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Published on 20 April 2023

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The move is designed to give rise to Internet access and emerging satellite-to-cellular services for enterprises from SpaceX, OneWeb, Globalstar, Amazon, Iridium, and their wireless operator partners.

Acknowledging that its policies and processes could not keep pace with a burgeoning satellite services sector, the FCC Tuesday launched a new entity dubbed the Space Bureau, designed to meet the needs of the next Space Age.

What is the FCC’s new Space Bureau?

The new bureau has been formed by splitting the current International Bureau into two separate cooperative units within the agency. The Space Bureau will focus on policy and licensing matters related to satellite and space-based communications and activities, and the Office of International Affairs (OIA), which will coordinate FCC work with foreign and international regulatory powers.

LEOs at the heart of Space Bureau focus

In recent years, the second space race has already seen the FCC authorize the launch of roughly 10,000 low-earth orbit (LEO) satellites for operators looking to deliver everything from Internet access to an emerging set of satellite-to-cellular offerings that provide connectivity to those off the terrestrial wireless network grid, including S.O.S services that help those with emergencies.

The creation of the Space Bureau is the latest in a series of steps the FCC is taking to realign and expand its resources to meet the needs of a fast-emerging satellite communications sector driven by the broadening use of LEO birds worldwide.

Roughly 4,000 LEOs are currently in orbit, with another estimated 20,000-30,000 awaiting review by the FCC.

"The satellite industry is growing at a record pace, but here on the ground, our regulatory frameworks for licensing have not kept up. We're working to change that. We are moving forward with our plan to prepare for what comes next," said FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. "A new Space Bureau at the FCC will ensure that the agency's resources are appropriately aligned to fulfill its statutory obligations, improve its coordination across the federal government, and support the 21st-century satellite industry."<.p>

The FCC claimed in January that it has acted “to speed up regulatory review processes, increase the size of the FCC’s satellite division by 38 percent, create new opportunities for competition in the delivery of satellite broadband services, and modernize spectrum policy to better meet the needs of the next generation Space Age.”

What will the Space Bureau do?

Once the reorganization is complete, the Space Bureau will, according to FCC materials:

• Lead complex policy analysis and rulemaking.
• Authorize satellite and earth station systems used for space-based services.
• Streamline regulatory processes to provide maximum flexibility for operators to meet customer needs.
• Foster the efficient use of scarce spectrum and orbital resources.
• Adopt new rules for deorbiting satellites to address orbital debris risks.
• Serve as the FCC’s focal point for coordination with other U.S. government agencies on matters of space policy and governance.
• Collaborate with the OIA for consultations with other countries, international and multilateral organizations, and foreign government officials that involve satellite and space policy matters.

What is the enterprise IT impact of the new Space Bureau?

For enterprise IT looking skyward for new and more robust communications options, the Space Bureau could provide a growing menu of services faster, backups for cut cables/suspicious network outages on Earth, and greater competition that could contain prices and fuel innovation.

Who are the LEO satellite operators?

The list of current LEO satellite operators includes Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which is best known for its Starlink internet services, OneWeb, Globalstar, and Iridium. Amazon has vowed to join the LEO space race under Project Kuiper, which has its first LEO bird launch set for later this year.

What’s the difference between LEO and GEO satellites?

LEOs fly closer to the planet — about 350 miles above Earth for Starlink satellites — versus 22 thousand miles above Earth in geostationary (GEO) orbit. LEOs have gained ground in the internet services market, helping in the defense sector (helping Ukraine hold off invading Russian forces), maritime communications, and with agriculture.

From Internet access to satellite-to-cellular services

As operators launch LEOs to build fleets, they have more recently partnered with wireless providers and equipment vendors to offer satellite-to-cellular services for those on Earth.

The activity increase in the sector has seen Apple team with Globalstar, T-Mobile partner with SpaceX, and Iridium connect with Qualcomm to create satellite-to-cellular services. Verizon has paired with Amazon. These services provide a lifeline to traveling and mobile workers when in remote and other rural areas.

