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Network Solutions Blog
Tips and trends in design and installation of wireless communications networks, wired infrastructure design and implementation, network peripherals and more.
As WiFi technology advances — bringing ever-faster speeds and ever-more devices online — designing, maintaining, and securing enterprise networks is an increasingly demanding task for IT professionals.
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Most people associate Hedy Lamarr with the Golden Age of Hollywood, but perhaps her greatest role was much less glamorous — and much more impactful.
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Digital twinning represents the ultimate convergence of the physical and digital worlds, making it the perfect technology for network design and management.
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Emerging wireless technologies promise to provide networking administrators at large public venues with a powerful set of tools they can use to satisfy skyrocketing bandwidth demands.
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Corporate networks are becoming more complex by the day. To keep up, enterprise IT teams should start to consider networking tools driven by cutting-edge technology like AI.
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Configuring (and managing) today’s massive corporate networks has become completely overwhelming for IT staff, but the rise of AI-based networking may soon offer a solution.
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The Wi-Fi Alliance announced the WPA3 standard at this year’s CES, signaling the dawn of a new era in network security.
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With a new wireless networking standard set to be released in the near future, 2018 may prove to be a landmark year in enterprise WiFi.
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Students are bringing more devices to campus than ever before, and using up more bandwidth than ever in the process.
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When you consider what’s involved in a network assessment, you’re likely to categorize the entire effort as a technical check-up. It’s true that a major component of a network assessment is examining the technical aspects. This involves a complete evaluation of cabling, firewalls, access points, switches, routers, VPNs, firmware, hardware, traffic, workstations, security vulnerabilities, devices, sources of interference and so on. But as important as this technical side is, it’s not the only consideration in a network assessment. There’s a vital business element that you must address in order to ensure a top-performing network.
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Enterprise WiFi networks pose unique challenges. Accommodating hundreds or thousands of users — each with multiple devices — is far different than running a personal network.
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Campus Network | Higher Ed | Wi-Fi
There’s no denying that a strong campus WiFi network is critical in terms of attracting and retaining students in higher education. You’re dealing with a user base that expects to be connected via desktop PCs, laptops, smartphones, tablets, gaming devices and more -- plus the load of IoT-integrated technologies that campuses should be adopting to stay on the cutting edge and remain competitive among institutions. So, what if your campus WiFi network is actually failing?
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Technological advancement has transformed higher education. Today, connectivity is no longer a “nice-to-have.” It’s not something that campus administrators can afford to skimp on. Students and faculty need (and expect to have) available, reliable and secure campus Wi-Fi access from anywhere, at any time, using any device. In order to meet this expectation, many colleges and universities promote a "free love" environment for accessing their wireless network. They aim to make accessibility as easy as possible so as to accommodate users across campus, from the classroom to the dorm room. With this level of openness, however, comes significant security risks. As such, campus IT professionals are challenged to provide the feel of "free love" in a secure environment that doesn’t put the institution or its wireless users at risk.
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Your hospital’s wireless network is constantly being bombarded by a multitude of devices, all of which are designed for different uses. From EHR systems and medical technologies to patient and guest smartphones and tablets, the demands on your Wi-Fi are immense. The bad news: This perpetual siphoning of connectivity may be slowing down your network, frustrating users across the hospital -- from doctors, nurses and technicians to patients, visitors and administrative staff. The good news: A network upgrade can resolve your hospital Wi-Fi issues and improve the experience for users. In a hospital setting, efficient and reliable wireless access is essential for providing exceptional care and keeping all critical medical applications running smoothly.
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There isn’t a whole lot that’s more frustrating to hospital staff than a wireless network with spotty coverage, slow connectivity and severed connections. Daily hospital operations rely heavily on the ability to connect various devices via Wi-Fi. If the performance of your wireless network is poor, it’s going to cause huge headaches for the people who need to access it regularly -- and, subsequently, for your healthcare IT team. One factor that can contribute to these WiFi issues is radio frequency (RF) interference. This interference is caused by electromagnetic signals emitted by many types of appliances and devices, including things like electronics, wireless phones, microwaves and Bluetooth devices. If you’re preparing to update your hospital’s wireless network, it is absolutely essential to make radio frequency planning a part of the process. You can’t achieve the necessary coverage and wireless performance if you don’t fully understand the RF environment into which the network is being deployed. You must take that knowledge into consideration when planning your network update -- or risk experiencing connection problems and incurring even greater costs for your organization.
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Healthcare | Wi-Fi | Wireless
You’ve experienced the ways your hospital Wi-Fi can fail. Spotty connectivity, slow Internet speed, frequent equipment failure -- these are all red flags that indicate a weakened wireless network. And the consequences are grim. In a hospital environment, you can’t risk these consequences. It is critical for your network to support both medical professionals and patients. That means having an infrastructure that accounts for any interferences with connectivity, beginning with the hospital’s construction.
