Latin America. Small and medium-sized businesses are increasingly feeling the havoc wrought by wireless connectivity issues. As technology has evolved, connection speeds are faster and have helped lighten that load. However, because currently installed routers and access points use old wireless technology, they often struggle to compete with the speed and reliability of wired connections.
In fact, the number of users and devices operating in many SMBs at the same time can easily render any bandwidth increase unusable, resulting in slower access times, unreliable connections, and lost productivity.
The introduction of 802.11.ac Wave 2 with Multiple User, Multiple-Input and Multiple Output (MU-MIMO) technology is an important step toward eliminating many of the performance issues in shared environments. MU-MIMO technology helps improve the overall performance and efficiency of an entire Wi-Fi network by allowing devices capable of leveraging MU-MIMO technology to share spectrum.
Integrating MU-MIMO technology into SMBs can immediately improve the performance of the mobile office as a whole. While users might have noticed a slight uptick when they made the switch to a faster connection, often those gains were quickly outweighed by the numerous users connected to the same signal with little control or oversight of the way bandwidth is managed. Instead, MU-MIMO allows multiple devices that feature this technology to communicate using shared bandwidth, which translates into faster download speeds for everyone.
The result is a faster and more reliable Wi-Fi network, which can fully open the gigabit wireless signal, increasing performance for all connected devices and providing priority access to the most important and bandwidth-intensive applications using each access point. That improved performance will translate into higher productivity for SMEs competing in tight markets.
Although most SMBs operate on a two- to four-year upgrade cycle of their equipment, making the switch to wireless technology that supports MU-MIMO right now may be the best business decision. The connectivity issues and low productivity that businesses are experiencing today won't go away if they're ignored. They will continue to grow over time until they are given a solution. Maybe the problems are annoying today, but they could get worse tomorrow. SMBs need to invest in technology that helps them grow successfully in the future.
MU-MIMO improves productivity and collaboration
Many SMBs have learned that providing wireless access to their customers can encourage more positive interaction and a better experience for them. But doing so using old technology not only further collapses the network, but could also pose a security risk.
Both issues can be mitigated using Linksys MU-MIMO routers and access points designed for SMBs with a Captive Portal service. With this service, companies can provide secure access to guests that is completely disconnected from the core network. Guests receive all the advantages of MU-MIMO including fast and efficient wireless access without having a negative impact or exposing the business to risk.
In addition, the Captive Portal can offer an additional point of contact between a company and its customers. The MU-MIMO access points that support the Captive Portal offer a bespoke homepage for guests that can contain everything from a company message to sales and special offers of the day. Guests have everything they could want in a wireless access, provided in the brand environment, and which does not pose a danger to the core network.
With the core network used by employees, another important tendenciMU-MIMO improves productivity and collaboration
What contributes to wireless charging for many SMEs is collaboration. For these organizations, collaboration can offer a critical competitive advantage, either within the organization or by working with a customer to help tailor a product or service specifically to their needs. This can be done in a variety of ways, but almost always includes sending or sharing files. Even files that sync to the cloud using a tool like Dropbox need to travel over the local wireless network first, further limiting resources.
Certain programs like the popular Microsoft SharePoint document management platform, which allows collaboration from browsers, have also become vital for many SMBs, but they consume wireless bandwidth with constant downloads and file synchronization. As more users use programs like SharePoint, wireless performance will continue to degrade.
File sizes are also increasing as more functionality is added to applications such as Word and Excel. Adding multimedia features such as graphics, movies and sound files to presentations can increase their size tenfold. Although these files do not affect a wireless network individually, when multiple users send them over a network, they can become a certain death for SMEs under pressure.
Finally, if an SMB is still several years away from planning an upgrade, they may already have equipment installed to take advantage of MU-MIMO. And this applies especially for organizations with robust BYOD programs (bring your own device). Most devices produced after 2016 will support Wave 2. Not adding a MU-MIMO router or access point is like throwing overboard the productivity advancement that already exists in the business.
At the height of SMEs
A company with the size and scale has advantages of its own over small businesses; however, as far as Wave 2 is concerned, a smaller, more agile organization has an advantage over its large competitors. While companies may be hesitant to take the leap and revamp their networks, especially those that invested money in Wave 1 technology, a small business is agile and flexible – and can install Wave 2 equipment more easily and quickly, and overcome the deployment challenges that larger companies face with this upgrade.
For small businesses that haven't implemented 11ac yet, it makes sense to skip Wave 1 and go straight to the new specification. The Wave 2 equipment may cost a little more, but it will extend the lifecycle of the implementation, which translates into cost savings in the end. This allows many small businesses to deploy quickly and reap the benefits of faster and more efficient Wi-Fi networks with MU-MIMO technology, long before their larger competitors.
The advantages when an SME integrates MU-MIMO technology are immediate, and the need is greater. However, while there are a large number of Wave 2 access points sold to large enterprises, most are not accessible or convenient for SMBs.
At Linksys, we want that to change, which is why we launched routers and the first ACCESS point with MU-MIMO technology, designed especially for small businesses, as they are easy to deploy and manage, as well as being accessible, maximizing the critical wireless connections of multi-user environments – the ideal companions for SMBs, from startups to fully established companies facing rapid growth.
*By John Tester, Linksys Regional Product Manager for Latin America