Will the FCC’s Space Bureau help operators avoid disputes?

The creation of the Space Bureau and planned collaboration with the resulting OIA could provide oversight in cases where disputes arise between satellite operators. The industry has already seen one such high-profile situation when SpaceX claimed that DISH Network’s work-in-progress 5G network will interfere with the former’s LEOs in the 12 GHz band. Time will tell.

Related articles:

• How Emerging LEO Satellites are Impacting Wireless Networking
• Exploring the LEO Satellite Service Landscape for Potential Enterprise Use
• LEO Satellite Broadband: Top Considerations for Enterprise IT

 

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Published on 12 April 2023

(Source: Pixabay)

T-Mobile/SpaceX and Verizon/Amazon strategic partnerships support, via low-Earth orbit satellites (LEO satellites), connectivity plus cellular messaging and emergency offerings for iPhone and Android users beyond the reach of wireless networks.

Satellite communications providers have forged ahead, launching more than internet services, including packages that let individuals work and access emergency services when off the grid.

The activity increase in the sector has seen Apple team with Globalstar, T-Mobile partner with SpaceX, and Iridium connect with Qualcomm to create satellite-to-cellular services. Verizon has paired with Amazon.

These services provide a lifeline to traveling and mobile workers when in remote and other rural areas.

Leveraging low-Earth orbit satellites (LEOs)

These emerging satellite-to-cellular services employ a growing constellation of low-Earth orbit satellites (LEO) that fly closer to the planet — about 350 miles above Earth for Starlink satellites — versus 22 thousand miles above Earth in geostationary (GEO) orbit. They’re owned by SpaceX, OneWeb, and Iridium. Amazon has vowed to join the LEO space race under Project Kuiper, which has its first launch set for later this year.

LEOs have gained ground in the internet services market, helping in the defense sector, maritime communications, and with agriculture.

The satellite-to-cellular services

iPhone 14 users can now connect with emergency services when cellular and Wi-Fi coverage are not available. The service extends beyond the U.S. and Canada to France, Germany, Ireland, and the U.K. as of December.

T-Mobile and partner SpaceX claim that despite LTE and 5G wireless networks, well over half a million square miles of the United States, in addition to vast stretches of ocean, are untouched by cell signals from any service provider. That estimate pales in comparison to other countries and regions of the world.

The Iridium-Qualcomm team is bringing satellite-to-cellular communications to Android smartphones. Snapdragon Satellite service will first be available to devices that have Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 mobile platform and are powered by the Snapdragon 5G modem. On deck is two-way messaging, with the service due up after midyear.

Startups are also working in this sector. Lynk has been working on two-way SMS capabilities with a list of operators from space. The company has already received FCC approval to launch and run a low-Earth orbit satellite fleet.

Amazon and Verizon’s Strategic Partnership for Connectivity

Not to be forgotten, Verizon and partner Amazon outlined in October 2021 a “strategic collaboration” to pair Verizon’s terrestrial mobile network with Amazon’s planned LEO satellite network. The telco wants planned Amazon LEOs to deliver cellular backhaul solutions to extend Verizon’s 4G/LTE and 5G data networks, connecting rural and remote communities in the U.S.

Verizon and Project Kuiper pledge to explore “joint connectivity solutions for domestic and global enterprises across agriculture, energy, manufacturing, education, emergency response, transportation, and other industries,” according to their 2021 announcement.

The market opportunity for satellite-to-cellular

These satellite-to-cell services are currently seen as an emerging market that may take years to gain critical mass.

"In its current stage, satellite-to-cell services are available for specialized applications but show upside potential in the years to come, with 2023 and likely 2024 being used to prime consumers' interest," explained ABI Research Inc., a global technology tracking and analysis firm. "In this respect, ABI Research anticipates that the wider Non-Terrestrial Network-Mobile (NTN-Mobile) service segment, which includes the satellite-to-cell segment, will reach 6.8 million connections by 2027.”

