Have a read of this:

According to Max Wi-Fi, 989GB of data was transferred over the four days across nearly 5,000 devices. Of these, 85 per cent were iPhones and iPads. The public Wi-Fi provided at the show accounted for nearly 70 per cent of all data transferred, while the remainder was transferred over exhibitor and production networks. On average, 6.5MB of data was transferred per second.

via Wi-Fi users chalk up 1TB at London Frieze Art Fair | Exhibition News.

Now. We’re not talking about some all-singing, all-dancing tech show. No, this was at an art event! Impressive.

And you know what, I don’t blame those iPhone/iPad users. If there’s a fast connection made available, I’d rather use that than my patchy 3G service.

NB: Good work Max WiFi.

There’s a whole community of stakeholders. Thankfully, someone’s put a steak in the ground and said, let’s fix it. Or, at least, let’s discuss it, let’s look at some ways ahead and see what can be done to make things better for everyone.

This story at Exhibition News outlines what’s going on. If you’re a vendor or operator, I strongly recommend getting in touch with the organisers. If you need an introduction, drop me a note — I’ve been doing a bit of work with the team at Reed Exhibitions.

The meeting of 28 delegates at Reed Exhibitions’ offices in Richmond follows discussions on LinkedIn that led to a meeting at the Event and Exhibiting Show in July and now a working group exploring how to improve Wi-Fi connectivity on the show floor.

“This began as a discussion on Reeds Ops LinkedIn Group and seems to have struck a chord with all parties within theindustry,” Reed Exhibitions operations director Piers Kelly said. “Technology will become an increasingly important part of exhibitions and we need to have reliable, available and cost-effective solutions to providing Wi-Fi irrespective of size of event or location.”

Just in case you think it’s a non-issue, consider this rather delicious fact from a related Exhibition News post:

According to Max Wi-Fi, the wireless provider for the recent London Art Frieze Fair, attendees transferred nearly 1TB of data during the four-day event.

(85% of devices connected during the event were iPhones and iPads!)

Every single one I’ve used recently has been a pile of stinking shite. I’ve ended up using my BlackBerry’s EDGE connection rather than dick about with my iPhones clunking away on these hotspots.

The signal strength is invariably strong — it’s the data throughput that I can only compare to surfing the internet on a Compaq iPaq connected via infrared to an Ericsson T68i using very early GPRS data.

I did set out to try a speed test on the Boingo Hotspot at Houston Airport earlier today. I didn’t have the ‘Speedtest’ app on the phone and intended downloading it but after about a minute of waiting for the App Store to load, I gave up.

A pants, pants experience.

What is the point?

I suppose I feel good that I’m connected by WiFi because I’m tricked into assuming that this should be heavily superior to anything else, especially the carrier connection.

Increasingly — and I’m generalising I know — hotspots seem to be becoming more of a hindrance than a help.

I’d really like suppliers such as T-Mobile and Boingo to move to properly describing their services in terms of speed.

In the case of the Boingo one I experience, something like “125 bytes per second guaranteed when browsing leading websites” would be appropriate based on my experience today.

It’s not just Boingo though. I’ve had similar issues with T-Mobile as well. BT Openzone in the UK is another shocker too.

What’s to be done? Stick with the mobile operator connection when I’m abroad in the short term I think.

And reset my expectations on WiFi services.

How have you found these services recently? Is it just me?

I arrived into my room to find a relic of the cold war ready to supply my every connected need — via fixed line ethernet.

I shit ye not. Here’s the proof:

The iBAHN relic

There’s no WiFi in the room.

So once again I have supplied my own, thanks to the gorgeous Three MiFi E586 unit, currently knocking back the megabits thanks to the plentiful ‘H’ data signal in this area.

No thanks to Hilton.

The room is very nicely appointed, by the way. Lots of dark wood — but crucially, no flat-panel TV. That is, I think, a telling sing. A hotel room that doesn’t have a 42″ TV is.. well, that tells you something nowadays doesn’t it?

It tells you that the management haven’t quite bothered. Not when the rest of the room is very, very nice.

This viewpoint is confirmed when you look at the piece-of-shit iBAHN box on the desk.

Fair enough, keep the wired connectivity. But come on, what about blanket WiFi coverage?

Yet again, a hotel screws it all up.

I’d have paid the £15 they’re demanding for 24 hours of internet access. I would have. It’s — well it’s just natural, right? Especially when it’s a business expense. The silly thing is, the Three MiFi unit is probably faster than the wired connection anyway.

I know the internet costs £15 because there’s a Hilton branded yellow sticker peeling off the top of it containing that information. Quality.

The quality informational sticker

Forget the egyptian cotton sheets for a moment, what about your connected-hotel strategy, Mr Hilton?

It’s rather stimulating nowadays to consider the importance of WiFi.

Think about the tens of millions of folk with iPads expecting to get some kind of connectivity. Or iPhones. Or MacBook Air devices — like the one I’m typing on at the moment. The MacBook Air doesn’t do fixed line ethernet. Not without the little dongle that Apple charge you lots of money for. I have a few of them, obviously.

But I negated to bring one today.

I’ll be using my Amazon app to order one from Amazon to arrive as soon as possible. Not to use at this hotel, though. That’d be rewarding incompetence.

Connectivity incompetence. The rest of the service has met my expectations, Hilton — but the lack of WiFi? What a surprise. I didn’t even bother to check. I just assumed it would be offered in-room.

(For clarity I should point out that rubbish BT Openzone is offered in the public areas and it’s free — if you’ve paid the £15 24-hour access fee.)

Joy.

About flipping time.

Save us from BT-flipping-Openzone.

Anyone who wants to charge PER MINUTE for dog-slow-rubbish-paltry-almost-helpful WiFi service deserves some serious competition.

It is utter shite, BT Openzone. I don’t think I’ve ever actually had a satisfactory service from it. It’s either been stupidly slow 2k/second 1990s speed, or I’ve been put off by the outrageous pricing structure.

I’m not that satisfied with ‘WiFi Zone – The Cloud’ either. It’s pretty usable in McDonalds, but I haven’t had much success in London when I’ve been moving around. I think that’s because I haven’t been standing in the right spots.

I hope Virgin Media can do better. Here’s an overview from The Telegraph piece:

The firm’s chief executive Neil Berkett told investors that it was in “quite advanced negotiations” with London councils over the plans and said he was optimistic the rollout would begin “in the not too distant future”.

“The proposition would be that we would provide free Wifi access for all,” he said.

Laudable.

Talk to me about speed:

Virgin Media’s WiFi network will be freely available to anyone at 0.5Mbps, and to its home broadband subscribers at up to 10Mbps.

Eminently sensible. Take note, Virgin. I had a choice between BT and Virgin in the apartment I recently rented in Richmond. I chose BT. It was quicker. And I really didn’t want a sodding engineer to visit. Too much hassle. But you know what, if you’d been offering city-wide WiFi, I’d have become a customer. Definitely. I’d have borne the engineer visit hassle so that when I’m in London, I get proper WiFi speeds from you.

The approach contrasts with BT’s extensive Openzone network, which although free to BT broadband customers, is charged at as much as £5.99 for 90 minutes’ browsing.

Yes. Huge contrast.

I can’t believe Openzone is still based on per minute! Ridiculous.

The new service will allow smartphone, tablet and laptop users to surf the internet while browsing the aisles for their weekly shop at no cost.

via Mobile Today | Tesco to offer free Wi-Fi in stores.

I think this is only going to help Tesco in the long run. Provided the WiFi was of sufficient quality, this would certainly help me decide whether to go to Tesco, Sainsburys or Waitrose. As a man, I really don’t care where I buy products like, say, a 6-pack of Diet Coke). If there’s good parking, I’ll probably prioritise that store. If there’s super quality free WiFi? Yup. That helps my decision.

Often, mobile signal in stores is really, really bad. There’s one Tesco store near my parents’ place that seems to act like a faraday cage. Highly inconvenient when you’re trying to call to query a purchase.

Of course, I never call. Well, I rarely call. I’d sooner use BBM. Or Google+. Or email.

So bring on WiFi. Nice one Tesco.

Anyway, let’s get on with the overview. First, here’s a cunningly photoshopped set of photos of the podcast protagonists — (left to right) Ben, myself and then Rafe.

This week we’re recording remotely again as Ewan calls in from Austin, Texas. In the last episode of series 1 (don’t worry series 2 is already on the way) we have a bit of a whinge discussing ‘bothersome things‘ (as Rafe terms them).

Ben‘s list covered pages by the time we finished listing them pre-recording so here’s a few choice ones… We discuss:

• WiFi hotspots
• MMS
• Batteries
• Mobile apps failing without coverage
• Context sensitive ringing

Gumpy old men we might be, but these are the niggles which drive us mad daily. What are yours?

There are lots of ways to follow the podcast or you can subscribe using iTunes and other popular services.

If you haven’t come across them, Boingo is the world’s largest network of WiFi hotspots. I use them regularly, especially when I’m abroad. They’re great with airports, hotels, coffee shops and so on. I particularly like the way their laptop software automatically logs you in — and it’s reasonably convenient to use on the iPhone. Just a few taps and you’re done, provided you’re in a Boingo zone. There are 325,000 hotspots worldwide.

I have the big plan. The crazy price one. £39 a month (or $59) that gives me 2,000 minutes per month of access. Fundamentally, I have a serious problem paying for ‘minutes’ but I understand that this is often the easiest way to make the economics work when Boingo undoubtedly has to pay ‘network access fees’ of some sort to *some* hotspots.

To put this in context, however, I think I’m committed to spend £40 per month on my primary Vodafone contract, per month. So spending a similar amount on JUST a Boingo account does make my face display all sorts of pained looks whenever I think about it.

But I don’t.

That’s my strategy.

I don’t think about it. I do the equivalent of sticking my fingers in my ears and yelling “LA LA LA LA” loudly. That helps me forget the stupid price and the stupid business model.

I just don’t like paying for minutes. I don’t think anybody does. I’d rather have a flat fee. And frankly, I’d rather it was LESS money. But I want to use the service on both my laptop(s) and my mobile devices. So I lump it.

