September - 2015 - issue > CXO View Point
Clearing FUDDY Waters
Sudarshan Boosupali, Director- Enterprise & Service Provider Business, SAARC Region, Ruckus Wireless
Wave goodbye to slow Wi-Fi. Wave 2 of 802.11ac is here and now, adding new capabilities that improve overall Wi-Fi system performance and capacity. So don't be put off by naysayers spewing FUD that Wave 2 APs won't add immediate value to existing Wi-Fi infrastructures. They already have.
As multi-user MIMO clients hit Wi-Fi networks this year, Wave 2 is capable of serving those clients simultaneously allowing others the opportunity to access the RF spectrum sooner. It's carpooling. If you can get people to carpool, even those who don't carpool benefit because there are fewer cars on the road.
Having more spatial streams available to use also provides incremental value in the form of spatial diversity, regardless if the clients have one, two, or three spatial streams. More antennas improve MIMO by increasing reliability and signal quality, pushing data throughput closer to data rates.
The other obvious and BIG benefit that wave 2 provides is simple: investment protection. Customers are tired of having to architect and re-architect their Wi-Fi networks every couple years to accommodate the barrage of new devices with new capabilities that can't benefit from their existing networks. Wave 2 effectively mitigates this risk, extending Wi-Fi refresh cycles.
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