOro Group Today 3
Lots of Choices: Everyone has a Thing Big and Cloudy Roaming for Voice Access / Security Controller-Less? Cisco Look-a-Like High Density Super Low Cost Reliability 4
The Only Thing that Really Matters The signal, the PHY, the air. It s the foundation and the only place where speed and capacity can be improved. 5
But Wi-Fi Has Personal Issues o Coverage: 1997 present o Security: 1997 2004 o Roaming: 1997 2009 o Speed: 2003 present o Capacity: June 29 th 2007 - present 6
It s Inconsistent R A T E A D A P T A T I O N Access points are responsible for choosing the best combination of modulation and coding at any point in time for each connected device. N E E D E D The ability to pick the best data rate based on historical, statistical models of performance for each client 7
It s Unruly 8
It s Unclear Interference is a Killer! Dropped connections have a huge and negative impact on business operations 9
Old School Thinking Traditional Approaches to Dealing with RF Interference Reduces performance, channel capacity Reduces coverage, add more APs Creates chaos 10
Doesn t 5GHz Solve Everything? 5.15 GHz 5.25 GHz 5.35 GHz 5.470 GHz 5.725 GHz 5.825 GHz UNII-1 UNII-2 DFS UNII-2e DFS UNII-3 NON-DFS CHANNELS 36 40 44 48 149 153 157 161 40MHz 40MHz 40MHz 40MHz o24 non-overlapping 20 MHz channels o11 non-overlapping 40 MHz channels oonly 4 non-dfs channels for bonding ocreates channel planning problems similar to 2.4 GHz o5 GHz isn t a panacea, RF management is still king 11
And New Standards Won t Save You o Wider channel bandwidths (80 and 160MHz) o More spatial streams (3+) o More efficient modulation o Multi-user MIMO o But limited improvement for enterprise customers 12
The Key to Better Wi-Fi: SINR Receive Signal Level SNR SINR T I M E Noise Floor owhen faced with interference, it s SINR that matters ohigher SINR = Higher data rates and capacity oso how do you get a high SINR? oyou can either increase signal or decrease interference oadaptive (smart) antenna systems do both! 13
Unique, Patented Technology THEM US Fixed 1:1 relationship between Wi-Fi radios and antennas Dynamic 1:many relationship between Wi-Fi radios and antennas 14
How Smart Wi-Fi Works Interference o Patented technology that combines: o Smart antenna arrays o Best path selection algorithms o Advanced quality of service engine o Smart mesh RF routing o Centralized Wi-Fi management o Adapts to real-time changes in environmental conditions o Extends signal range (Wi-Fi coverage) 2 to 4 times with fewer APs o Radically simplifies deployment and administration 15
Automatic Interference Mitigation Minimizes Packet Loss and Re-Transmissions, Increases Reliability AP o Interference mitigated by positioning antenna nulls in specific directions o Avoiding interference delivers more benefits than a stronger signal o Better throughput o More predictable connectivity 16
Adaptive Polarization Diversity Device orientation accounts for up to 5x performance differential among products obetter reception (PD-MRC) for weak and hard to hear devices obetter transmission to devices constantly changing their orientation HORIZONTAL POLARIZATION VERTICAL POLARIZATION 17
Please Don t Believe Us What s the breaking point for an enterprise AP? How do new 802.11n APs performance in the presence of interference? How do new 3-stream 802.11n APs performance in a real world environment? 18