Issues to consider in satellite-to-cell

Applicability: The SOS capability recently announced as part of all models of the iPhone 14 – the smartphone giant’s newest entry – does not yet work with older models. Also of interest, Samsung’s newest Galaxy smartphone does not support satellite-to-cellular services.

By contrast, SpaceX and T-Mobile plan to allow most phones on T-Mobile's network to access their satellite-to-cell service. To make this happen, the duo claims it will create a new network, broadcast from Starlink satellites using T-Mobile’s mid-band spectrum in the U.S.

Availability. Satellites are expensive to build, and fleets take a long time to assemble. This impacts service launches and availability (coverage). For example, not a single satellite for Project Kuiper has been launched. However, the T-Mobile-SpaceX tandem plans a test by the end of this year.

The first services will be text-based, followed later by voice and data offerings.

The bottom line on low-Earth orbit satellites

Best known in recent years for efforts to close the digital divide with Internet for all initiatives, LEO satellite services have been embraced for providing connectivity for maritime, military, agricultural, and other applications.

What remains to be seen is how quickly the low-Earth orbit satellite’s opportunity can expand and gain broad acceptance from businesses, financiers, regulators, and countries around the globe.

Related articles:

• Exploring the LEO Satellite Service Landscape for Potential Enterprise Use
• Starlink Hands On: Finally, Internet
• LEO Satellite Broadband: Top Considerations for Enterprise IT

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Published on 31 March 2023

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Will enterprise broadband options improve due to government-subsidized infrastructure buildouts?

The age of unprecedented broadband expansion

Thanks to historic spending on broadband networks to service the un- and underserved, fiber providers have also attracted big money from investors and private equity firms—raising issues for enterprise IT.

Just last month, Boston-based Berkshire Partners, a diversified private equity firm, announced a sizable investment in Point Broadband Fiber Holding LLC. The Opelika, Ala. firm provides fiber-to-the-premise internet services to 75,000 homes and businesses in small towns and rural markets in nine states.

Point Broadband has previously attracted funding from GTCR, a private equity firm, which made a strategic investment in the business in 2021. Since then, the six-year-old carrier claims it added over 100,000 additional fiber passings and entered two new states.

Also last month, Texas-based Nextlink Internet last month bought the fiber operator Bluestem Networks, its fourth such transaction in Nebraska alone since 2021. Nextlink is using $400 million in RDOF funds to fund its acquisition activities.

Broadband funding programs fuel industry advancement

An infusion of broadband funding for all programs and legislation, including the American Rescue Program Act (ARPA), the $1.7 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and the FCC's $20 billion Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) is helping carriers upgrade networks and extend them to close the Digital Divide. Fiber is essentially the medium of choice for these efforts, followed by fixed wireless.

This makes carrier networks an increasingly attractive investment for private equity firms and is fueling consolidation in the sector.

"It's a unique environment out there for broadband providers, largely due to all the government money that is out there," explained Jeff Heynen, Vice President, Broadband Access and Home Network for Dell'Oro Group, a global technology research and analysis firm. "With that subsidization comes the de-risking of the investment in building out a fiber network while still maintaining the benefit of immediately increasing the value of a network by moving from copper to fiber or fixed wireless to fiber."

Carrier mergers and acquisitions

There’s been a spate of fiber carrier M&As in the last several months, as well as investments from private equity firms in carriers large and small. “With de-risking through subsidization, operators and PE firms can build scale through the acquisition of multiple smaller fiber providers,” explained Heynen. “And scale is what is needed to keep these operators solvent in the long term when the subscriber base isn't necessarily large, and there is always the threat of competition. Further, I think these acquisitions assume that there will continue to be subsidization of these networks so that they won't fail."

The fiber carrier green rush – proceed with caution?

Continued funding of fiber-focused carriers in the rush for broadband for all would seem at face value to be a win-win for the service providers and their enterprise customers. The rapid deployment of advanced optical technologies in regions that wouldn't otherwise see them is a big bonus.

