Wi-Fi
6, also known as 802.11ax and the latest generation of Wi-Fi, bridges the
performance gap to deliver at ten-gigabit speeds. The new standard allows
faster network performance by connecting more devices simultaneously,
transitioning Wi-Fi to the de-facto for internet connectivity.
Ruckus
Networks implemented the latest Wi-Fi 6 technology in Africa at The Fourth
Session of the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA-4) held in Nairobi, Kenya, in
March.
As
the world’s highest-level decision-making body on the environment, the historic
Assembly provides a framework for shifting global economic systems towards more
sustainable trajectories that tackle environmental challenges. This year’s
theme was on Innovative Solutions to Environmental Challenges and Sustainable
Consumption and Production. Connectivity across the venue, expo, conference,
and meeting rooms was critical and Ruckus delivered the Wi-Fi 6 experience with
their R730 access points (APs).
“Wi-Fi
has transitioned through six generations over the last 25 years, where speed
and efficiency have improved tremendously,” said Riaan Graham, sales director
for Ruckus Networks sub-Saharan Africa. “The latest sixth-generation Wi-Fi,
based on the 802.11ax standard, not only supports a maximum data rate of nearly
10 Gbps for better speed but will provide better performance in congested
areas—from stadiums and city deployments to your own device-packed home. This
was clearly seen with the speed and performance achieved at UNEA-4, with 50
Ruckus APs supporting approximately 733GB for over 4700 clients with an average
speed of 105.9Mbps each day.”
Wi-Fi
6 is essentially built for IoT – a future-facing upgrade that can be costly and
difficult to manage. Even more, this technology showcased four-fold capacity
increase, along with better security.
“Bridging
the gap between insatiable demand and performance is critical and Wi-Fi 6 will
bring about a profound change in the industry,” said Graham. “In fact, analyst
firm IDC expects to see Wi-Fi 6 deployments ramping up significantly in 2019 –
becoming the dominant enterprise Wi-Fi standard by 2021 – and we are
well-positioned to take advantage of these trends.”