And I forget about it.

Until, that is, I get these kinds of emails.

Last week I got a note telling me I was approaching my 2,000 minute limit.

Today it seems I screwed that limit.

Have a read:

So here’s my problem: I hopped on to the Boingo site to see what I can do about this problem.

Because, you see, it’s now a PROBLEM.

Now I’ve got to DO something about it.

Now it’s a flipping faaaking exception that I need to manage.

As if I don’t have enough to deal with.

There are other plans you can buy.

To my knowledge I’ve bought the biggest one. Part of the logic there is so that I don’t get this exception shit. I just don’t want to have to manage it. Not when it’s costing the SAME as a good domestic mobile service plan.

I prepared myself for the arse-ache involved in having to upgrade my service plan.

Turns out I can’t.

I’m off to Baltimore next week and I do plan to use the Boingo service. Only, since my account is SUSPENDED……..

I’ve just spent the last 5 minutes hunting around the Boingo site looking for the PAY US MORE FLIPPING MONEY button. That’s what I was intending to do.

Yes I’ve already blown £40. I don’t have a problem with that. I used all the minutes. There was no fraud. I just happened to leave my laptop ON for hours on end when I was in Germany. I did that. Eyes open. No issue. I just didn’t expect to be punished for it.

By all means suspend the account. That’s excellent practice for folk who don’t want to spend any more money.

Me on the other hand? I need the flipping utility.

So what am I supposed to do?

I login. I look for the ‘upgrade’ button. No button.

Why can’t I buy an extra 1,000 minutes?

I have even considered buying ANOTHER account so I don’t have to deal with the flipping exceptions.

I’m at a loss to what to do.

I write this text as an illustration — a real time illustration — of user frustration, not just for Boingo’s ears (or eyes) but for the marketplace.

Could we possibly, possibly consider avoiding suspending folks’ accounts? Or, actually — what I mean to say is, by all means apply a suspension (I understand why this is relevant, good and proper), but RIGHT FLIPPING NEXT TO IT, add a button that says “UNSUSPEND” or “UPGRADE” or “TEMPORARILY GIVE US A LOAD MORE MONEY”.

I’d have done that this evening. Anything to avoid having to wake up to the reality of the amount of cash the service costs.

Now, though, I hit the wall. I woke up from the “LA LA LA LA LA” dream, dumbfounded that there appears to be no easy fix.

Now I have to sit there in flipping silence at Baltimore Airport with my arms folded because SOMEBODY, SOMEWHERE at the Boingo offices decided that 2,000 minutes should be enough for anyone in a 30-day period.

Right then. To the subject of this post. Are there any alternatives you’d suggest?

I keep on hearing about iPass. I keep on thinking I need to actually, actually knuckle-down and actually look at it properly. Is there anything else I am missing?

Or, actually, should I just use my Abroadband service instead as a Boingo replacement? My 3 MiFi unit doesn’t work in the States so I’d need to upgrade that, but I’ve no issue doing so. I just haven’t bothered as Boingo has usually kept me happy enough.

I’d welcome your suggestions.

I came up from London last night and stayed overnight in the Premier Inn next to the stadium. I then had to make what I’m sure is a very familiar decision to most readers — WiFi or not? Should I give a tenner to Spectrum Interactive (the providers of WiFi at the Premier Inn) or should I simply continue to use my 3 MiFi?

My dilemma was this. I had 1.3GB to download and it would obviously be a lot faster via a fixed connection. However I’ve been to far too many hotels with utterly shit WiFi so I’ve grown very, very wary of wasting my cash unnecessarily. In this context I’d have been happy to pay for the utility.

What’s your perspective?

I took a video and walked through my reasoning. Let me know what you think…

Over the past few months I’ve had quite a few email enquiries from readers wondering if I had any perspective on the issue of internal enterprise WiFi. I had to point out that although I’ve got strong views on the subject (i.e. it should be secure, but it should be easily accessible — and available to every employee), I wasn’t sure about the technology or procedures to follow. Hence the introduction of this series. I hope you find it useful.

I put a call for submissions up a few weeks ago and we’ve had quite a lot of companies operating in the WiFi technology space get in touch. I then wrote back to each company with a set of standard questions around the topic. In my outline I also asked respondents to actively include examples and references to their own products and services — and where possible, give a few sample case studies to help get readers started on the right techniques and practices. I thought this would be rather useful given the fact that anyone reading this series in-depth will obviously be interested.

Devin Akin of Aerohive Networks

I have to say that I was thoroughly impressed at the answers submitted for this post by Devin Akin. Devin is Chief WiFi Architect at Aerohive Networks. His list of commonly performed duties is rather comprehensive — I have to reproduce it here:

Company evangelist, channel builder, strategic employee stealer – Aerohive is building the A-team, technical marketing (competitive analysis), corporate strategy, internal cheerleader, deal closer, innovator, business development, and fixer

Next, let’s have a picture of the man himself:

Ok, so that’s Devin. Now let’s take a look at Aerohive.

They’re a specialist enterprise WiFi infrastructure company with a different take on the technology architecture underpinning wireless networks (as Devin will explain below). They use Cooperative Control (controller-less) architecture combined with both public and private cloud management systems. They’re based in Sunnyvale, California but their footprint extends across the globe. In terms of finance, they’ve just completed a series-D round of funding ($25m).

Right then, let’s get started. My questions are in bold.

- – - – -

A landline has been standard issue for employees for decades now.  In a similar manner, should enterprises be deploying internal WiFi services for their employees to use?

Yes.  Wi-Fi enables greater employee work efficiency, productivity, and computing on-the-move.  Recent studies have shown that the average Wi-Fi enabled worker yields up to an hour extra of productive work per day.

Additionally, some enterprise Wi-Fi systems now have the intelligence to identify the device type and user and tie that to a variety of other parameters (location, time of day, day of week, etc) to enforce user-based policies.  This ensures specific security measures are applied to workers while remaining productive.

Wired systems simply cannot offer this.  It’s for these reasons that all Ethernet switching vendors are now seeking Wi-Fi solutions to be paired with their Ethernet solutions, whether through OEM, acquisition, or by in-house development.

First, the enterprise Wi-Fi system has to have the intelligence to recognize a personal Mobile Internet Device (MID).  Once that intelligence is integrated, then appropriate authentication mechanisms must be in place for the specific MIDs in use.  For example, if 802.1X/EAP is not supported (or not fully supported) by the MID, then a Captive Web Portal (CWP) could be used to securely authenticate the user against an internal LDAP user database (such as Active Directory) and then securely (HTTPS) distribute to the user a unique PSK (called a Private Pre-shared Key or PPSK) for use while connected to the network.  Policies should include:

• Secure access for guests, corporate MID users, and contractors.
• Identification of device types, operating systems, and policy application (QoS, firewall, etc) based on a combination of user credentials and device. For example, a personally-owned iPhone might only be allowed Internet access while a corporate-issued iPad might have VDI and Internet access.

I think ‘slow’ is relative.  In the US, strong adoption started in 2001 and has accelerated without delay ever since.  In other parts of the world, it varies greatly based on economy, scepticism of security, education around Wi-Fi technology, technology availability, and more.  We see heavy adoption in many European countries, ANZA, and across APAC.  I wouldn’t say that adoption is slow, but in areas where it’s not ‘fast’, I would call the roll-outs more ‘measured’ or ‘calculated’.

I believe that, as an industry, we’ll continue to see a steady growth of Wi-Fi sales for many years to come in support of the MID explosion.  Many computing devices, for example, are not offered with an Ethernet option, such as smart phones, tablet computers, and MacBook Airs.

How secure is WiFi compared to a wired-line alternative? Is it possible to deploy a WiFi network that you’d consider as secure as wired infrastructure?

Wi-Fi networks are far more secure than wired-line networks, if the administrator wishes to implement the available security features.  It is now expected that every user on an enterprise-class Wi-Fi network has their own stateful firewall session (something that isn’t done on Ethernet) that controls and filters all of their traffic.

Enterprise Wi-Fi networks usually have integrated WIPS for intrusion prevention, and Aerohive even has L2-L4 DoS attack recognition/defence (moving beyond just the L2 that other vendors offer).  Each user in enterprise Wi-Fi networks is securely authenticated against a central user database using 802.1X/PEAP (or similar), which is usually supported by enterprise-class Ethernet switches, but rarely implemented.

It’s noteworthy that Aerohive supports fully-distributed data forwarding (as there are no controllers in our solution).

Our competitors are trying to emulate this with semi-distributed forwarding, whereby some protocols (stateless, such as Windows file copies) are forwarded at the AP and some protocols (FTP, TFTP, SIP, etc) are forwarded at the controller.  Since all or most (depending on vendor) is forwarded at the edge, the data is often decrypted at the AP and put onto the Ethernet unencrypted.  This makes it equal in security with Ethernet at that point.

This trend is impossible to not notice, and is driving adoption of Wi-Fi infrastructure in a huge way in Aerohive’s #1 vertical market: education.  The strain that tablet computers, such as the iPad, put on the network is shocking but, for Aerohive, it’s a God-send.

Our architecture was designed from the ground-up for extreme scalability and speed, un-killable resilience, tremendous edge-based intelligence, is low cost with pervasive coverage, and extremely high-density handling.  All of these are required to handle the ‘iEverything Explosion’, as we call it, and Aerohive is the only vendor positioned to deal with this opportunity (that other vendors see as a problem).

In addition to the need for resilience and speed in supporting this tidal wave of MIDs on the network is the intelligence within the platform to deal with incompatibilities between clients and infrastructure due to problems like bad client drivers.  Aerohive’s intelligence engine is far ahead of any of our competitors in auto-diagnosing and auto-correcting client problems in order that clients continue to maintain their SLAs, which we support and were first-to-market with.

When it comes to delivering WiFi for thousands of employees across a multi-storey building, explain to us why you can’t deliver this with a few £49 routers from PC World plugged into a standard BT Broadband line?

