- Companies most suited to 6E will be those looking to expand into high-definition video VR/AR technologies, as well as those planning a refresh of their 802.11n standard.
- It’s not a ‘one fits all’ approach. The needs and requirements of the business will determine the best route forward.
- The 6GHz band can extend product refresh cycles from 5-6 years to 8-10, meaning upgrades last for up to 50 per cent longer.
Despite the pandemic, the race towards WiFi 6E continues at pace, and with good reason.
As organisations increase their use of bandwidth-hungry video, speed up their transition to the cloud, and battle rocketing numbers of devices, the demand for WiFi connectivity continues to rise.
In fact, according to the WiFi Alliance, there are as many as 16.4 billion clients and IoT devices now in use.
The pandemic has undoubtedly been a catalyst for faster, more agile connectivity.
However, wireless networks were already strained before the events of the past 14 months; for years, WLAN has been under increased pressure due to the growing number of purely wireless devices demanding higher volumes of data.
The emergence of latency-critical applications such as virtual/augmented reality (VR/AR) only adds to this, meaning wireless networks are fast finding themselves vastly oversubscribed, throttling application performance, and negatively impacting user experience, productivity, and the pace of digital innovation as a result.
WiFi 6E is widely regarded as a solution for this, promising to make WiFi technology faster and more powerful than ever before. Subsequently, the WiFi Alliance expects it to generate an estimated revenue of $183 billion in the US alone by 2025, which is a region that’s already committed to embracing full 6GHz capabilities.
WiFi 6 vs. WiFi 6E
It’s worth remembering that WiFi 6E is an extension of WiFi 6 which means businesses don’t have to dive straight into this new networking advancement. There are a number of considerations and, like most things, it’s not a ‘one fits all’ approach; the needs and requirements of the business will determine the best route forwards.
First and foremost, it’s vital that organisations ensure their country has adopted 6GHz.
Some countries, such as Oman, Turkey, Qatar and Jordon are still in the consultation process and so businesses based in these locations would be wise to hold back on 6E investments until a decision has been made.
Assuming country adoption is in place (like in the case of UAE and Saudi for example), organisations should then consider areas such as what the new spectrum will be used for, where it’s needed, and what’s already in place.
Companies most suited to 6E will be those looking to expand into high-definition video VR/AR technologies, as well as those planning a refresh of their 802.11n standard.
In addition, organisations wanting to future-proof their business by protecting technology investments will also be viable candidates for 6E adoption. The new band can extend product refresh cycles from 5-6 years to 8-10, meaning upgrades last for up to 50 per cent longer.
It’s also important to note that 6GHz is only currently viable indoors, so companies that require outdoor connectivity won’t benefit from it at this stage.
These companies, alongside organisations based in locations that have already announced they won’t be adopting the new 6GHz band, such as those in China, should stick to WiFi 6 for the time being.
What about 5G?
The old argument about whether WiFi is still necessary in a 5G world continues to rumble, but with little foundation. The truth is that 5G and WiFi are very different, but complementary, technologies.
The same applies to 5G and WiFi 6E; together, they provide increased speeds, higher capacity and lower latency.
Businesses don’t need to (and shouldn’t) take a ‘one or the other’ approach. WiFi is a critical part of the cellular equation since approximately 60 per cent of cellular traffic is offloaded to WiFi and that number is only increasing.
WiFi is also cheaper to deploy, maintain, and scale; without the ability to offload traffic to WiFi, 4G and 5G networks would become considerably more expensive. In addition, mobile operators would need to invest more into network densification in order to increase network capacity.
It makes sense, therefore, for the two technologies to work in tandem to ensure a robust user experience.
Conclusion
The benefits of WiFi 6E are clear and, alongside other important networking advancements, it is set to enable businesses to become more connected than ever before. It’s time for businesses to wave goodbye to sluggish connections and poor user experiences and replace them with powerful, high-speed networks.
However, it’s critical that they make the right choice for them. As outlined in this article, not every company is immediately suited to WiFi 6E and an incorrect investment could be a costly mistake at a time when every pound counts.
Instead, businesses should spend time assessing their business needs both now, and in the future, to ensure they embark along the right path for their own digital transformation.
For those utilising AR/VR and wishing to take advantage of next-generation devices, WiFi 6E will be an obvious choice.
- Dobias van Ingen is the Systems Engineers Director for Europe, Middle East and Africa and Chief Technology Officer at HPE Aruba.