Enterprise Wireless

What are the key components of an Enterprise Grade Wi-Fi Network?

Wi-Fi is often ‘the last hop’ of most networks and is an fundamentally lossy delivery medium. A good analogy would be to think of network traffic as a carefully printed letter, carefully carried by many successive couriers across a continent, only to be shouted to the final recipient in a room crammed full of shouting people. This room is an excellent representation of the Wi-Fi delivery mechanism. It’s no wonder that even when problems occur ‘upstream’ in the LAN or even in the application, Wi-Fi will always get the blame.

Making sure that this ‘last hop’ is as reliable as possible requires many considerations. Essential are N+X coverage to planning for resilience in case of failures as well as ensuring sufficient capacity, coverage and that roaming is seamless throughout the wireless zones. If Wi-Fi is considered business-critical, then resilience as well as reliability and performance should be among your design priorities.

Properly securing a Wi-Fi network has thankfully become much more standardised over the years. No longer are we seeing a guest PSK taped to a wall, or supposedly separate SSIDs running into the same subnet. However, there are still a number of steps that many miss when securing a Wi-Fi network. Considerations such as Role-Based Access control, Mutual Authentication schemes and Network Visibility need to be part of the design process. Security should form part of the foundation for any Wi-Fi network, and be treated with the same mindset as when deploying an externally facing firewall.

An often overlooked part of Security is usability. In the same way that well-meaning, but poorly thought-out password requirements often resulted in lots of Post-It notes scribbled with passwords and stuck to monitors. Reducing the ease of use will tend to result in unauthorised workarounds and ‘Shadow IT’. In contrast, Toranet recommends Cloudpath to simplify the experience for the end-user, maintain the highest levels of security Gold Standards and reduce the workload on the network administrators. It also allows the WiFi network designer to provide well separated services with the same levels of security and simple login mechanisms.

There is a good chance that at some point the HelpDesk has had the misfortune of explaining why end-users speed tests are not matching the reported ‘link speed’, or hearing that “This APP” is failing during the session. There are many reasons why users may experience poor performance, connectivity or reliability of their APPs, but with suitable expertise and the right tools and diagnostics, these causes can be effectively eliminated. By doing so, the users are once again provided with a wireless service which is secure, reliable and fit-for-purpose. Toranet has deep expertise and ample experience in doing many such analyses, to identify and resolve all issues which might be impacting the user WiFi experience.

In a business environment, many factors will affect Wi-Fi performance, coverage or connectivity speeds. Some problems can be easily identified whilst others will require a higher level of expertise to ensure you are maximising the available airtime in all bands. Toranet has a wealth of experience in delivering high-speed reliable Wi-Fi networks where density, coverage or both is a business requirement.

How Toranet can help

Toranet has years of experience in Wi-Fi networks using the latest technologies and best practices to create fit-for-purpose networks in a multitude of environments. From the frosty chill of a cold-store or freezer warehouse to the baking desert heat, even in constantly changing warehouses and offices. Toranet creates Enterprise Wireless networks aimed at being completely forgotten by the end-users because “It just works”.

It is a fact that Toranet has never failed to provide a fully functional wireless network in all the many cases where issues have been reported, often requested by the wireless manufacturer to assist where others have failed. Please contact us if you would like to discuss how Toranet can help make your wireless environment secure, reliable and fit-for-purpose as we have done for many others.

Enterprise BYOD & Onboarding

Manage BYOD, and enterprise device onboarding onto secure 802.1x networks at scale

Wi-Fi for all Enviroments

No matter the location Wi-Fi can be suited to any enviroment, ensuring conectivity where it’s needed most

Reliable Coverage

Provide total coverage, making reliable network that end-users don’t even notice