But what of private equity firm stakeholders? Their standard operating procedure is to invest in needy assets, grow their value and cut unneeded or underperforming assets, including staff, to sell the carrier at a profit.

Private equity investments in broadband carriers and the firm's role in the consolidation of fiber-focused carriers need to be watched by enterprise IT, as this activity can cause disruption in crucial areas such as network performance, tech support, and customer service.

“IT managers who have businesses and/or employees in areas impacted by the consolidation, it will be very important to ensure that the service, support, reliability, and other important KPIs stay consistent with these operators potentially changing ownership once, twice, or maybe multiple times,” emphasized Heynen. “These kinds of organizational changes shouldn’t impact the SLAs customers are provided, but it’s been known to happen, especially when outside entities such as PE firms get involved looking to reduce overall costs to improve the bottom line.”

New and innovative carrier options for enterprises

Enterprise IT managers that want to minimize or eliminate the potential risk of their provider relationships during a time of historic change can opt for an established tier 1 operator. Stability and reliability are their key differentiators, though they may not effectively market them.

Enterprise IT managers can anticipate a buyer’s market as carriers look to land the business that they hope will carry them on beyond the big fiber funding years.

“I think that emerging fiber providers that target the enterprise market are going to offer more attractive packages—with better pricing, better SLAs, more security, etc. to try to target the biggest concerns of their end customers,” predicted Heynen. “We are already starting to see this on the residential side, and I suspect it will bleed over to the enterprise side, as well.”

A final word on broadband expansion for the enterprise

Multiple government spending bills and initiatives aim to bring broadband to rural areas and those currently underserved by high-speed connectivity services. If these programs deliver on their promises, IT managers will have more enterprise broadband options to serve their user based.

Related articles:

• What to Expect When You’re Expecting Broadband – Part 2
• What to Expect When You’re Expecting Rural Broadband
• Why Middle Mile Networks Matter to Enterprise IT

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Published on 15 March 2023

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Until recently, 5G was focused on super high-speed networks. Now an effort has begun to expand it deep into IoT networks. Here's what IT planners need to know.

Creators see 5G New Radio Reduced Capacity (RedCap) as crucial to the emergence of the fifth generation of wireless telephony that has until recently focused squarely on super-fast data nets.

How? By attracting seas of IoT devices to 5G.

But some technology research and consulting firms see a bigger picture, viewing 5G NR RedCap as a reduced set of features that don’t clearly align with the needs of current and projected devices for deployments such as large sensor networks, industrial systems, and wearables.

For enterprise IT managers, the evolution of 5G beyond its early phases is paramount to their business and technology plans. But when it comes to NR RedCap, that evolution may not appear real for many years – and then be overkill for those seeking lower-speed IoT networks such as LPWANs.

What is 5G RedCap?

To date, 5G is known for its super-fast data throughputs, super-low latency, and features for super high-performance wireless networking. But seeking to bring 5G to the IoT masses, the architects created a new tier of reduced capability devices with lower speed, lower power, and limited functions. The planned lower tier of 5G, known as NR RedCap, began last year in Release 17 of the 3GPP worldwide standard.

“[RedCap] is critical for the broad adoption of 5G in IoT,” wrote Kiran Mukkavilli, Senior Director of Engineering, Qualcomm Technologies, in a blog post on the chip and module maker’s website. “[RedCap] can mean broader applicability, serving use cases in industry and enterprise verticals and consumer applications. NR-Light's capabilities and advantages also make it the ideal 5G technology for future-proofing new designs for mid-tier IoT use cases."

A need for speed?

5G RedCap delivers throughputs of 150 and 50 Mbps in the downlink and uplink, respectively. This is far below 5G's support for gigabits of throughput but still well above the capabilities of current NB-IoT (downlink of 26 Kbps and an uplink of 62 Kbps) and eMTC (Cat-M1) offerings which support a downlink of 58 Kbps and an uplink of 1.1 Mbps).

