Wireless Solutions
We are in the midst of another world-wide business revolution. Wi-Fi enabled laptops and other hand-helds are rapidly proliferating. This is driving the adoption of unified wireless LANs and WLAN as IT standards allowing businesses, employees, students and other end-users to be totally mobile.
As the latest evolution in IT connectivity, Unified Wireless Networks provide agile,
secure, anywhere, anytime communications environments that are empowering the
way employees work and organizations operate. Unlike technology revolutions of the
past that were initiated by technology professionals, the wireless revolution is being
driven by an increasingly mobile culture.
Traveling executives and employees, students, other mobile end-users, Wi-Fi equipped laptops, innovative wireless applications and mobility services like voice, guest access, location services (like GPS) and enhanced security are all fueling the demand for unified wireless networks. Wireless technology has become so pervasive that end users expect to be able to connect seamlessly while away from the office or even while moving from area to area within an organization’s campus.
An increasingly competitive business environment requires real-time interaction, instant communication and instant access to business-critical data. Trend studies show that organizations deploying Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs) are increasing employee productivity, facilitating business collaboration while mobile and improving responsiveness to customer demands all of which drive profit. Employees are happier, more content and more creative because of the freedom mobility provides while feeling less need to attend to personal needs.
Unified Wireless Networks are more than a wireless access point communicating with an end-user device. Unified Wireless Networks integrate wireless access into a communications strategy that marries (or unifies) voice, video, and data into a single, resilient, secure fabric that allows access to all of the networked resources through various media, including wired and wireless.
Additionally, Unified Wireless Networks provide other benefits when connecting locations:
- Radio Frequency (RF) technology reduces the amount of cable, thus reduces its related cost.
- Wireless uses public frequencies in remote areas making it easy to implement and use.
- It provides a competitive advantage with business-critical applications connecting all locations and users together into a single network fabric.
- Unified wireless solutions are scalable, manageable, and secure with a lower total cost of ownership.
PNC has extensive expertise and certifications in wireless technology allowing us to help organizations with their indoor and outdoor wireless needs whether using stand-a-lone wireless access points for smaller installations, controller-based implementations (the current trend for larger installations), or a mesh product solution that is typically used for large-scale outdoor installations.
Indoor Wireless
Most indoor wireless systems utilize radio frequency access points in concert with
an organization’s existing
accessibility throughout that organization’s facilities.
For indoor wireless solutions, PNC utilizes industry standard wireless products from industry leader Cisco Systems. This indoor wireless solution requires the following:
- Site surveys to determine what is needed and what coverage can be expected
- Installation of access points and wireless controllers
- Templates for use in configuring client devices
- Documentation on wireless propagation and how it integrates with the wired portion of the network.
Outdoor Wireless
Typically used in municipalities, corporate and school campuses, real estate developments and other large-scale outdoor coverage areas, outdoor wireless uses a mesh approach with many, many radio frequency access points across the coverage area to eliminate signal dead-zones.
Due to its nature, Outdoor Wireless has significantly different requirements than Indoor Wireless:
- Equipment must be weatherproof.
- Design must be vandal-proof (human and animal).
- Failover configurations must be thoroughly tested to prevent loss of individual device signals which could paralyze a remote branch office.
- Installations may require permits and inspections by local officials.
For its outdoor wireless deployments, PNC uses industry leading Orthogon Radios for high reliability links between locations and Tropos Wireless Mesh Access Points for mesh networks typically used in municipalities and other outdoor coverage areas.