October/November/December 2020 I 15
In addition to the traditional
tradeoffs of cellular versus
Wi-Fi, the evolution to 5G and
Wi-Fi 6E has introduced new
features and capabilities that
further blur the lines between
the two technologies.
• Security: Today, Wi-Fi roaming and cellular roaming
are relatively seamless, and the latest Wi-Fi
security updates have made it as secure as cellular.
These protocols allow for individualized encryption
that potentially protects users from hackers.
Although consumer devices, such as cellphones and
tablets, have evolved to include both cellular and Wi-Fi
radios, enterprises considering how and when to implement
one or both technologies should rely on a detailed
assessment and plan. They should also work hand-inhand
with vendors who understand both technologies
and how they compare and complement one another.
PoE, CAT 6A, AND Wi-Fi 6E
Power over ethernet (PoE) is the preferred technology for
delivering power to newer edge devices and WAPs. The
latest 802.3bt PoE standard (also known as 4-Pair PoE
or simply 4PPoE) stipulates support for a full 90 watts
at the power source equipment (PSE), which is deliverable
via Cat 6A cabling. Although older WAPs tend to
draw a minimal amount of power, Wi-Fi 6E WAPs will
likely require more power to drive all their radios and
provide power for devices connected via their USB ports.
As such, IT departments upgrading older WAPs to Wi-Fi
6E WAPs will also deploy Cat 6A cabling, which supports
transfer rates of up to 10 Gb/s to prevent network bottlenecks
and fully support new PoE demands.
Mission-critical use cases that involve the use of Wi-Fi
6E WAPs and connected edge devices will also demand
the use of PoE to reduce faultfinding time, especially
in far-flung locations. With a non-PoE system, a power
failure event requires the on-premise attention of an electrician
to investigate the root cause of the outage. With
a PoE-fed Wi-Fi 6E WAP, power and data are combined
and centralized at the network switch in an equipment
room with dedicated power circuits, thus simplifying and
automating the faultfinding process. This reduces the time
it takes to track down and repair outages, significantly
improving the mean time to recovery (MTTR).
THE Wi-Fi 6E OPPORTUNITY
The combined advantage of Wi-Fi 6E’s new performance
characteristics and the technology’s favorable deployment
and management costs make it a very competitive
choice for indoor and enterprise applications. Its ability
to leverage 6 GHz spectrum will create further improvements
to latency and reliability for dedicated services and
applications, as those are further carved out in the
coming years.
The bottom line is that the future of Wi-Fi is promising—
both as the evolution of an incredibly successful
wireless networking standard as well as a complement
to cellular technologies like 5G. Wi-Fi 6E is made for the
10 Gb era. It is an opportunity for operators and enterprises
to usher in a new age of exciting new wireless
experiences within the home and beyond.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY: Sundar Sankaran, Ph.D., is a VP
of Engineering for CommScope’s RUCKUS portfolio where
he leads the access point hardware and software engineering
teams. He is a wireless industry veteran with extensive experience
designing wireless systems. Sundar joined Ruckus Networks from
Atheros/Qualcomm where he was a senior director of technology
and served as the overall engineering lead. His responsibility
was to deliver silicon along with reference hardware and software
on multiple Wi-Fi chip programs. Prior to Atheros/Qualcomm,
he had stints at Intel, ArrayComm, and Infosys. He is a co-inventor
on 18 US patents, as well as several pending patents. Sundar
earned a Bachelor’s degree in electronics and communication
engineering from Anna University and Master’s and Ph.D.
degrees in electrical engineering from Virginia Tech. He can
be reached at sundar.sankaran@Commscope.com.
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