FEATURE: NETWORK MONITORING
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In a relatively short
time, smart devices have
moved from being a luxury
item to an everyday
essential. Elie Dib,
Regional Vice-President,
METNA, Riverbed, looks
at how providers can
remain effective during
busy periods.
W
ireless communications – the
technology underpinning the
connectivity that devices provide
– is now central to our lives in every regard.
“What’s the Wi-Fi code?” resides close
to “Hello, how are you?” in terms of
everyday lexicon and its symbol transcends
cultural boundaries.
Visibility for a next-
gen network
So, how can providers ensure that their
network is not hamstrung by this increased
usage and remains effective even during
the busiest periods? The key to staying
ahead of the game for Wi-Fi providers
is network visibility. By tracking device
usage and identifying applications that
place the highest demand on the network,
bandwidth can be scaled or reallocated to
prioritise the most important use of the
network at any one time.
For instance, in our university example, IT
administrators may see a high demand
for Netflix and block or limit bandwidth for
the application during class hours while at
the same time prioritising academic apps.
This restriction could then be removed in
the evening. This example can be applied
across any number of use cases to ensure
that everyone retains access to critical
applications whenever necessary.
Effective cloud control
However, while businesses and institutions
have been expected to provide Wi-Fi network
access for years now, it used to be typical
that each user might connect only one
device. Nowadays, it is increasingly common
for users to expect to connect many more
devices to Wi-Fi at a time. Another ongoing challenge that Wi-Fi
network providers face is migration to the
cloud. Organisations are pushing more and
more of their applications, storage and
compute resource to the cloud. In turn,
this puts even more stress on company
networks, because cloud applications
fundamentally depend on both the local
and wide area network.
For instance, a student arriving for their
first term at university might bring with
them a laptop, smartphone, smart TV,
game console, wearable device, connected
speaker or printer; the list is endless. The
effect of this additional demand leads to
increased Wi-Fi network congestion and a
poor end-user experience. A key example is Microsoft Office 365.
The obvious benefits of cloud-hosted word
processing and publishing platforms in terms
of collaborative working and remote working
are self-evident. Consequently, Microsoft
Office 365 is now the most popular cloud-
hosted application and continues to grow
at a rapid pace. Organisations that facilitate
Don’t let congestion
humiliate your Wi-Fi
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