Wireless takes off

DIDO has triggered debate as to whether wireless may supplant fixed networks.

Earlier this year opposition communications spokesman Malcolm Turnbull said that wireless technologies could render much of National Broadband Network infrastructure redundant.

Gartner research vice president Geoff Johnson doubts that wireless will replace fixed networks, however: “It will always be a complimentary technology – the only question is what sort of mix”.

The head of Cisco’s Australian health practice, Brendan Lovelock, says wireless is important in hospitals and other health organisations to improve efficiency and care. And it was critical to ensure clinicians got the benefits from digital health records that governments propose.

“Information needs to be delivered at the point of care and wireless is a great at enabling that to occur,” Lovelock says.

Wavelink’s Ordman says that a big opportunity for the channel is in providing wi-fi wireless solutions to exhibition centres and stadiums.

“Sydney Exhibition Centre turns off its wi-fi when they have conferences because they can’t handle the load,” Ordman says.

And wireless integrators can help carriers manage the strain on networks from larger data volumes during popular events.

For many hospitality organisations, wireless is synonymous with high levels of customer service. Thanks to the recent deployment of a wi-fi solution from DLink, the Rydges Hotel in North Sydney says it is one of the first in its area to provide free wireless to visitors and guests in public areas.

Managing wi-fi contention is a big problem, Ordman says. The traditional way was to make a network of micro cells with alternating channels but that suffers under load. Ordman: “It’s like having big room of people talking all at once”.

US wireless vendor and Wavelink partner Meru has claims to have a solution that creates virtual cells to enable access points to be managed on the same channel. In a typical wi-fi environment, the speed limit is set by the slowest device on the network. Merus claims Skype – now owned by Microsoft – among its wireless local network users.