If you need to document WLAN ROI systematically, the Wi-Fi Alliance has released a WLAN benefits calculator (see www.wi-fi.org/OpenSection/WLAN_Calculator.asp). Although this will help you document benefits, you still will need to assess the capital and operational costs on your own.
Capital costs represent 25 percent of the total cost of ownership, according to Chris Kozup, a program director at Meta Group. The remaining costs are operational.
Kozup says only a small percentage of his firm's clients bother to perform detailed WLAN ROI analyses. That's mainly because IT and its customers view wireless deployment as inevitable--a "no-brainer," according to some managers we've talked to. It usually makes more sense to focus resources on more pressing issues, like developing internal wireless policies and planning for implementation.
Within the majority of enterprises where strategic WLANs are not yet in place, pent-up demand for wireless is significant and broad. And there's no avoiding the budget pinch: Even a decision not to deploy wireless carries with it the cost of verifying that consumer-oriented wireless routers and other rogue devices aren't placed into service via back channels. That may mean significant expenditures to perform periodic scans, either with analyzers like AirMagnet or through a more sophisticated wireless monitoring system, like AirDefense's RogueWatch.
From a performance and reliability standpoint, except for SOHO environments and quasi-public spaces like conference rooms and cafeterias, it's usually impractical to think of WLANs as a true cable-replacement technology. An Ethernet network will offer performance and reliability that exceed even the best-designed wireless system.
Pending 6GHz spectrum availability, faster speeds, and private wireless access use drive FWA forward.
The new HPE Aruba 730 series Wi-Fi 7 access points tout high performance, enhanced security, location tracking capabilities, and more.
Verizon is demoing crowd analytics technology that uses 5G along with AI and mobile edge computing to give stadium operators insights into the flow of fans throughout a venue.
