Since the first wireless local network was created in 1971 at the University of Hawaii, called ALOHA, its growth in technologies, users, and applications has been dizzying. According to the Cisco annual internet report, mobile device speeds will triple, from 30.3 Mbps in 2018 to 92 Mbps in 2023. Access points will likewise reach 628 million in 2023, up from the 169 million installed in 2018. This growth will mean 11% of the public is connected through a wireless network by 2023.
Given those projections, proper wireless network design in the organization should carry significant weight when deciding on a change of technology infrastructure. Variables such as the number of users, the topography of the area, adjacent networks, bandwidth, and application types all need to be taken into account in the design.
At Netmask we have specialized tools for modeling and simulating wireless LANs, such as Ekahau, which let us produce designs that match the needs of our partners and clients, integrating Aironet and Meraki technologies as required.
Ekahau makes pre-sales design possible through 2D and 3D floor plan modeling, adding walls, doors, windows, and specific areas to produce a simulation as close to reality as possible: channel interference, coverage, throughput, and network health under preliminary parameters. It also supports post-sales study of deployments, to verify client requirements and the real-time behavior of networks "in use," diagnosing channel overlap, poor coverage, external networks, and roaming between APs.