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The industry benefits of Wi-Fi 6

Smartphone with new wifi 6 on the screen

The next generation of the Wi-Fi standard is Wi-Fi 6, also known as 802.11ax, the latest step in a journey of non-stop innovation. The standard builds on the strengths of 802.11ac while adding efficiency, flexibility and scalability that allows new and existing networks increased speed and capacity with next-generation applications.

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) proposed the Wi-Fi 6 standard so it can couple the freedom and high speed of Gigabit Ethernet wireless with the reliability and predictability found in licensed radio.

Wi-Fi 6 is designed to improve the user experience by changing the way Wi-Fi networks work, and it uses new technologies to help mitigate the issues that come with putting dozens of Wi-Fi devices on a single network. Wi-Fi 6 adds significantly higher capacity and better coverage and reduces congestion, offering key industry benefits.

The industry benefits of Wi-Fi 6 include:

Wi-Fi 6 performs better with many connected devices

Wi-Fi 6 improves the network data cabling when multiple devices are connected, offering better high-density performance. Wi-Fi 6 Access Points (APs) use a variety of technologies to prevent interference between devices and transmit packets more efficiently.

Wi-Fi 6 enables more concurrent users

Wi-Fi 6 allows you to take advantage of up to a four-fold increase in users from a single AP. Even if the number of users remains the same in your environment, more data throughput will be achieved by those users.

Wi-Fi 6 improves security

Wi-Fi 6 is designed to be part of a secure corporate LAN with better security using the latest WPA3 Wi-Fi security. As such, it sits behind edge security equipment, protecting it from untrusted networks. Aruba is proud to be part of OSA’s select group of world-class vendors, committed to delivering smarter solutions for experience-driven networking. Learn more about Aruba’s Wi-Fi 6 reference.

Woman doctor hands using digital tablet at clinic

Improving the healthcare experience

Fuelled by the adoption of connected diagnostic and therapeutic devices to detect disease and monitor and maintain patient health, the explosion of connected devices in healthcare is straining existing networks.

There’s a growing need for remote diagnosis and treatment that involves video, audio and data interaction, which makes robust Wi-Fi absolutely essential.

With higher data rates, increased capacity and strong performance even in congested environments, Wi-Fi 6 is purpose-built to support the connectivity requirements of the many digital tools now used by modern healthcare facilities.

Offering more bandwidth, faster speeds and the ability to handle larger file sizes and more connections could be a game changer for healthcare organisations.

At the same time, where hospitals face the dual challenge of having access points in locations that have wireless signal restrictions as well as many devices that may interfere with each other, the increased capabilities of Wi-Fi 6 will serve to alleviate these connectivity problems.

Businessman touch button shopping cart

Delivering personalised experiences in retail

By leveraging Wi-Fi 6, retailers can take advantage of innovative technology to exceed the expectations of today’s connected shopper.

By doing so, they can deliver truly personalised experiences and optimise everything from inventory management to in-store marketing campaigns and customer service.

Offering more bandwidth, faster speeds and the ability to handle larger file sizes and more connections could be a game changer for healthcare organisations.

At the same time, where hospitals face the dual challenge of having access points in locations that have wireless signal restrictions as well as many devices that may interfere with each other, the increased capabilities of Wi-Fi 6 will serve to alleviate these connectivity problems.

Wifi Network Connect

Ensuring consistent connectivity in education campuses

More schools and higher education campuses across the country are increasingly relying on Wi-Fi to improve learning outcomes and meet student needs. As education technology evolves at a fast pace, the adoption of new learning technologies continues, adding to the strain on already overworked Wi-Fi networks.

For those managing wireless networks for education institutions, Wi-Fi 6 offers significant relief. The new Wi-Fi standard has the potential to bring higher density, throughput and reliability to education networks, delivering consistent connectivity to students and teachers while supporting sophisticated technology like A/R and V/R, robotics and more.

As students are typically among the earliest adopters of new wireless devices, it makes sense for schools to upgrade their infrastructure now and ready their networks to support hundreds – or thousands – of students wielding brand new Wi-Fi 6-enabled clients in addition to legacy devices.

Wifi 6 internet network communication

Migrating to Wi-Fi 6

If you’re looking to migrate to Wi-Fi 6 and enjoy its benefits, a basic migration strategy would be to add Wi-Fi 6 APs to your infrastructure as you go through your next wireless LAN hardware refresh. Do this with the expectation of using Wi-Fi 6 features as you upgrade clients and infrastructure switches.

Wi-Fi 6 is also more backward-compatible than Wi-Fi 5. Wi-Fi 6 offers up to three times the connectivity speed, four times the data capacity and up to 75% less lag time (latency) than Wi-Fi 5.

Wi-Fi 6 radios that natively run with more spatial streams will also require more power than prior generations. Thus, before you can use all the features of Wi-Fi 6, you will need to ensure you can provide sufficient power to your APs.

Some APs have multiple uplink ports and can take power over a couple of ports to provide necessary power. This means you will have to run another Ethernet cable out to your AP, but you get bandwidth benefits as well.

At OSA, we pride ourselves on our ability to provide our customers with unrivalled reliability and high-quality network solutions.

With our partnerships with vendors who offer real-time bandwidth-hungry services, our customers can stay one step ahead of the digital game any time… every time.

Contact us today and discover how you can start doing more with Wi-Fi 6.

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