Such SOHO-class Wi-Fi routers have the follow deficiencies:

• No shared control plane or enterprise features, which means no RRM, WIPS, RTLS, Fast/Secure L2/L3 roaming, tunnelling, centralized authentication, guest management, directory integration, survivability features, airtime scheduling/fairness, centralized management, user-based security profiling with QoS/firewalling, device recognition and policy application, client/AP health scoring, PCI/HIPAA/SOX reporting and monitoring, spectrum analysis, protocol capturing, etc.  The SOHO-class AP market has not progressed in 10 years, but enterprise-class Wi-Fi has made great strides, supporting mobile applications, giving users more productive hours in the day, and allowing a seamless corporate user experience regardless of where the user roams within the coverage areas.
• Typically handle a light traffic load for up to 15 clients maximum – often more like 10 clients.

Comparing such Wi-Fi routers to enterprise-class Wi-Fi, like Aerohive sells, is like comparing a group of bicycles to a 747 Jumbo jet and asking why you can’t just have everyone ride their bicycle from London to Sydney for £49 instead of £1499.

With today’s 802.11n networks, each Access Point (AP) needs a Gigabit Ethernet backhaul link in order to experience a non-blocking experience.  PoE or PoE+ is often provided via the Ethernet cable for cost-saving purposes, but I realize that’s really outside of the scope of the question, so I’ll stay on-point.

The question is an important one for the following reasons:

• Controller-based vendors have the controller as their system’s backplane.  If they have, for example, 100 dual-radio 802.11n APs, each having approximately 350 Mbps of throughput capacity, then that’s 35 Gbps of traffic that the controller may ultimately have to deal with.  Most controllers have up to four 1Gbps interfaces, but there are some very large/expensive controllers that have dual 10Gbps interfaces.  In either scenario, the controller is a bottleneck, and even worse, those controllers that have 10Gbps interfaces are still only capable of approximately 4Gbps of encrypted throughput.  That’s just for 100 APs with 300Mbps data rates.  What about 5,000 APs with 450Mbps data rates for large enterprises with new, state-of-the-art APs?  The controller-based architecture is dead.
• Because everything Aerohive does is within and between APs – using a resilient set of cooperative protocols (called Cooperative Control) – Aerohive’s backbone is the Ethernet infrastructure.  With fast Ethernet as the backbone, it’s still FAR faster than any controller can provide and, with Gigabit Ethernet at the edge, has no bottleneck at all.  Aerohive uses a highly-intelligent, fully-distributed architecture that is designed exactly like the Internet, where a group of separate-but-cooperative intelligent nodes (in our case APs) work as a team (called a Hive) to form one large distributed computer that cannot be taken offline unless every single AP dies.  When is the last time the entire Internet failed?  It works the same with Aerohive’s architecture.  The backhaul has no single points of failure or bottlenecks.
• With Aerohive, the backhaul can be Ethernet or Wi-Fi, as our system natively and dynamically meshes over any link available to it for added resilience.  Each link has a path-cost, and the least-cost path is used at any given time for forwarding of frames for the backhaul.  Each AP will auto-discover its neighbours over the Ethernet and Wi-Fi networks and form mesh links unless configured not to do so.  This is especially useful in scenarios where you need to reboot upstream routers and switches for code updates/maintenance and don’t want the Wi-Fi to go offline downstream.  This is something native to Aerohive’s architecture that is found with no other Wi-Fi vendor.

Do you think overly restrictive enterprise WiFi security policies are heavily outdated or still relevant for today’s environment? What WiFi policies have you seen adopted by enterprises?

I think ‘overly restrictive’ is open to interpretation.  You’ve likely heard people say that ‘access’ and ‘security’ are polar opposites and, in the past, that has been reality, but no longer.  I believe it’s important for a network administrator to have the tools at his/her disposal to create/apply the access policies that he/she deems appropriate.  What’s more, it’s important that the configuration of these policies should be simple, and with most enterprise Wi-Fi vendors it is not.

Aerohive’s system is the most feature-rich enterprise-class Wi-Fi infrastructure product in the market today, and yet it’s still as simple to use as an SMB-class product.  To directly answer your question, it is Aerohive’s stance that there are several areas that need improvement in today’s enterprise, including (but certainly not limited to):

• Securing guest/hotspot access.  This has been a problem for over 10 years.  The de facto standards for authentication/encryption today are WPA2-Enterprise using 802.1X/PEAP and WPA2-PSK.  Aerohive introduced a third option, a ‘best of both worlds’ option, called Private Pre-shared Key (PPSK) over two years ago, which has seen wide adoption among our customer base.  We’ve recently used this feature, in combination with our captive web portal (CWP) feature, to introduce secure hotspot/guest access.  A guest can register via HTTPS (secured via SSL) for a PPSK that is as secure as 802.1X/EAP.  This is an important enhancement that we hope to see everyone do in the future for the benefit of the industry.
• With user-based, policy-driven security combined with device and application recognition and other security parameters such as location and time-of-day/day-of-week, mobile devices can be given the specific access they need, and nothing more.  In the past, the tools to make this possible were: 1) not usually available and/or 2) very clunky.  Now that vendors have had time to mature their products and to address today’s MID explosion from a security perspective, access and security are on the same side of the fence – at least for some vendors (like Aerohive), though not for all as they’d have you believe.

What’s the best way to implement a guest WiFi network that doesn’t involve visitors and their hosts having to jump through helpdesk hoops to get wireless connectivity?

It really depends on the policy of the organization.

Most organizations will have an SSID dedicated to guest users, leave it with open security (no security), offer a CWP where the user can either register or agree to acceptable use (or both), and then proceed to the Internet at some rate-limited uplink/downlink value.  These types of networks are often either connected into a DMZ in the Internet firewall or firewalled within the Wi-Fi infrastructure (if the Wi-Fi infrastructure system has an integrated firewall) so that guest user traffic cannot reach internal network resources.  In scenarios like this, security can only be achieved through: 1) client use of VPN software, or 2) client use of secure protocols like HTTPS or POP3/SSL.

Some organizations use a ticketing system that dynamically adds a username/password to the system through the use of a special interface or application that can be used by a non-technical user like a lobby ambassador (receptionist).  These logins can be set to expire after a given amount of time.

Some organizations, in an attempt to offer guests ‘secure’ access, have started using PSK-secured guest networks, with the same firewalling scenario.  The problem with doing this is that the PSK is shared, making it easily hackable.

Aerohive can do all the above, but also tie our PPSK functionality into each scenario so that every user can have their own revocable PSK to secure their traffic.  Aerohive’s per-user stateful firewall assures that guest users may only go to the Internet, and they can be uplink and downlink rate-limited so that they don’t hog all of the Internet bandwidth.  Protocols can be filtered and traffic can even be redistributed (tunnelled) to a firewall DMZ from AP-to-AP if you like (though it’s not required).  Most customers like the fact that guest and corporate traffic can exist on the same VLAN and, due to per-user firewall policies at the AP, guest users can only get Internet access while other users have may have local access as well.

The best way is to use a self-registration CWP with PPSK and a per-user firewall that allows Internet-access only and rate-limiting.  This configuration takes seconds in Aerohive’s system.

Regarding deploying an internal WiFi network, can you give any examples of ‘gotchas’, problems or challenges that readers may not have considered?

There are many gotchas, but I have some that irritate me personally, so here’s a quick list:

First, I’ll say that unless all intelligence is within the AP, then ‘distributed forwarding’ is a mess.  Controller vendors push part of the intelligence out to their APs, and then perform some of their functions there, but still require that the controller perform other functions as well.

Where this gets sticky is with distributed forwarding of data.  Protocols that are considered ‘stateful’ like SIP, FTP, and TFTP, open dynamic ports on each end of the connection.  This means that if the Wi-Fi infrastructure vendor has a stateful firewall in their product, they must maintain this state.

For controller vendors, if the data flows to/through the controller, then there’s only one firewall to deal with, so this isn’t a problem, but when data flows are distributed, firewalls must be distributed into the APs and then be synchronized.

Controller vendors do not synchronize firewalls across APs, so traffic that requires stateful handling must traverse the controller, which forms a bottleneck – defeating the very reason for distributed forwarding.  That means that distributed forwarding with a controller-based architecture is just a ‘hack’.

Additionally, they have to decide which protocols will be distributed and which will be centralized.  That’s a mess.  Aerohive uses distributed forwarding with firewall synchronization across all APs.

In small deployments (up to 24 APs let’s say), some vendors are touting that they are ‘controller-less’ like Aerohive.  This is just silly.  They have reverted to the Colubris model of 2007 (long dead) whereby an AP becomes a controller for a small group of APs.  It’s still a single point of failure, still a bottleneck, and is feature-poor (in comparison with using a real controller) due to a lack of processing power, it’s minimally manageable, and it’s only a SMB solution at best.  This is not ‘controller-less’, and it is not an enterprise-class solution.

Every vendor calls themselves ‘enterprise-class’ it seems, but many are just not.  They don’t offer the system resilience or feature set expected in enterprise-class systems.  There are only a small handful of true enterprise-grade Wi-Fi infrastructure systems on the market, and Aerohive’s is the best among them.

A challenge that users should consider is that voice/video/RTLS and high client density handling require a reasonable number of APs.  Often vendors will try to be more competitive on ‘up-front’ pricing by short-changing the customer on APs, saying things like, “our system requires 30% less APs” – that’s just misleading.

In any scenario where there is a large number of client devices (like a school perhaps), ‘coverage’ is rarely a top priority in the design, but rather ‘capacity’ is more important.  If accurate location services are needed, then more APs are often required for the installation.  Don’t let the marketing fool you.

The typical rule of thumb is one AP per 3,000 square feet for RTLS and 4,500 square feet for high-density/high-capacity with voice/multimedia.  It can certainly vary, but these are good places to start your planning.

Aerohive has a free planning tool at www.Aerohive.com/planner that customers/prospects can use to plan their networks and to get an accurate idea of how many APs they will need for a given capacity, coverage, data-rate, etc.

Should companies deploy WiFi networks themselves with their own resource, or should they hire a dedicated specialist to prepare, advise and install it?

I think there are two ways of looking at this question.