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Healthcare | Wi-Fi | Wireless
When the WiFi goes down, hospitals stop functioning. Here are the three most common reasons hospitals experience wireless network failures — and how to prevent them.
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Healthcare | Wi-Fi | Wireless
Patients are more educated than ever before, and they have many more options for healthcare available to them. This puts a great deal of pressure on hospitals to stand out by increasing the quality of care they provide. That’s why healthcare IT is so important. From tablets and laptops to EMR systems, hospitals are constantly evolving their technology to maintain a competitive advantage. With this proliferation of technology solutions to improve patient care, having a reliable and high-performing wireless networking infrastructure is a necessity. It is the foundation for enabling technology solutions to function properly and efficiently. This places a heavy responsibility on IT professionals to implement solutions that deliver. Follow these four useful ways to improve the quality of care at your hospital through a more robust wireless network.
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People today can’t live without their favorite smartphone or other mobile device – whether they’re at home, on the road or in the office. In fact, 40% of employees say they would never work for a company that does not allow them to use their own mobile devices for work. Most believe that using a mobile device makes them more creative and productive – especially when they’re allowed to work from home. With so much work being done on mobile devices,wireless networks are quickly becoming the primary means by which employees access key corporate services, applications and data. For many, legacy networks can’t keep pace, and they now are looking to create a mobile-first design able to handle the increased demand.
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Healthcare | Wi-Fi | Wireless
Today’s healthcare environment demands constant improvement in patient care, efficiency and cost-effectiveness. These are the factors that enable hospitals to keep pace and thrive in a competitive landscape. So, how are these standards achieved?
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Despite recent advances in wireless technology, many large venues continue to suffer from sub-par WiFi performance. To bring your event space up to speed, begin by addressing these four areas.
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Warehouses and manufacturing floors are notoriously difficult to supply with Wi-Fi coverage. Large metal racks, a plethora of handheld devices, moving vehicles like pallet jacks and forklifts, constantly changing environmental conditions like temperature and humidity, and the lack of a pervasive Ethernet network -- all of these issues combine to make it nearly impossible to deliver high quality Wi-Fi to warehouse workers. However, if you do it right, warehouse networking can be done well, and the benefits are tremendous.
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Up and down the supply chain, profit margins are getting so thin that any minuscule gain in performance or reduction in cost or waste makes a meaningful difference. Nowhere is this more evident than in the warehouse, where a combination of factors makes it increasingly difficult to find any more ways to squeeze out a profit. Whether it's climbing insurance costs, reduced product quality, or problems finding qualified workers -- the warehouse needs all the help it can get. Enter: the Internet of Things (IoT) in warehouses.
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Warehouses are notoriously difficult when it comes to providing a good WiFi solution. Many are 50,000 square feet or larger, but sheer size isn't the hardest thing to work with when it comes to wireless connectivity. Much more intrusive are things like the racks, the ever-changing stock, equipment, and the devices trying to utilize the wireless. What should you consider before investing in a warehouse WiFi solution?
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When it comes to warehouse wireless networking, too few warehouse managers are happy with their wireless solutions. Big promises from the vendors turn into big disappointments on the warehouse floor. Workers get frustrated, the top brass is angry about a low ROI, and the warehouse manager still can't get what they need to do done. Why do so many Wi-Fi 'solutions' fail in the warehouse environment?
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Have you heard of a wireless network assessment? It is a thorough examination and assessment of your current network (in this case, wireless, but assessments of wired networks or wired + wireless networks are also available). The wireless network assessment culminates in a report of all the issues found and recommendations for resolving the problems and optimizing the performance of the network. What kinds of issues can an assessment help fix?
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I know what your thinking! No, I am not crazy. Just hear me out. Over the weekend I had a chance to watch the movie HER starring Joaquin Phoenix and Scarlett Johansson. In the latest from writer/director Spike Jonze, HER takes place in LA in the not so distant future where a depressed writer named Theodore (Phoenix) finds himself unhappy and in the midst of a divorce. Looking for companionship, Theodore purchases the newest operating system (OS1) on the market which is designed through artificial intelligence to learn, react and evolve just like a human.
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At concerts everyone wants to be able to share the action in real time with our friends and family over social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. But the quality of Wi-Fi access at concert venues are few and far between.
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Should we be ready to deem next year's NFL Championship Game the first ever "Mobile Super Bowl"? On January 15th Extreme Networks announced their partnership with NFL live from NFL Headquarters in New York City.
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