Creators hope RedCap means broader applicability for 5G and thus drives its emergence forward, in part by serving a broader array of use cases in industry and enterprise verticals and consumer applications.

Vendor materials on 5G RedCap use cases typically include:

• Industrial sensors, gauges, and actuators.
• Surveillance cameras (a core building block for smart cities and factories).
• Wearable devices, including glasses and watches: e-heath measurement and monitoring units.

In its annual Mobility Report, Ericsson sees value in an LTE-NR evolution.

It is worth mentioning that some of the wearable and video surveillance use cases are currently addressed by LTE-based solutions, the vendor wrote. “NR RedCap offers a path for migrating from LTE to NR for these use cases. Such a migration path is important as it can accelerate the spectrum re-farming from LTE to NR a number of years down the road.”

Closing the Price Gap?

With low-priced equipment a top priority goal for enterprises considering IoT networks, how can vendors hit the sweet spot needed to supplant current options with 5G RedCap?

Expecting enterprises to use 5G technology in their IoT networks has been a nonstarter because of the high price, leaving these entities to stick with or go with 4G options. But the creation of 5G RedCap, which has been stripped of functionality and technical complexity, could change the game going forward.

“The price gap between the 4G and 5G modules is one of the essential factors—if not the most crucial factor—that will continue to limit 5G adoption in IoT applications,” writes Omdia, a global technology research and analysis firm. “The 5G RedCap with reduced complexity will give hardware vendors a viable option to establish a 5G IoT device that can compete with its 4G counterparts in price.”

Is timing everything?

Since it’s early on, it’s difficult to try and put a timeline on the delivery of 5G RedCap-compliant products that carriers and enterprises can use in their networks.

The first 5G RedCap chipset will be commercialized in 2023, and mass production will begin in 2024, according to Techno Systems Research Co., Ltd.

Trying to create a lower complexity 5G New Radio device with the intent of doing for 5G NR what LTE-M and NB-IoT did for LTE is an interesting evolution. “However, with this iteration, and likely for at least a decade to come, it is highly unlikely to have a significant impact on the connectivity technology market landscape,” explained Matt Hatton, Founding Partner, Transforma Insights, a market research and analysis firm. "For the next decade, battery-powered cellular IoT will be dominated by NB-IoT and LTE-M."

Related articles:

• Myths and Realities of Private 5G
• Private 5G Networks Sector Surges with New Services, Investments, and User Trials
• As 5G Connections Grow, Automation will be Mission-Critical

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Published on 01 March 2023

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Get up to speed with Wi-Fi analytics for enterprises interested in upgrading their networks to newer specs (including Wi-Fi 6 and 6E).

With two Wi-Fi specs approved in the last three years and another coming down the pike, there's no time like the present for IT managers to get up to speed on trends for analytic packages that help techs decide to install, design, manage, and upgrade their wireless networks.

At present, coverage of Wi-Fi analytics has focused on early users in the sports and entertainment verticals as they are among the earliest users, especially in pro football, of the latest and greatest version of Wi-Fi (6 and 6E). They use analytics to analyze data from fans in the stands to power fan marketing programs. Retail is another heavy Wi-Fi vertical user but typically uses “older” versions of Wi-Fi in locations.

Concurrently, midsize and large enterprises are collecting Wi-Fi analytics data from their LANs and feeding them into models designed to improve user experience and network quality, often from networks in far-flung locales. This contrasts with the analytics performed for single-site sports venues that are especially focused on understanding visitor behavior.

The good news is that networking vendors large (Cisco, HP, Juniper, and Extreme Networks, etc.) and smaller (Purple, etc.) offer Wi-Fi analytics packages for enterprise Wireless LAN networks. And yet other vendors seek to provide the tools needed for a third party to integrate and manage what enterprises need.

Core capabilities

Wi-Fi Analytics are becoming critical for IT network management and fall into a growing domain known as AI Operations, or AIOps. Features support: Design, Provisioning, Monitoring, Troubleshooting, and Optimizing. Security is a strong focus that crosses all categories.