First, I believe that all customers should be educated, to some degree, on the technologies they implement within their business.  If the customer can afford to train their people to properly design, install, configure, and troubleshoot enterprise Wi-Fi systems, then they should.  If they cannot, then they should at least educate their people to the degree necessary to properly oversee those contractors/providers who do the work so that the organization is not taken advantage of.

Second, I believe that it is a good idea for all organizations to have one or more trusted advisors (consultants), systems integrators (SIs), or Managed Service Providers (MSPs) who they work with for IT services.  SIs and MSPs usually dedicate tremendous resources to training their engineers to be experts both on specific technologies and on specific hardware/software that they sell for manufacturers.

In order to answer your question as accurately as possible, I believe that it’s important to hire a specialist to participate in the most complex portions of the process, such as design.  A network architect (designer) will understand, end-to-end, the Wi-Fi infrastructure platform, how it hooks into back-end authentication systems, client load capabilities, how to use the feature sets, etc, and can design the network around the system’s capabilities and/or choose a system that has the right capabilities for the customer (depending on the situation).  Initial configuration might also be an area where an expert consultant may be very helpful.  For day-to-day operations, either an MSP or a systems administrator seems most cost effective and appropriate.

Could you give us some examples of best practice installations that you’ve recommended, implemented or observed from around the marketplace?

I’m not exactly sure how to answer this question or what you’re looking for, so I’ll offer some related information.

Aerohive is extremely strong in the education market.  Requirements for Wi-Fi in this market are stringent: high-density of clients, high traffic load, variety of client types, traffic spikes at the beginning of classes, the need for classroom control mechanisms, mission-critical resilience (100% uptime) during class hours is required, indoor and outdoor APs must be coordinated, temporary buildings need instant meshing with additional Ethernet ports on APs for printers and local switches, many simultaneous user profiles (guests, staff, students, contractors, etc), and strong security (802.1X/EAP, PPSK, WIPS, stateful firewall, etc).

This is just a few requirements, but the actual list is much longer.  In order to meet these needs, most schools deploy one AP per two classrooms, but when the school’s physical structure is concrete block walls, it’s often one AP per room because RF simply doesn’t penetrate concrete block walls.  Aerohive has a variety of AP types (indoor, outdoor, high-end, 2 gig ports with long range), entry-level (1 gig port with medium range), etc, to fit every need and cost requirement.  We have hundreds of schools deployed in this manner.

For remote workers, VPN connectivity is a big deal.  Aerohive APs can be VPN clients and VPN servers.  Our AP300 series can terminate 128 tunnels and be configured in redundant mode, so for remote workers and branch offices it solves the problem of buying additional hardware with additional management systems.  It’s a great solution for mid-market VPN needs.

For large-scale branch office and home Wi-Fi with VPN termination, Aerohive will be launching a platform in Q3/11 (based on the Pareto Networks acquisition from January 2011) that will scale to tens of thousands of locations with low-cost CPE that supports zero-touch auto-provisioning and cloud-management with complete end-to-end visibility.

There’s something for everyone here.  We’ve deployed our existing VPN solution into dozens of customers, who claim that it’s important to them because: 1) it’s managed by the same system as the Wi-Fi, 2) it keeps both sides of the link on the same L2 LAN segment (IPSec over GRE), and 3) there’s no feature license – it’s included free with the cost of the AP.

Well then! Wow! Thank you for such comprehensive answers Devin.

If you’d like more information about Aerohive Networks, please visit them at aerohive.com.

We’ll have more contributions to the Internet Enterprise WiFi Best Practice series shortly — in the meantime, thank you once again Devin.

The well-known 3D shooter Quake 3 Arena can be seen running smooth on a PlayBook with a couple of other apps in the background, including videos. It only took Joel Keller a couple of days to do all the work and get it running. In addition, several devices can be connected in a multiplayer game over WiFi.

Here is the video:

New Content Series: Internal Enterprise WiFi Best Practice

I’m working on a content series focusing on best practice for internal enterprise WiFi. I’m looking for spokespeople to answer some questions around the issue.

The increasing integration of tablets and smartphones into the corporate environment is prompting many to consider the introduction of WiFi services building-wide. This, in turn, is leading to a wide array of questions about deployment. Should employees get blanket WiFi for all their personal devices? What are the security implications and will they outweigh the benefit derived? Should WiFi be limited to company owned devices? Should it be heavily encrypted or will a simple MAC-address entry in the switch suffice? I’ve a lot of readers who have emailed recently seeking answers to these challenges prompting me to begin this series.

I’m aiming for 4-5 posts, featuring a different spokesperson answering broadly the same questions. I’m working on those right now — if you think there’s some specific issues we should address, please do let me know.

Here is the format for each post: 

* Brief introduction from me
* One sentence bio of the spokesperson
* Q&A content
* Two sentence bio of the spokesperson’s company including URL

I’m particularly interested to feature companies who specialise in the provision of internal WiFi services and systems for enterprises. If you think your client has something to over in this arena, please shoot me a quick note and I’ll get back to you right-away.

I’m aiming to begin publishing Q&As in the next week or so. I’m flexible on the deadline though so please do reach out.

Email is the best way of connecting with me in the first instance as I’m all over the place! And a note on operations — I’ll be working with my colleague Krystal to get this up and out on the site so don’t be surprised if you see her copied into replies!

Regards
Ewan

Any suggestions?

The best email for me is ewan@mobileindustryreview.com or say hello on Twitter — @ew4n.

Have a read of this:

Some 55 per cent of 950 people questioned said they did not want Transport for London to go ahead with the programme, which was announced by Mayor Boris Johnson last week.

Of the opponents, 48 per cent cited concerns about privacy, including the potential for other passengers to see sensitive data over their shoulder. A further 31 per cent said they were worried that increased use of smartphones and laptops on the tube network would encourage thieves, and 14 per cent said it would make journeys more stressful.

via Londoners ‘oppose tube WiFi plans’ – Telegraph.

Clearly, the folk doing the survey spoke to a bunch of heathens.

Concerns about privacy? Privacy? That’s a stupid one. Ultra stupid. Privacy? Really?

Oh please. If that’s a valid concern, then we should rip out WiFi from every railway station in London. We should descend upon McDonalds and rip out every WiFi transmitter in every one of their restaurants. Yeah. No. Ridiculous.

And what’s this about ‘encouraging thieves’? Oh come on. People are ALREADY using their devices on the Underground. It’s just a flipping arse that you can’t actually *do* anything meaningful with them.

Just how many people are going to get more stressed by the introduction of WiFi on the Tube? 14% people actually specified that as a concern?

Presumably these are the same people who are worried about going on holiday to ‘somewhere foreign’ and are concerned about the possibility of the sky falling down.

Here I am at the Eurostar terminal at Paris Gare du Nord.

A guy just sat down opposite me and tried to connect to WiFi. He opened up his MacBook Pro (this is the business lounge, so, you know, MacBook Pro’s are ten-a-penny) and tried to find the WiFi.

Like me, he cycled through the various paid-for network options and then got up and went to reception. He returned with a credit card in a little plastic envelope. He looked in disbelief at his girlfriend and proceeded to use his fingers to scratch off the WiFi codes. That gets you 60 minutes of WiFi usage.

No doubt, he was wondering why — like me — he’d paid £225 for a business-class ticket for this experience.

He proceeded to connect to the SFR WiFi — I’ve written about that before — utter bollocks. It looks fast. But it’s not compatible with Boingo or anything else. It’s for French customers only. That’s fine.

I’m not a customer of Gare du Nord. I’m a customer of Eurostar. And I’m in their business lounge. So show me the internet!

Yeah.

Right.

The guy began to get a little bit frustrated. He was speaking in French so I could only pick up the odd ‘WiFi’, ‘email’ and ‘ess-fffff-errrr WiFi’ comments. I could certainly measure his frustration. 9 out of 10 I reckoned.

His train was due in about 10 minutes and he wanted to check his email (I’m on the one after him, which is why I’m not writing this post percolated with all sorts of swear words).

Fumbling with the plastic and the passwords, the chap tried to connect to the network.

Over his shoulder I saw the same error message I was getting.

Firefox wasn’t liking it. SFR kept timing him out.

I tried Safari and got the same error.

Finally I waited a few minutes and tried accessing the SFR WiFi login page with Chrome. Success.

Alas this chap’s train was now boarding. He didn’t have time. He left the lounge really, really annoyed. I would have been too.

After 16 minutes of messing about, I managed to get connected.

This is good news.

More good news? The SFR WiFi is actually pretty usable.

My feedback for Eurostar:

1. Install your own dedicated WiFi service — and if you must secure it, how about making users sign-in with their Eurostar login credentials?

2. Make the internet service blazing fast and tell your customers about it. Really show off about it.

3. In doing the above, please dump the plastic credit card thingy. It’s so… ‘add-on’. Like internet and WiFi is an afterthought.

Meanwhile, if you’re doing Eurostar business from France and you need internet — remember to ask at the business lounge reception for the little card. And persevere. It does actually work.

I’m sitting in the Eurostar terminal’s business class lounge right now at Kings Cross St Pancras. I’ve paid £450 for the return ticket. I paid the money partly because I want a big seat without somebody waving their newspaper in my face. And partly because I want stuff done. I want it to work. I don’t want to have to think. Create an exception for me and you’re costing me a lot of money in attention. Indeed, since so much of my work is cerebral, any exception that forces me to have to deal with shit gets really, really annoying.

Witness, for example, the frack-up last week when I changed my ticket from the 8pm to the 7pm train in Paris. The lady at the counter swapped the ticket for me in 30 seconds. I then spent the next 30 minutes dicking about — DICKING — about because the Eurostar reservation system literally double-booked.

What kind of bollocks reservation system double-books? I moved about the carriage three times, each time prompted by the Eurostar lady with her flimsy piece of paper printed at least an hour before. My name wasn’t on it — that’s why I know it was out of date. What the frack is Eurostar giving its team information on BITS of paper for? Why aren’t they carrying a dynamically updating ‘device’ of some sort to give them real time data? So. Stuff like this winds me up. It wound me up even more because I’d paid £225 for the privilege.

