802.11ac FOR HOTELIERS – ITS TIME
GETTING OFF THE WI-FI ROLLER COASTER - THE GRACEFUL TRANSITION TO 802.11.AC
Perry Correll,
Xirrus, Principal Technologist
© 2013 XIRRUS :: All Rights Reserved
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AGENDA
• Addressing guests' demand for Wi-Fi everywhere
• Understanding Wi-Fi’s evolution to 11ac
• Myth vs. Reality: separating marketing messages from
business advantage
• Designing High-Performance Wi-Fi Networks: Doing more
with less infrastructure
• Summary / Q&A
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THE EXPLODING DEMAND FOR WI-FI
UNDERSTANDING GUEST EXPECTATIONS
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WI-FI HAS RAPIDLY EVOLVED
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WI-FI USAGE HAS EXPLODED
In 2013 Smartphone/tablet sales
will exceed that of all consumer
electronics combined
– IDC Predictions -2013
Every day another 4 million+
wireless devices are activated
– Flurry-2013
55% of hotel guests use Internet
during their hotel stay in 2012, up
from 20% in 2006. Of those, 87%
today connect by Wi-Fi.
– J.D. Power, 2012 survey
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NETWORKS ARE NOT PREPARED FOR THE TRAFFIC
Instagram video becomes #1 traffic
on Internet on day 1 of release
Netflix And YouTube Account For 50% Of
All North American Fixed Network Data
Real-Time Entertainment responsible for
over 67% of peak downstream traffic
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PLAN YOUR WI-FI CAREFULLY!
“80% of newly installed WLANs
will be obsolete or re-engineered
in the next 3-5 years due to lack
of proper planning”
Tim Zimmerman
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WI-FI’S EVOLUTION TO 802.11AC
WHAT’S THE ADVANTAGE?
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802.11 EVOLUTION
• Multi Gigabit Wi-Fi is the future
• New standards are focused at 5GHz
802.11ad
>5Gbps
802.11a
54Mbps
802.11
2Mbps
1997
802.11g
54Mbps
802.11b
11Mbps
1998
1999
2000
2002
2003
2.4GHz
2004
2008
802.11n
300Mbps
2009
Wi-Fi Standards Evolution
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802.11ac
>1Gbps
802.11n
600Mbps
5GHz
60GHz
2011
2013
2014
WHAT IS 802.11AC
Technology
Benefits
• High performance
• Focus on 5GHz spectrum
• Raises the ‘low’ end
• Improved modulation efficiency
• Superior throughput
• Channel bonding up to 160Mz
• Backwards compatible
• Up to 8 spatial streams
• Support more devices
• MU-MIMO
• ‘Cleaner’ spectrum
• Improved battery Life
Data rates up to 6.9Gbps
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802.11N vs. 802.11AC
• 802.11n
•
•
•
•
•
Up to 600Mbps
Up to 64 QAM Modulation
Up to 40Mhz channel width
Up to 4 data streams
MIMO- Single client link
• 802.11ac
•
•
•
•
•
Up to 1.3GBps / 6.9Gbps
Up to 256 QAM Modulation
Up to 80/160Mhz channel width
Up to 4/8 data streams
MU-MIMO-Multiple client links
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STANDARDS ROLL OUT PLANS
Final standard approved by the IEEE Feb’14
http://grouper.ieee.org/groups/802/11/Reports/802.11_Timelines.htm
WAVE 2
•
•
•
•
3 Streams
80 MHz channel width
256 QAM
Product Availability: Now
•
•
•
•
•
4/8 Streams
160 MHz channel width
256 QAM
MU-MIMO
Product availability: 2H ‘14
Wi-Fi Alliance has launched Wi-Fi Certified™ ac
http://www.wi-fi.org/discover-and-learn/wi-fi-certified%E2%84%A2-ac
Wave 1 product certification completed
Wave 2 products certification: expected late 2014 /early 2015
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SIDE NOTE: NEW SPECTRUM PROPOSED
• Importance of Additional Spectrum
- Wide bandwidth channels to support high throughput requirements
- Current UNII spectrum allows only
• Twenty four 20 MHz channels
• Six 80 MHz channels
• Two 160 MHz channels
- Additional unlicensed use of 5.35-5.47 GHz and 5.85-5.925 GHz allow
• Nine 80 MHz channels
• Four 160 MHz channels
149
153
157
161
165
169
173
177
181
IEEE channel #
New channels
36
40
44
48
52
56
60
64
68
72
76
80
84
88
92
96
100
104
108
112
116
120
124
128
132
136
140
144
Currently available channels
20 MHz
40 MHz
80 MHz
160 MHz
UNII-1
UNII-2
5250
MHz
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UNII-2
NEW
5350
MHz
5470
MHz
UNII-3
5725
MHz
13
5825
MHz
NEW
5925
MHz
IS IT TIME TO CONSIDER TO 802.11ac?