Analytics critical to network performance

Wi-Fi analytics are crucial in gauging the congestion of your network, whether it is from an assessment of the user experience, the status of the devices on the network, or an understanding of the amount of traffic each device is generating.

Before deciding to upgrade, it's important to understand traffic patterns and where the problem is occurring, and analytics can certainly help, explained Siân Morgan, Research Director for Dell’Oro Group, a technology market research and analysis firm. “There’s no point in covering your building with the latest and greatest Wi-Fi 6E APs and then discovering that the traffic had been hitting a problem at the switch!”

Trending…

As far as prevailing trends that influence Wi-Fi analytics offerings, the first is the increase in Public Cloud WLAN deployments (as opposed to Private Cloud or On-Premises managed WLAN). The second is whether the network is multi-vendor or what is called "full stack," meaning the same vendor is providing the entire network solution.

Key issues in Wi-Fi analytics

Wireless LAN solutions can be split into two categories; those that are public cloud-managed and others that are on-premises or private cloud-managed. Whether the solution is public cloud-managed can determine the WLAN analytics feature sets.

"Some solutions, like Juniper Mist, provide only a public cloud-managed solution. If you want to go with Cisco, their public cloud-managed solution is Meraki, and it doesn't have the same WLAN analytics feature set as their Catalyst line, which is managed on-premises," explained Morgan.

Research says

"Our data shows that last year, about a quarter of the WLAN Access Points deployed were public cloud-managed, and this percentage will rise," explained Morgan. These solutions are growing faster than on-premises or private cloud alternatives. "However, there are good reasons why some enterprises don't want to move to public cloud-managed solutions, often related to data sovereignty issues, so we believe that the penetration of public cloud-managed solutions will plateau at some point.

Dell’Oro data also shows that worldwide, the average price is higher for public cloud-managed solutions than for those deployed on-premises or on a private cloud. “This leads us to believe that enterprises purchasing public cloud-managed solutions are less price sensitive and are paying for a richer feature set.”

Single vendor (full stack) vs. multi-vendor Wi-Fi networks

Most of the vendors have solutions that provide richer functionality if the enterprise acquires Wi-Fi, switching, and network services from the same manufacturer. At a minimum, having a centralized dashboard to monitor all the components of the network can be valuable, according to Morgan.

As an example, Cambium recently announced a "ONE Network" framework to provide a single management platform across Wi-Fi, Switching, Fixed Wireless Broadband, and Edge security which allows them to apply common security policy and makes it easier to troubleshoot workflows.

Potential drawbacks to a single-vendor approach

A single-vendor approach is often not feasible for enterprises that have grown through mergers and acquisitions unless these companies are willing to embark on expensive rip-and-replace projects. Also, a single-source strategy can prevent companies from choosing best-of-breed technology or from gaining cost advantages from cheaper equipment in isolated purchase decisions.

The practical advantages of multi-vendor networks provide opportunities for IT network service providers. For instance, NTT Global has developed its own platform to manage multi-vendor IT networks, a platform that produces a wide gamut of network analytics data, from insights into the user experience to assessment of security vulnerabilities.

strong>Related articles:

• Wireless Worth Watching in 2023
• Carefully Considering Wi-Fi 6E Versus Private Cellular
• Wi-Fi 6E: Poised for Widescale Adoption
• Why Wi-Fi 6’s Time is Now

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Published on 22 February 2023

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Wireless power transfer, Wi-Fi 6 versions, life after 3G network shutdowns, and home networking challenges top the list.

Important challenges and opportunities for wireless technologies will take center stage this year as IT managers look to plan network upgrades, expansions, and new installations.

While 2022 seemed like the year of 5G, several cellular technologies will share the spotlight in the year ahead.

The contenders

One emerging tech to watch in 2023 is Wireless Power-at-a-Distance, which is an expanded form of wireless power transfer (WPT). The tech portends to enable the charging of devices from smartphones to drones by eliminating the need for wiring – or close proximity - by beaming power over special radio frequencies to devices. The advancement here in WPT is the ability to beam the power over distances far beyond a few meters.