Back to the flipping WiFi.

Again, pay the top dollar and you’re supposed to get service. The business class section at Kings Cross is nice. There’s a team of attentive folk walking about asking if you’d like another drink. There are peanuts ready to be spooned on to waiting plates. There are mini cans of lemonade. There are newspapers and magazines.

And there’s bog-standard bollocks internet. It’s perfectly fine if you’re a consumer. When you are trying to while away the 40 minutes before your train boards, waiting a few minutes for your laptop to display your hotmail is, I suspect, wholly acceptable.

I was trying to actually work. You know. Work. In the business section. And that requires me to have fast internet.

Honestly, it’s literally quicker to connect to my 3UK MiFi dongle than it is to use the WiFi — which, by the way, is the same WiFi you get if you sit 5m to my right in the standard class area. It’s the ‘St Pancras WiFi’. That me and about a billion other people are leeching of.

And the sodding power socket by my chair doesn’t work. So my laptop battery is now at 33%. Gaahh.

Thanks a lot Eurostar.

I really was wondering whether I should bother spunking £450 on a business class ticket each week. I’m slowly getting the message that it’s a stupid, stupid way to behave.

My message to the train operators attending TrainComms2011 is JFDI. In case translation is required: Just frakking* do it.

This June, BWCS will host its sixth annual WiFi on Trains Conference Train Communications Systems 2011, with train operators from all over the world due to speak and attend.

The conference will be dominated by real case studies presented by train operators who have launched WiFi on-board services. Book now, to hear how these go-ahead companies have overcome technical, marketing and operational issues to offer passenger WiFi and help win the battle to fill empty train seats and cut operating costs.

Join the throng of national train companies, new competitors, rail authorities and would-be new operators at this year’s Train Communications Systems Conference on the 8th and 9th of June at St Pancras International Railway Station in central London to discuss the latest trends and services in this fast-moving market.

It’s simply ridiculous that the Eurostar doesn’t yet support WiFi on-board. They will. It’s coming. But they need to blow a few hundred million on some new trains first. And there’s a good few years to go until they’ll hit service.

Likewise with almost every other train operator I can think of. There’s no excuse. Invest please. Get on with it. Make it chargeable if you must. IF YOU MUST. But if you’re going to charge for it, you better make sure the service level is good enough. Otherwise, seriously consider just making it part of the service.

I think free WiFi on board a lot of the packed commuter trains heading in and out of London would at least alleviate some of the boredom and frustration of the commuters who are forced to stand all the way.

It’s good to see somebody is doing something about it — in the context of running an event to address the issues. This event takes place on the 8th-9th of June. I’ll see if I can get along. It’ll be fascinating no doubt. And I tell you know, I bet all the case studies presented show that people actually appreciate the facility.

Both days of the conference will set you back £999. Not £1,000, by the way, that’s a rather strategically priced £999.

Full details at: http://www.traincomms2011.com/

*Frakking = a nod to the Battlestar Galactica fans reading.

Here’s the original release about the event.

Right then it’s Momchil here once more to talk Nokia — specifically the Nokia N8.

I have always used a Nokia as my primary phone and kept an iPhone and an Android device to the side. My previous Symbian mobile was the N97 which was amazing but had its drawbacks. I’ve been following Nokia touchscreen phones since the 7710 was released (and the mysterious 7700 was not). I was amongst the first to have a 7710 and I still keep it. I am loyal to Nokia and I always have one at hand for a reason – a Nokia is always practical, not overly simplified like Apple’s products and not too complex like Windows Mobile devices (pre Windows Phone 7). And another thing – a Nokia is always utterly reliable.

Nokia N8 and the sophisticated market of today

Despite being a Nokia Fundamentalist I have to admit that if this is their best attempt on the iPhone probably they could try harder. However, the N8 is a huge leap in the right direction. It has very cool features like HDMI out and USB OTG (On The Go) which allows the device to act as a USB host. The quality of the camera is impressive – both for taking still images and videos. There are many improvements to the operating system, some of which quite useful, like the built in task manager which is much better than the one seen in previous versions of Symbian. I’m sure the new MeeGo OS will be even more advanced. The Nokia N8 packs cool and useful features which I’d like to see in many of the new Nokia models to come.

Exciting Features – Nokia N8 never sleeps!

Have you seen a cat sleep? The animal appears to be always on the lookout for noises. Even if asleep, it will keep at least one ear on standby, scanning the background for potential trouble. The Nokia N8 is no different, it never actually sleeps except when the battery is flat. It will be there for you, night and day like a guiding light which never goes off when you need it. Yes, I’m talking about the standby clock. It’s really amazing! This isn’t your regular power saver which disappears in a minute, making you push a button to see it again. Who needs that anyway? The N8 features an ever-glowing, unobtrusive and essential timepiece, your very own, private, hands-on clock. Yes, always! It stays there ALL the time, no “buts” no “ifs”! The N8 sets a standard for high-end phones and poses a threat to any watch manufacturer. “My new wristwatch is an N8!” – is that even possible? No mobile phone would be a real alternative to a wristwatch, but Nokia N8 is pretty close at making the dedicated timepiece redundant. It is the ultimate substitute product, although its main function is supposedly to convey voice (and text). Possibly this cool feature would enhance Nokia’s competitive edge if it were implemented in all of their future models.

Exciting Features – Vibration

Yeah, vibration, what’s exciting about that? Well, it’s not your usual vibration, but more of a “cat purring” effect. You won’t even notice it at first. The phone actually “responds” to your touches with a subtle buzz. This gentle force feedback lets you know that the device has registered a “click” without being too obtrusive. It’s nothing like the cheap and harsh vibration on an LG Cookie, it appears to be a very sophisticated motion-emitting unit.

USB OTG – That useful little cable

The N8 comes with an unusual cable in the box, what’s that for? Well, if you have an N8, you should seriously consider taking this little cable everywhere with you. It could prove very useful. Imagine you’re meeting a friend who happens to have some cool pictures or videos on his USB flash drive or camera. You don’t have a laptop or a PC around, but you want the files. Using the USB cable provided you can download them to your Nokia N8 effortlessly! The internal memory of 16GB will easily be accommodating all the files you need. This amazing feature also enables using USB devices such as a mouse or keyboard. Coupled with HDMI and TV out, this means you have your very own, very portable and very powerful media center.

Exciting Features - HDMI

A true HDMI port on the N8 was extensively tested at the MIR office. Our in-house full-HD facilities enabled us to test the Nokia N8 in normal mode and video mode. My first attempt was to play a .mov file which didn’t work, however most of the other popular formats played easily. The results were impressive, video playback is crisp and smooth, with no unexpected glitches.

UPDATE:

The built in capabilities of the Nokia N8 are truly impressive! Just took a test video, deliberately shaking the device and changing rooms with various amount of ambience. Then I played  the clip with the N8 connected to an HDMI monitor. It performed beautifully, no sign of lagging or freezing. Well done Nokia!

The Nokia N8 has now been tested at the MIR office with a wide variety of popular video formats including high definitin .wmv, .m4v and .3gp files. The device performed beautifully both on its own and when linked to a Full HD monitor via HDMI. I must say I am really impressed with the results.

A universal Nokia (weak) point to consider

What’s with those flimsy covers? Yes, I mean the HDMI port cover, the SIM slot cover and the micro SD card cover. Just look at them hanging, is this what you call top quality? Just get rid of them! Yes I did examine them closely. I did see the cheap rubber lining which is possibly supposed to keep dust off, still not impressed! Everyone’s using them? – NOT so. Look at the 1st and 2nd generation iPhone, a sleek SIM card release mechanism, probably Nokia could even better that with some non-detachable parts (you could potentially lose the iPhone SIM card holder).

The plastic opening covers of the N8 can be seen on any Nokia device, from 6303 classic to Nokia Booklet 3G. Ok, I understand, there’s no space on the N8 for a Samsung Omnia 7 “sliding door” type of cover (the one on the USB port); but what’s your excuse for the Nokia Booklet? Couldn’t you think of something better than plastic covers hanging on a thin rope waiting to be ripped off? Yes, I’ve had literally 100s of Nokias, and yes I have ripped some of that plastic off, feels like part of my phone is missing.

In Conclusion

In the final analysis the Nokia N8 has its drawbacks, but its features are truly overwhelming. In my opinion this is the best Nokia to date, I can’t wait to see what’s coming next. Really looking forward to the first MeeGo device to be tested at MIR.

Detenna WiBE

We’ve had a note in from the team at Deltenna to tell us about their newest gizmo, the Deltenna WiBE. Or, in other words, the ultimate MiFi unit known to man. At least, it looks that way. I know that Ewan actually saw one of these working last week and all things being equal, we might have one to play with here at the MIR office soon.

The news release we got in today from Deltenna reports that recent 3G network testing undertaken in Cumbria and the Lake District has been very successful. So much so that for one news organisation, it may end the days of satellite vans. The WiBE device managed to increase 3G coverage 40x better than a standard MiFi device.

The signal was reportedly so reliable that it was able to deliver a continuous network connection good enough to deliver a continuous high-quality voice stream. So instead of having to drag a satellite van wherever you go, you could theoretically hop in your car, arrive on scene and contribute your report from a microphone plugged into your laptop running on your WiBE.

The trial with the WiBE proved that audio broadcasting, even in the most isolated of places such as Whinlatter Forest, is possible via 3G. (Literally the middle of nowhere – Google map) Independent tests were carried out using a MiFi device and the Deltenna WiBE with software similar to Skype but with better audio clarity. The result is a success — so much so that the news organisation will be using WiBE routinely.

Let’s get to some key points.

Speed

The WiBE extended mobile broadband coverage range into the remote forest of Whinlatter, where the MiFi device failed to register any signal. Not only did the Deltenna high-gain technology increase signal strength immensely, it also maintained average connection speed of 136KB/s, which exceeds the necessary minimum broadcast speed. Excellent.