• What is the current feedback from guests and event schedulers?
• What Wi-Fi technology is your existing system based on?
• How long do you want your next upgrade to last?
802.11ac sales will accelerate,
reaching over 90% of all Wi-Fi
devices by 2015
Growth of 802.11ac capable
Wi-Fi devices reach nearly
2 billion by 2015
Assuming 3 year replacement
rate = 70% 802.11ac market
share by 2015.
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802.11AC: MYTH vs. REALITY
SEPARATING MARKETING FROM VALUE
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MYTHS vs. REALITY
• Only high-end clients need this much bandwidth/speed
- Very few 11n clients reached 450Mbps, all still received value
- Higher bandwidth releases the channel quicker
- Making additional time (bandwidth) available to other clients
- Improves overall capacity and performance of the network
- Key value of 11ac is raising the lower end
• Just wait for Wave 2 (MU-MIMO, 6.9Gbps, …) to be safe
- Wireless continues to evolve with newer technology every 2-3 years
- 2007 to 2015 saw 802.11n 2x2, 3x3, 802.11ac Wave 1 & Wave 2
- Reality – it depends on your wireless requirements, If your users will
benefit from improved wireless performance today, go forward
- Probably a few still waiting for 11n 600Mbps (4x4)
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MYTHS vs. REALITY
• Only limited # of 11ac clients used by guests
- Samsung has sold 40 million Galaxy S 4s (11ac)
- Can’t buy Apple laptop without 802.11ac
- MRG estimates 58 million 11ac phones shipped in 2013
- Turnover rate continues to drop (6 months), 11ac will be the default chipset
- http://wikidevi.com/wiki/List_of_802.11ac_Hardware
• LTE growth will significantly reduce need for Wi-Fi
- Cellular and Wi-Fi are not competitors,
- Cellular and Wi-Fi are complementary technologies
- Cellular is large coverage area with low data rate (relative)
- Wi-Fi is reduced coverage area with high data rate (relative)
- Think Wi-Fi offload, Passpoint, 802.11u, NGH, …..
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MYTHS vs. REALITY
• 802.11ac will require a complete network rip and redesign
- Technology (wired and wireless) continues to evolve, planning for it is key
- You will still need to support legacy technology for a long time
- Designing with up to 160Mhz channels, using 256QAM, Rx Sensitivity of
51dBm to get max data rates is a waste of time, energy and money
- Think like an engineer, not a scientist
• 11ac allows you to reduce # of APs to offer same bandwidth
- Yes, in Theory, No, in Reality – where do you want to live?
- Performance will always be based on the clients capability, not just AP
- Always will have mixed environments, lowest common technology
- Wireless is continuing to grow and you will always need more bandwidth
- Think radios, not APs
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MYTHS vs. REALITY
• Just too many technical challenges with 11ac
- Not enough 5GHz channels available (80-160Mhz per channel??)
