Strong signal for growth in Australian wi-fi sector

Peter Davison, country manager of wireless vendor Aerohive, is also bullish on the prospects on so-called ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT) – which includes the Apple Watch – to spur wi-fi infrastructure investment. Aerohive also provides ‘freemium’ Euclid analytics, he says. “If you like what you see, you can get their deep-dive version that gives you store-on-store comparisons, deflections and so on.”

Davison says that Aerohive is “fully geared for IoT. That comes to the heart of our network management platforms. We’ll be able to identify iBeacons [short-range retail APs] and the Apple Watch will become either a client or device on the network”.

He warns that without resurveying existing premises and public spaces, heritage
wi-fi networks will fail under the next wave of devices that are upon us. “It’s going to require re-dimensioning but that also gives you more granularity with positioning, especially with iBeacons where you want them every five to 10 metres.”

“It’s frustrating: people ask what’s the range of our APs? If it’s in the paddock, it will go a long way, but what are you trying to talk to it with? If it’s an iPhone and you’re down the end of the paddock you can see the signal, but there’s no two-way communication because your [low-power] iPhone can’t send the signal back.”

Breakout: iiNet covers the City of Churches

Internode, a division of iiNet, installed Adelaide’s wi-fi network, one of the world’s biggest, that provides free internet to 30,000 citizens and visitors a day. The 300 wireless access points (APs) cover North Terrace to Wakefield and Grote streets as well as south city, North Adelaide and parks.

Why A world-class infrastructure to keep Adelaide ahead of the curve, reinvent the CBD, and provide a cultural and social experience.

What Cover north CBD; align with the Splash Adelaide program that reinvigorates streets and lanes; 2Mbps down speeds.

Cost $1.5 million. State government ($1m);
Adelaide City Council ($500,000).

Who Five people ran the project; 60 construction contractors.

When 10 months (August 2013 to May 2014).

Alternatives 3G or 4G mobile data coverage or free hot spot ‘islands’.

Challenges Acquiring AP mounting points; council provided light poles that were cheaper than private infrastructure. Lack of council knowledge of public assets lost through decades of rationalisation. Street-level electrical circuits have poor documentation (and energy market planners couldn’t anticipate wi-fi AP installation). Coordinating council departments that usually don’t collaborate. Rundle Mall was under development, limiting access. Only 20 percent of light poles were suitable due to energy-efficient timer switches.

Breakout: Next wave of opporunities

Wi-fi is about much more than installing a few access points in a corporate office. New demands for wireless internet are exploding.

Apple Watch More devices means denser networks that need to be reprovisioned and re-dimensioned to deliver expected performance to users.

Big data Mobile devices spew out information that is helpful in a variety of ways from crowd management to setting commercial rents. As the Vivid project shows, wi-fi data is useful to report back to stakeholders and develop business cases for further funding.

Retail The spread of iBeacons, such as those made by Estimote (below), enables new business possibilities including converting a sale from online to in-store, ‘in the moment’ when the shopper is ready to buy.

Smart cities Consider how municipalities will benefit from automated streetlights and smart parking apps.

Tourism and open spaces Wi-fi is still an enabler and differentiator to attract custom.

Enterprise automation Handheld devices replace paper forms for data entry and information retrieval

Internet of Things As devices such as pallets and industrial equipment get their own wi-fi transceivers, consider how a wi-fi network can aid item tracking, proactive maintenance and management.

Breakout: Fastest-growing wi-fi vendors

According to channel-centric analyst firm Canalys, Cisco is far and away
the leader in terms of wi-fi market share, though the recent combination of Aruba and HP Networking will give HP a sizeable No.2 position.

But what about fast-growing vendors? As the below graph shows, market leaders are being challenged by upstart vendors ready to rattle the cage.

1. Zebra