Author
James Donovan
Categories
5G Outdoor Wireless Networks
As organizations strive to make more effective use of people, workspaces and business systems, flexibility may be the single biggest factor in worker productivity and corporate efficiency.
So, what underpins a company’s ability to create flexible worker productivity and lifestyles? The network.
Today’s businesses require network flexibility, reliability and manageability–while also demanding proper network performance, security and mobility.
CLICK TO TWEET: CommScope's James Donovan explains why it is time for you to understand why both wireless and cabling infrastructures need each other.
By implementing wireless solutions, the savvy enterprise can enhance processes and workflows, gain cost savings and operational efficiencies, and unlock the value of existing enterprise assets. At the same time, it is crucial to understand that the success of any wireless solution depends on an integrated and end-to-end approach to infrastructure. An integrated approach boosts end-user adoption, leverages existing infrastructure and applications, reduces overall costs and increases ROI for the benefit of the deploying enterprise.
A fully cabled network, whether fiber and/or copper, provides a level of mobility and flexibility based on the provisioning of ports, while delivering high performance, resilience, reliability and security. Because the speed and density of connections nearer to server farms and data centers are generally beyond the capacity of today's wireless technology, and because spectrum will always be a scarce, yet valuable, resource, it is clear to me that wireless equipment is not going to replace cabling in in-building deployments completely. As new Wi-Fi 6 and 5G systems come to market, however, the dynamics will certainly change.
Different environments call for different solutions, and therefore wireless solutions will provide complimentary benefits to cabled ones. For example, as the Internet of Things (IoT) becomes more of a reality, many machines and devices that gather data may still be wired into a building, whereas a user would work wirelessly when moving from meeting to meeting using a tablet or smartphone.
In general, cabled networks offer process improvements where productivity is linked to the speed and reliability of the network, and where power needs to be served remotely to a device. In contrast, wireless networks offer process improvements where productivity is linked to the amount of time the network is available to employees on the move. It should be noted that even wireless networks need to be supported with a backbone of cabling.
So, if you ever wondered why CommScope’s Infrastructure Academy includes wireless courses alongside its copper and fiber infrastructure portfolio, it is for two reasons:
- To educate customers on the value of installing a wireless overlay network in a building – which can be accomplished faster and less expensively when the process is completed early, instead of as an afterthought.
- To ensure that customers plan their cabling infrastructures ahead of time, so they can leverage wireless network capabilities both today and in the future.
That’s why it is time to understand why both wireless and cabling infrastructures need each other.
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