- Complex channel planning
- Will increase CCI & ACI interference
- I will lose support for 2.4Ghz
- My existing network was designed for 2.4Ghz
- 11ac requires higher signal strength (RSSI) to be effective
-
-
(1.3Gbps)
Phones and tablets require stronger signal strength (RSSI)
Need to upgrade my edge switches
Need to upgrade my switch uplinks
Will 802.3af be enough – maybe
Now I will need to pay for a consultant too!
Urgh, cat 3 to cat 5 was so easy
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MYTHS vs. REALITY
• Myths and Questions From Audience
- What are you hearing?
- What are you believing?
- What are you thinking about?
- What's keeping you up at night?
- What are other vendors telling you?
- What are your consultants telling you?
- What about other technologies 802.11ad, af, …
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DESIGNING HIGH-PERFORMANCE WI-FI
DOING MORE WITH LESS INFRASTRUCTURE
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HOTEL WI-FI DESIGN EVOLUTION
2014
2010
• Nice to offer
• Mandatory requirement
• 3-5 active devices per floor
• 3-5 active devices per room
• Design RF for laptops (-72)
• Design RF for tablets/phones (-65/-59)
• 2.4 centric
• 5Ghz centric, but 2.4 is required
• Application focus - Email
• Application focus – Video and Gaming
• Guestroom coverage
• Facility wide coverage
• Wired still primary
• Wired is no longer an option
• Cellular - not my problem
• Cellular integration - Passpoint
• Quality of Service
• Quality of Experience
• Meeting space Wi-Fi requested
• Meeting space Wi-Fi required
• Wi-Fi = infrastructure expense
• Wi-Fi = Monetization of the data?
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CLIENT ENVIRONMENT - REALITY
= 2.4GHz
300Mbps
65Mbps
= 5GHz
150Mbps
65Mbps
=
2.4G and 5G
450Mbps Max
=
2.4G and 5G
150Mbps Max
=
2.4G only
65Mbps Max
1.3Gbps
52Mbps
45Mbps
24 Mbps
6Mbps
6Mbps
120Mbps
150 Mbps
In a Wi-Fi network, the user data rates varies with distance, device
type, Wi-Fi band, channel width capability, interference, …..
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WI-FI CAPACITY - REALITY
150Mbps Max
Instantaneous
Bandwidth
2.4GHz Radio
50Mbps Avg
Capacity:
Multiple Users
300Mbps Max
Instantaneous
Bandwidth
5GHz Radio
100Mbps Avg
Capacity:
Multiple Users
In a Wi-Fi network, radio capacity is reduced by
protocol overhead and is shared by multiple users
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HIGH DENSITY CAPACITY PLANNING
Gartner recommends provisioning 6Mbps per user
Radio
Individual
User Capacity
Total Available
Capacity
Wireless network design based on number of users per radio
5GHz radio: 100Mbps / 6Mbps = ~15 users per radio
2.4GHz radio: 50Mbps / 6Mbps = ~8 users per radio
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MIXED CLIENT ENVIRONMENT - OPTIMIZATION
• The Challenge
- Wi-Fi is shared medium - slow clients reduce speed of fast clients
• The Solution – Client Classification and Segmentation
- Separate high speed and low speed clients on different radios
- Maximize system performance for ALL clients
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11AC DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS
• Wireless Architecture
- Distributed/Edge traffic processing
- Design for 5Ghz coverage
• Achieving AC speeds
- Understand the mixed client environment
- Classify and segment clients based on Band/Mode
• Wired Infrastructure
- Gigabit links to APs
- Design for increased backhaul traffic (MU-MIMO*), Multi-Gigabit uplinks
• Implementation planning
- Clients and Traffic volume will grow
- Designing for the future
How long do you expect a new install to last?
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SUMMARY
• 802.11ac will become prominent in 2014
- Driven from client manufactures
• 802.11ac brings great promise
- Understand myths vs. realities
• Implementation planning is key
- Architecture, client mix, fixed radios
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THANK YOU
INFO@XIRRUS.COM
Perry Correll,
Xirrus, Principal Technologist
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