Range

The longest recorded connection range was from a 3G base station located an impressive 22.9km (14.2 miles) away. Deltenna claims the proprietary antennas and algorithms give WiBE a throughput up to 30x that of a 3G USB dongle or mobile phone and 5x the connection range. The largest recorded RF signal strength difference was 22dBm, meaning the power reaching the WiBE was over 100 times that of the MiFi.

How it works

WiBE acts as a WiFi hotspot just like a MiFi device, but is nothing like your usual 3G dongle. The WiBE utilises four directional antennas and signal isolation algorithms to enhance the fastest signal in range.

Let’s have a comment from Dr Andrew Fox, CEO of Deltenna:

“Reliability is crucial in live broadcasts as the listener will instantly spot when technology has failed. The results, especially the 14 mile connection, highlight the increased range that WiBE delivers and its potential to bring broadband to a greater proportion of rural locations.”

The Potential

Deltenna’s WiBE technology provides an opportunity for businesses, especially when reliable broadband is needed in rural locations. It has developed solutions for a wide variety of wireless standards, including GSM, WCDMA, WiMAX and WiFi. Its technology is deployed throughout the world and has been adopted by multiple mobile operators to test 4G systems based on LTE.

We’ll definitely need to get one in the MIR office and see just how good it is.

Today’s industry expert is Ben Wilson, UK Country Manager for Xirrus, the leader in high performance WiFi equipment and services. (That’s Ben above).  He heads up the British operations for the company and kindly sent over these answers to my questions.

Right then, let’s get started! (My questions are in bold)

- – - – -

What’s the best way of guaranteeing brilliant, seamless WiFi service at a PR launch for 100 users?

Ben Wilson: Very simple – Make sure that there are enough WiFi radios available on non-interfering channels to allow connectivity for that number of users – primarily use the 5GHz band as it offers far greater density to more available channels. Also make sure that the intelligence of the WiFi network (i.e. the data plane and processing power) is at the edge where the users are – just like in a switch. Many WiFi systems use a centralised controller with all of the intelligence at the centre of the network. This introduces a single point of failure and creates a bottleneck for the traffic. High Density, High Performance WiFi need in this type of environment needs multiple radio architecture with the intelligence at the edge of the network.  It’s very simple maths and physics. More Radios = more bandwidth. More bandwidth = more supported users.

Now, factor that up to 10,000 or 20,000 people at a huge exhibition?  What kind of technology is needed to support that?

Ben Wilson: Well consider how the Cell Phone industry conquered this. They had similar problems with needing to expand coverage and capacity form a system initially designed as an overlay to landlines. Once Mobile phones became prominent and they needed to ramp up the ability to connect more users, host more calls and deliver data services but only having a limited number of channels in the spectrum to play with, they moved to a multiple radio with directional antenna model. Just look at a modern mobile phone mast. Multiple radios using directional antennas to allow more non-interfering radios in the air to support more users. This is exactly what the WiFi industry has started to face for several years and the only people who solve this density issue is Xirrus with the WiFi Array. The unit contains 4, 8 12 or 16 radios combined with multiple directional antennas, a multi-gigabit switch with the intelligence at the edge of the network in each device. This is what allows us to deliver 1000’s of users simultaneously in conference facilities.

What kind of technical considerations are required when you’re dealing with multi-room or huge venues like Earls Court or big, big hotels that might need connectivity on multiple floors?

Ben Wilson: The big challenge to overcome with WiFi is the amount of available non-interfering channels. In 802.11bg (2.4GHZ) there are just 3. In 802.11a (5GHz) there are about 20 usable in the UK. Once a WiFi radio detects interference it shuts off, as WiFi (unlike wired networks) is a collision avoidance technology rather than collision detection. This means that interference immediately starts to halve the available bandwidth and double the latency. By using a directional antenna system it becomes a reality to be able to avoid interference and get more non-interfering radios in the air, allowing more users to connect.

Once you’ve managed to assign and log a user on to a WiFi network, what’s the best way to assure brilliant internet connectivity?  Is it just a matter of a big, big data pipe?  The bigger the better?

Ben Wilson: Let’s do the math – the bigger the data pipe, the more available bandwidth for the users. That simple.

Is there a functional limit for the amount of people that you can get connected to a single WiFi network?

BEN WILSON: If designed properly, and using the right equipment it is possible to scale to tens of thousands of users.  In theory, each radio can handle up to 64 users, though most would recommend around 20 power users per radio.  So it really becomes a matter of the number of people to determine the number of radios.  This again is where 5GHz comes into play – it offers 7X more channels of 2.4GHz.  More channels = more radios = more users supported.

Do you have any suggestions for a rule of thumb in terms of data consumption?  e.g. 1 user consumes 200mb WiFi internet data in a day, therefore 100 users would need 20gb bandwidth in total.  And what kind of backhaul pipe is needed for a decent service?  Does ‘fast broadband’ from the likes of BT cut it in this arena? Or should we be talking super-fast dedicated connectivity?

Ben Wilson: This is the wrong way to look at this. Total data over a day is irrelevant – it’s the amount of bandwidth per second per user is generally a good starting point as that is how your data pipe connectivity is measured. If you have 1000 concurrent users, stats and experience show that a max of 50% will be demanding bandwidth at any one time. Let’s say that for general email and internet use you decide to give them a solid 1mbps each. That’s 500 Mbps of bandwidth.  In most hotels and smaller conference centre, there are generally only about 50 users needing bandwidth at the same time, so dependent on the capacity and the venue depends on what kind of internet you need.

In reality, is it just too expensive to do this properly to serve, say, 5,000 or 10,000 delegates?

Ben Wilson: Quite simply – no. In the past with centralised architectures and lightweight AP’s then the cost of the cabling and the management and the ongoing interference problems and hassles made for an expensive layout for kit, installation and ongoing training and maintenance. With a fully distributed architecture and multiple directional antennas, with the intelligence at the edge, Xirrus requires 75% fewer cable runs, switch ports and devices to deliver this kind of solution. Selecting Xirrus makes this viable. Look at Microsoft – we served there roughly 3,000 concurrent users on just 12 devices with still plenty of head room – We could have had 2 to 3X more than that.

What are the main ‘gotchas’ that result in event organisers being harassed by frustrated users?

Ben Wilson: Poor design and implementation leading to lack of available bandwidth. Using products designed as an overlay rather than designed form the ground up for high density deployments and to replace wired switches a cause massive problems for users as they all try to log on.

Do you have any brief case studies or examples you could share where the technology has really worked?

We have several examples at http://www.xirrus.com/customerdeployments/hospitality.php
Microsoft Events: http://www.xirrus.com/customerdeployments/microsoftevents.php
Interop Las Vegas: http://www.xirrus.com/customerdeployments/interoplv09.php

What would your equipment/service shopping list look like to deliver WiFi to 500 or 10,000 delegates?

Ben Wilson: Let’s discuss what you want to do, how you want to perform, what devices you’ll be supporting, the existing RF environment and we can put something together. For a 500 user WiFi Network, you’re looking at around the 10k GBP mark.

Take a gaze into the future: What should we be looking for in the future to deliver this kind of connectivity?

Ben Wilson: No need to look at the future. As Microsoft and Interop prove, we can do this right now.

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Ben, that’s fantastic, thank you for taking the time to answer.  They will be really useful to many of the readers.

If you’d like to talk to Ben and his team at Xirrus, drop them a note — you can find all the details at http://www.xirrus.com/uk/.

Today’s industry expert is Scott Reeves, Technical Director, EMEA, for Ruckus Wireless.  That’s him above. Scott knows a thing or two about WiFi. He has over 15 years of sales, engineering and management experience in the high technology and networking industries. Prior to joining Ruckus he lead the Neoteris European Engineering team, taking No1 market share in SSL VPN, (now part of Juniper). Before Juniper he was the sales engineering director (EMEA) for Alteon WebSystems where he supported the development and growth of the business to a run rate of over 60 million USD per year and No1 market share. Scott’s experience includes positions with Alcatel, Nortel Networks and Madge networks.

Right then, let’s get started.  My questions are in bold.

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What’s the best way of guaranteeing brilliant, seamless WiFi service at a PR launch for 100 users?

Scott Reeves: One dual-band 802.11n access point (AP) could easily support 100 concurrent users, but to guarantee brilliant, seamless Wi-Fi, you really need to think about the bandwidth requirements for your launch.  One AP could provide anywhere between 40 and 200MB throughput to 200 concurrent users depending on the devices being used to access the network, so realistically between one and three APs should be more than enough to support any sort of PR launch for 100 users.

Now, factor that up to 10,000 or 20,000 people at a huge exhibition?  What kind of technology is needed to support that?

Scott Reeves: If you’re expecting 10,000 or even 20,000 people to attend a huge exhibition, you can also be fairly sure that not all of them will be accessing the wireless network at the same time.  If you think about the WOMAD festival that took place at the end of July, the event attracted some 40,000 visitors, but there were never more than 500 concurrent users on the Wi-Fi network, with around 2,000 unique users in total.  Traffic on the guest network never exceeded the 100MB backhaul connection.

At the WOMAD festival, we were able to guarantee reliable Wi-Fi access for both guests and organisers using 35 APs positioned at various points throughout the 350 acre site, with more near the main stage and in other densely populated areas. This meant that each AP had to support no more than 100 users at any given time – with the back-up, that it could scale to support 200 users during peak times.  Load balancing like this is key to ensuring that no single AP becomes overloaded and impacts on the user experience.  Another factor to consider is RF management – using beamforming technology, it is simple to maximise throughput from each AP and minimise the impact of interference from neighbouring devices.

What kind of technical considerations are required when you’re dealing with multi-room or huge venues like Earls Court or big, big hotels that might need connectivity on multiple floors?

Scott Reeves: When installing Wi-fi networks in multi-room or huge venues like Earls Court, the most important thing to get right is RF management. Using technology like Ruckus BeamFlex, you can make sure you’re using the RF energy as efficiently as possible, and ensure that you’re not wasting energy by transmitting it in all directions.  What’s more with a network covering multiple floors, you also need to make sure APs from neighbouring floors are not causing interference for each other. You’ll also need a controller to coordinate all the APs and ensure seamless roaming between them.