Benefits from this form of WPT include savings in wiring, maintenance, and management, and the ability to better power an expanded list of devices, potentially from meters to miles.

“Scalable wireless power beaming will hit the market and promises to bring freedom to a broad range of equipment – from lower wattage IoT devices to higher wattage robotics – making 2023 the first year that high-wattage, industrial-scale wireless power-at-a-distance hits the market in a real, deployable way,” said Chris Davlantes, CEO, and founder of Reach.

Wireless on the home front

With the proliferation of devices in consumer homes and a widening array of services offered to residences, upgrades to home networks are a certainty in 2023. Work From Home programs up the bandwidth ante.

“Broadband speeds continue to increase for consumers, but the problem area is wireless within the home,” explained Elizabeth Parks, President and CMO of Parks Associates, a research and advisory firm focusing on home networks and services. “[That’s why] new network solutions are supporting that and advanced networks that can provide managed services.”

Parks also strongly advises IT managers to keep cyberthreats front of mind when thinking WFH approaches. “Data privacy and security are important as well as the strength of the VPN network protection.” She warned that businesses will continue to incur costs for added cyber-security protection, which is an area that will see continued growth and change.

Wireless, post-3G network shutdowns

With the disruptive sunsetting of 2G and 3G wireless networks by top operators in the U.S. last year, enterprises in numerous verticals (including transportation) were driven toward interim solutions such as 4G versions of wireless equipment as carriers shifted the older network resources to supercharge 5G rollouts.

Forward-looking business and technology managers can be expected to move their telematics and other core wireless data operations systems to 5G-powered offerings. A vertical industry for IT managers to watch is transportation (especially vehicle fleet monitoring and management) which relies on wireless for numerous core functions such as vehicle and asset tracking.

The far higher bandwidth offered by 4G and 5G allows vehicle fleets to add important capabilities, such as camera systems-based video telematics, to optimize vehicle, driver, and delivery performance.

Wi-Fi 6E, is it for me?

Wi-Fi 6E grabbed headlines in 2022, with the Wi-Fi Alliance claiming to have certified over 660 devices as of November. Expect early implementors to be large, multi-event sports and other entertainment venues, hospitality industry members, and healthcare.

Those that embrace the latest version will have extra heavy traffic (including video) and require its mesh networking capabilities as well as WPA 3 wireless security.

After those specific early users, it's unclear who will follow and when, as Wi-Fi 6E implementations require dense network support with super heavy data and video traffic and the need for advanced features. Expect these pioneers to be revealed in 2023.

Help upgrading to advanced Wi-Fi

But what about enterprises with Wi-Fi 5? IT planners with routers three years or older have been advised to consider moving to Wi-Fi 6.

Before making upgrades, IT architects should consider using any of a variety of Wi-Fi network design and analytics packages. They are offered from the top networking equipment vendors – Cisco, HP, Extreme Networks, and Juniper Networks – and smaller vendors.

"Before deciding to upgrade, it's important to get a handle on traffic patterns and where the problem is occurring, and analytics can help there for sure," emphasized Siân Morgan, Research Director at Dell’Oro Group, Inc., a tech market research, and advisory services firm. “There’s no point in covering your building with the latest and greatest Wi-Fi 6E APs and then discovering that the traffic had been hitting a problem at the switch!”

The year ahead will see an increase in the use of the latest version, Wi-Fi 6E, notably in sports venues, to keep pace with soaring use by fans in the stands. But given its maturity and the far larger list of Wi-Fi Certified products, expect upgrades from older versions to focus on Wi-Fi 6.

Related articles:

• Carefully Considering Wi-Fi 6E Versus Private Cellular
• Wi-Fi 6E: Poised for Widescale Adoption
• Wi-Fi 6 2022 Trends: Not Your Grandfather's Wi-Fi