Another key consideration when building Wi-Fi networks for exhibitions at the likes of Earls Court, is being able to see, track down and mitigate any analogue noise before it has chance to cause interference and problems.

Once you’ve managed to assign and log a user on to a WiFi network, what’s the best way to assure brilliant internet connectivity?  Is it just a matter of a big, big data pipe?  The bigger the better?

Scott Reeves: The size of the pipe is obviously important when designing a Wi-Fi network, but you also need to think about air time fairness, rate limiting and traffic prioritisation.  No matter what size the pipe is, without these tools, there will always be one or two users that take up all the bandwidth, causing a detrimental knock-on effect for others on the network.  At WOMAD for example, there was a 100MB pipe, and each AP was capable of transmitting at 20MB/s. That’s 10GB potential capacity from the Wi-Fi network in total – theoretically more than the pipe can provide.  Rate limiting and air time fairness helped to ensure the throughput on the Wi-Fi network remained in line with that available on the backhaul, thereby guaranteeing brilliant internet connectivity for all.

Is there a functional limit for the amount of people that you can get connected to a single WiFi network?

Scott Reeves: There’s not really a limit to the number of people that can access a single Wi-Fi network at any given time. If you think about it, one of the most compact environments you’d find yourself in is a sports stadium and even in these types of venues, it’s just a matter of adding more APs to support the number of visitors. We’ve built networks of more than 30,000 APs that support hundreds of thousands of users.

Do you have any suggestions for a rule of thumb in terms of data consumption?  e.g. 1 user consumes 200mb WiFi internet data in a day, therefore 100 users would need 20gb bandwidth in total.  And what kind of backhaul pipe is needed for a decent service?  Does ‘fast broadband’ from the likes of BT cut it in this arena? Or should we be talking super-fast dedicated connectivity?

Scott Reeves: There’s not really a limit to the number of people that can access a single Wi-Fi network at any given time. If you think about it, one of the most compact environments you’d find yourself in is a sports stadium and even in these types of venues, it’s just a matter of adding more APs to support the number of visitors. We’ve built networks of more than 30,000 APs that support hundreds of thousands of users.

In reality, is it just too expensive to do this properly to serve, say, 5,000 or 10,000 delegates?

Scott Reeves: Not at all.  Realistically, not everyone is going to be connected all at once – we tend to find that around ten percent of users connect to a network at any given time, so the task of serving 10,000 delegates isn’t as daunting in reality as it initially sounds.

What’s more, it can actually be detrimental for venues not to invest in good Wi-Fi coverage.  In the hospitality sector in particular, the provision of flawless Wi-Fi is key to retaining old customers and attracting new ones.  The cost of installing a Wi-Fi network can soon be offset by the amount of business it helps venues to win and retain.

What are the main ‘gotchas’ that result in event organisers being harassed by frustrated users?

Scott Reeves: Users often get frustrated with Wi-Fi networks that don’t provide them with enough capacity, signal coverage or throughput.  You’ve got to strike a balance between all the components that make up a network to deliver the best service – for example, there’s no point having enough backhaul to support your needs if you don’t have enough IP addresses or Wi-Fi coverage to go around.

Bad network planning can often trip people up too – poorly positioned APs cause unnecessary amounts of RF signal noise and more often than not lead to spotty coverage.  Our new ZonePlanner tool is helping to take the guesswork out of wireless LAN design, making it easy for network managers to quickly and accurately plan, design, deploy and manage Ruckus ZoneFlex APs.

Do you have any brief case studies or examples you could share where the technology has really worked?

Scott Reeves: We recently installed a state of the art 802.11n Wireless LAN (WLAN) system at the HSH Nordbank Arena in Hamburg, which is one of the Germany’s largest stadiums with 57,000 seats.  The new network is ideally suited to provide rapid user access to Deutsche Telecom’s T-Mobile service, bypassing the 3G network altogether.

Ruckus has also provided high-performance mesh networks at the WOMAD festival in Wiltshire for the past two years.  The network supported some 40,000 festival-goers each year and also provided reliable connectivity for voice over Wi-Fi calls, chip-and-pin transactions and general internet access.

What would your equipment/service shopping list look like to deliver WiFi to 500 or 10,000 delegates?

Scott Reeves: To serve 10,000 users, you’d need a Ruckus ZoneDirector 3200 to manage around 160 dual band 11n 7363 APs – the total cost for this equipment would be in the region of 100,000 USD.  That works out at a cost of just 10 USD per user – which theoretically offers an incredibly fast time to revenue.  For example, in a large hotel where guests pay ten USD per day for Wi-Fi services, it would only take around ten weeks at just ten percent occupancy before you start seeing ROI.

Take a gaze into the future: What should we be looking for in the future to deliver this kind of connectivity?

Scott Reeves: Higher speed Wi-Fi devices are the way of the future – we’re expecting to see 450MB devices coming out within a year or so.  In a few years’ time, it will be expected for Wi-Fi to run at speeds of 1GB/s.

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Brilliant!

Thank you for taking the time to respond, Scott.  Your answers will be of real, real help to readers — and to any event managers/venue owners hunting for the right way to do things.

If you’ve got further questions, or if you’d like to get hold of one of those Ruckus ZoneDirectors, talk to the team at Ruckus.

I can’t stand going to events and conferences and finding the WiFi services are either faulty, slow or non-existent.  It’s a big problem for event organisers — and one that can no longer be sidestepped as being the venue’s fault.

Complain to the event organiser that, “The WiFi is rubbish,” or, “I can’t seem to get a connection?” and you’ll invariably get a response like this:

“Oh, yes, sorry,” the event manager will say, “I’ll have a word with the Hotel Manger.”

And that’s when you’re trying to PAY the service provider a stupid rate per hour for the privilege of using their connection.

The Hotels & Venues Don’t Get It

Unfortunately, all the Hotel Manager can do is place a call to their disinterested WiFi provider who won’t lift a finger for at least 24 hours.  Enough time to ensure every delegate is well and truly cheesed off by 10am.  That’s because the hotel contract is usually for rooms.  Their service provider is specialist at extracting $6.95 per hour or $14.95 for 24-hours from any paying guest half interested in decent internet.  And this arrangement works fine when 3 out of 500 guests decide to use it.  The rubbish DSL connection feels very fast when only 3 people are using it.

And at some point, the hotel room WiFi fleecing service was co-opted to the ‘public areas’.

False Advertising

And all of a sudden, hotels started putting statements like ‘guest WiFi available in all areas’ on their websites and brochures.  In many places I’ve been to they’ve obviously installed no extra equipment.  It’s often just the reception ‘public area’ WiFi leaking into the ballroom.

Event organisers will, I’m sure, routinely phone up and quiz the ‘meetings team’ hotel/venue people who all nod like chickens when asked if there’s WiFi.

The Ebola Virus

Unfortunately, WiFi in hotels and conference venues is generally the equivalent of the ebola virus.  Forgotten.  Not quite understood.  Irrelevant for most.  Until 500 delegates who’ve all paid $1,200 for a one-day event arrive with laptops, iPhones, iPads and other implements that all need WiFi connectivity.

Then you’ve got a problem.  Everyone’s got a very big problem.  And what’s worse, it can’t be fixed pronto.

You can’t use one NetGear router on a 10mb home broadband BT connection to serve 500 delegates. Especially when the average device WiFi requirement per 500 delegates in the mobile industry is around 2.4 connected devices per person. But goodness me, I’ve experienced at least 3 events offering this kind of service level this year.

I’m sick and tired of experiencing this kind of shoddy service.

Who’s Problem Is It?

I know it’s not the event manager’s problem per se.  The technology just isn’t understood that well.  Even the hotel or conference ‘meetings’ teams don’t seem to understand what kind of infrastructure is needed.  Worse, a lot of the conference venue folk I’ve met simply don’t think it’s a problem.

And to be fair, it’s definitely not a problem when the venue policy is to proudly declare that their entire complex is WiFi-enabled — and then make it clear that there is no possible, conceivable way you will be given their Access Key.  No. Way.

Because their system only works for 200 odd people.

And they’ve only got a 1 megabit internet connection that they’re sharing with their own office PCs.

At so many venues I’ve been to, the WiFi systems appear to be held together with string and powered by really tired hamsters.

The New Series

Here, then, is a Mobile Industry Review series aimed at tackling this issue.

If you’re an event organiser or if you work in the ‘meetings industry’, this series is specifically for you.  And if you’re a long suffering delegate, I present this series for your bookmarks — to forward to the chap or lady who will, no doubt, shortly try and explain why the WiFi isn’t working at [insert conference name].  Send them this link and a request for a refund of your ticket fee.

The MIR Event WiFi Charter

First, I present to you: The MIR Event WiFi Charter…

1. Delegates should be given free WiFi, especially if they’re paying to attend the event
2. Delegates should be able to download files at an average of 50k/sec throughput and Google should appear and deliver results in 2 seconds
3. Delegates should be allowed to activate up to 3 WiFi devices
4. There should be no registration required — this is always implemented as though it’s been conceived and programmed by an utter arse.  No forwarding weird rubbish.  No stupid proxy rubbish that doesn’t work on a mobile browser.  You should just be connected to the open internet.

WiFi Industry Experts Galore!

So, how do you go about delivering perfect WiFi for 10,000 delegates?  Well I don’t know.  I only know the rough concepts behind the technology.  Which is why I’ve asked a series of industry experts — some of the best ‘go-to’ companies around — to give me answers to the following questions.  I will be publishing each expert’s answers across this week.

Here are the questions I posed to them:

1. What’s the best way of guaranteeing brilliant, seamless WiFi service at a PR launch for 100 users?
2. Now, factor that up to 10,000 or 20,000 people at a huge exhibition? What kind of technology is needed to support that?
3. What kind of technical considerations are required when you’re dealing with multi-room or huge venues like Earls Court or big, big hotels that might need connectivity on multiple floors?
4. Once you’ve managed to assign and log a user on to a WiFi network, what’s the best way to assure brilliant internet connectivity? Is it just a matter of a big, big data pipe? The bigger the better?
5. Is there a functional limit for the amount of people that you can get connected to a single WiFi network?
6. Do you have any suggestions for a rule of thumb in terms of data consumption? e.g. 1 user consumes 200mb WiFi internet data in a day, therefore 100 users would need 20gb bandwidth in total. And what kind of backhaul pipe is needed for a decent service? Does ‘fast broadband’ from the likes of BT cut it in this arena? Or should we be talking super-fast dedicated connectivity?
7. In reality, is it just too expensive to do this properly to serve, say, 5,000 or 10,000 delegates?
8. What are the main ‘gotchas’ that result in event organisers being harassed by frustrated users?
9. Do you have any brief case studies or examples you could share where the technology has really worked?
10. What would your equipment/service shopping list look like to deliver WiFi to 500 or 10,000 delegates?
11. Take a gaze into the future: What should we be looking for in the future to deliver this kind of connectivity?

Standby for the responses — they’re good.  And if you’re looking to solve the WiFi for one of your upcoming events, I think the participants will be able to help.

Here are the expert contributions:

1. Scott Reeves of Ruckus Wireless
2. Ben Wilson of Xirrus

I’ve been doing some work in Richmond-Upon-Thames. Near the Vodafone shop. In fact, if I squint, I can see the Vodafone shop. You’d think that would mean in this particular affluent London suburb would be rife with all kinds of super-high-speed data connectivity. You’d think there’d be a minimum of 3G with a whole load of HS and HD and other kinds of PAs. HSDPA? HSPA? HSPA+? HSPA-super-plus-plus?

No.

EDGE.

That’s it.

I’m currently using my Novatel MiFi to surf the global data highway at a whopping — and I do mean — WHOPPING — 1.23kb/sec. And that’s to Apple. You know, Apple’s ultra-fast connection? Here in the office, I downloaded iTunes at 10.5mb/sec.

Yet when I switched on my MiFi? Ridiculous.

My mistake, it seems, is to be using Vodafone.

3 was ultra fast when I tried that (via their new MiFi unit).

It’s not just restricted to MiFi of course. It’s any Vodafone connection in this area. My BlackBerries are languishing on rubbish Edge too. So are my iPhones.

And they’re all getting the same rubbish, rubbish 1k per second throughput.

This from the UK’s ‘most reliable network’? Poor show Vodafone. Poor, poor show.

Perhaps it’s not a surprise given that Richmond-Upon-Thames cannot be found in the Vodafone Coverage Checker place database. The postcode worked though. And of course, we’ve got bright red perfect coverage (apparently):

Rubbish.

I asked about the office. I was met with resigned faces. Everybody just accepted the fact that coverage from Vodafone was rubbish. This, despite Vodafone being the company’s operator of choice.

I had to demo an iPad working on a data connection. Now the iPad has an integrated Vodafone SIM. Which, of course, is running at Hamster speed.

So how did I fix this?

I’m embarrassed for Vodafone. I walked down to the 3 store, asked for one of their new MiFi units. I handed over 60 quid (that got me the MiFi and 1GB of PAYG data).

Five minutes later I was using the iPad at near-desktop browsing speeds.

No thanks, whatsoever, to Vodafone.

Who is running network QoS for Vodafone in Richmond? There’s got to be a light somewhere on the Vodafone NOC saying ‘We’re screwed in Richmond’, surely?

I don’t expect to pay a premium for Vodafone and — in a built-up sub-urban area like Richmond — have to arse about augmenting their rubbish network. It’s fine if I find myself in the middle of a farm, 100 miles from anywhere without a signal. I don’t mind that. But in Richmond? Ridiculous.

Poor, poor show.

I thought it was fitting to take a picture of 3′s new MiFi unit operational. In this photo the iPhone is connected to the MiFi unit whilst it uploads the unboxing video!

The best feature of the new device, apart from the rather funky screen? The always-on element. You just switch it on and boom, it connects and gives you a WiFi network. No other buttons required. I shall publish the video shortly.

Posted via email from MIR Live

Here’s the vid…

I’ll be posting more on this shortly, but in the meantime, here’s the full release. If you’re into SIP and PBX services, do take some time to read.

Research In Motion Limited today announced BlackBerry® Mobile Voice System 5 (BlackBerry® MVS 5) with voice over Wi-Fi® calling. BlackBerry MVS 5 works with Cisco® Unified Communications Manager to provide a business user with the ability to use their regular desk phone number and extension from their BlackBerry® smartphone. With the new version 5, an employee will be able to use a single work phone number shared between their desk phone and BlackBerry smartphone and make and receive enterprise calls on their BlackBerry smartphone over a Wi-Fi connection, adding to the existing capability available over cellular networks.

An increasingly mobile workforce and the growing number of employees working from home present challenges for businesses to keep their staff accessible through their work phone number and keep calling costs under control. With BlackBerry MVS 5, calls made through BlackBerry MVS are routed through the corporate phone system/Private Branch Exchange (PBX)*, which helps with adherence to company policies and enables potential savings on long-distance and international roaming charges. Employees also benefit from the convenience of a single work phone number shared between their desk phone and BlackBerry smartphone. Employees can be more reachable through their work phone number and can even enjoy the convenience of extension dialing from their BlackBerry smartphone as well as the flexibility to move calls from their BlackBerry smartphone to their desk phone. It’s also easy to use since incoming calls ring simultaneously on the employee’s desk phone and BlackBerry smartphone and employees access BlackBerry MVS using the same phone interface that they are already familiar with on their BlackBerry smartphone.

“BlackBerry Mobile Voice System 5 effectively provides a wireless extension of the corporate phone system to allow voice over Wi-Fi calling at work, public hotspots and home. It presents a great opportunity for companies to enhance the productivity of employees who are often away from their desks or working from home, such as workers in construction, hospitality, sales and professional services,” said Alan Panezic, VP, Platform Product Management at Research In Motion. “This latest release enables businesses to better leverage their investment in the corporate phone system, adapt to the growing demand by employees for more flexible work arrangements, improve workforce productivity and save costs on long-distance and international roaming charges.”

RIM and Cisco have worked closely to integrate BlackBerry MVS 5 with Cisco Unified Communications Manager to deliver an enhanced user experience. The solution has been tested for interoperability and will be supported by both RIM and Cisco.

Laurent Philonenko, vice president and general manager, Unified Communications Business Unit at Cisco: “BlackBerry Mobile Voice System and Cisco Unified Communications Manager provide and extend Cisco’s IP telephony features to BlackBerry smartphone users at companies of any size. With an integrated Cisco Unified Wireless Network, our customers will be able to have highly secure voice over Wi-Fi experiences and high quality phone calls with their BlackBerry smartphones while roaming across the wireless network.”

Advanced IT features built into BlackBerry MVS 5 will help to provide controlled, managed and secure use of BlackBerry smartphones with the corporate phone system. Key features include:

* Wi-Fi network access controls to set which Wi-Fi networks employees can access
* Network preference settings with the option of prioritizing the use of Wi-Fi or cellular for making phone calls
* Authentication to help ensure that only authorized BlackBerry smartphones have access to the corporate phone system
* Incoming call filtering based on allowed and blocked caller lists

A new interoperability platform has also been added to BlackBerry MVS 5 to enable telecommunications companies to offer BlackBerry MVS 5 as part of their corporate phone system offerings. RIM is working with leading companies to make BlackBerry MVS available for a range of PBX systems.

BlackBerry MVS 5 is expected to be available later this year.

I’ve been playing with LoKast for a few days and it’s raised some rather exciting possibilities. The application turns your iPhone into a two-way media server, enabling you to rapidly share any of your media (photos, video, contacts, music) to anyone else using the app on the same WiFi or Bluetooth connection.

My first reaction was ‘well, there’s just me at home, so…’ — but that’s to miss the point with LoKast. For any young’n'hip things regularly hitting music venues or gigs, LoKast could be hugely valuable. Provided you’re both running the app (and that’s the main issue) you can swiftly discover random people in your vicinity and start browsing the media they’ve elected to make public.

It’s an absolute breeze to use. Fire it up, give yourself a name, choose a profile photo and start tapping media you’d like to share. It’s stupidly fast — of course — because you’re not using the internet, you’re using the local connection.

‘Local-casting’ will typically work when you’re within 300ft of other LoKast users — provided there’s WiFi (or if there’s not, Bluetooth is a useful fall back).

Think about using it at a sports stadium, for example. That could be a rather interesting experience. One imagines you might be able to find some fantastic photos, videos and audio related to your team. But LoKast could be phenomenally useful around the music scene for anyone who’d like to receive (or distribute!) all kinds of band or artist related media.

Flip up the app, browse the users and you’re immediately browsing their public content. Click the ‘add’ button on anything and it’s yours (apart from DRM protected music — DRM music offers you a 30-second clip and the option to buy the track on iTunes — fair enough).

I love it’s simplicity. It’s essentially just a nice skin on top of a web server — but the simplicity is what is beginning to swiftly engage users. I hear it’s getting a riotous reception at the mediafest that is SXSX. I can well imagine why. I’m particularly keen on how the app ushers in an era of disposable media — the transitory experience of sharing media, never to be repeated again. Forget becoming friends or ‘adding people’, this is all about the media.

I’m not entirely sure where LoKast could go. I certainly think that if some of the cool’n'hip iPhone users pick it up around the music/gigs/events space, it’ll break out quickly from SXSX.

I think music is the way ahead though. Indeed, I understand that artists such as The Boxer Rebellion, The Ruse, Bazaar Royale, BlackMahal and Katia have all signed up to use LoKast at their events this month. I can imagine a lot of users all flipping up LoKast on their iPhone at the instruction of the band they’re watching. Very interesting indeed.

Speaking of SXSX, Mark Cuban’s Magnolia Pictures are reportedly planning on using LoKast to promote their new movies at one of the upcoming SXSX events. Again, that’s another area that makes a heck of a lot of sense.

I’ve made a quick video walk-through of LoKast so you can see some of the basic features in action:

You can, of course, find LoKast in the iTunes App Store (iTunes link — free). Enjoy…