The document compares the 11N and 11AC wireless technologies and discusses why 11N may still be ideal for SMBs. It provides an overview of 802.11AC benefits like higher speeds and throughput. While 11AC adoption is growing, 11N dominates the market currently. The document discusses considerations around upgrading to 11AC, including strategies like rip-and-replace, overlay, or waiting. It suggests 11N may still be sufficient for most SMB needs and applications today.

1. Wireless Professionale
Comparazione tra le tecnologie 11N e 11AC
Perchè 11N è ancora la scelta ideale per SMB
Formazione Online
Andrea Rossi
Senior System Engineer
andrea.rossi@netgear.com

2. Agenda
+ Market penetration of legacy WiFi standards a/b/g/n
+ Overview of 802.11ac and benefits
+ “11n is good enough” viewpoint
+ Consideration points and timing a move to 11ac
+ SMB Deployment Strategies
+ Q&A
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3. 78%
49%
20%
45%
2% 6%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Now 2015
AveragePercent
Access Points (APs) by Technology
802.11ac 802.11n 802.11a/b/g
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+ ~65% of APs sold today are 802.11n, but there is a large installed base heavily tilted
towards older 802.11a/b/g APs
© Infonetics Research, Wireless LAN Strategies and Vendor Leadership:
North American Enterprise Survey, October 2013
Legacy technologies
11a/b/g/n represents 90% installed base

4. 802.11n dominates 2015
+ 802.11n dominates
through 2015
+ 802.11ac capable
business devices still
few in number
+ 802.11ac APs price
premium erosion
+ 802.11ac large
enterprise play to start
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
CY13 CY14 CY15 CY16 CY17 CY18 CY19
UnitShipments(%)
Access Points by Technology: 802.11a/b/g vs .11n vs .11ac
.11ac .11n .11a/b/g
© Infonetics Research, Wireless LAN Equipment market Share; Q414

5. 802.11ac Standards
Two elements: Wave 1 and Wave 2
+ Ratified Dec 13 / Wave two due mid 2015
+ 5GHz ONLY standard; 80/160MHz
+ Higher client density / bandwidth
+ Backward compatible with 802.11n devices, etc.
+ Beamforming
+ MIMO/MU-MIMO
+ 256 QAM (802.11n 64 QAM)
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6. 802.11b 802.11g 802.11n 802.11ac
11Mbps 54Mbps
450Mbps
1.3Gbps
3X
The Speed
Speeds better than wired

7. What is the typical bandwidth needed
per application on your network?
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8. 802.11n v 802.11ac Wave 1
Throughput
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Antenna Configuration 802.11n 802.11ac
Single Stream (1x1) 150Mbps 450Mbps
Dual Stream (2x2) 300Mbps 900Mbps
Triple Stream (3x3) 450Mbps 1.3Gbps

9. 802.11n v 802.11ac Wave 1
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10. + Wave One
• Up to 3 Spatial Streams, 80Mhz channel width.
• Up to 1.3Gbps (3x3) 3 Streams.
• SU-MIMO
+ Wave Two
• Up to 8 Spatial streams 80-160Mhz channel width.
• Up to 3.2Gbps (up to 6.9Gbps future).
• MU-MIMO (analogous to a “wireless switch”); ideal for dense and demanding client environments
+ Remember, only as good as client devices
• Most are 1x1 (Galaxy S4 / iPhone 6)
• n clients can benefit from better date rates over a given distance; not greater data rates per se
• Wave 2 clients arrive in….?
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Wave 1 or Wave 2?

11. 11ac
Consideration points on Timing
+ Wave 1 (2014)
•Wave 1 Clients growing in number
• Smart phones 1 x 1, Tables 2 x 2, Laptops 3 x 3
•Wave 2 MU-MIMO clients wont be supported with wave 1 APs
+ Wave 2 (mid 2015)
•Wi-Fi Alliance Certification is not yet here
•Clients widespread prominence still ~18 months away
•APs even fewer in number than Wave 1 and with price premium, albeit
eroding
•Brings higher theoretical speeds than wired placing implications on the
switched network (2.5G / Multi-Gigabit switching)
•Higher power draw (PoE+)
• MU-MIMO equality needed on AP and Client needed
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12. Deployment Strategies
+ Rip and Replace
•Consider PoE+ switching (or potentially limit wave 2 capabilities) and cabling
needs
•Is a Gig port enough? (2 ports on an AP still consumes 2 ports)
•Great for greenfield opportunities
+ Complementary Overlay
•ac in design, n in deployment
•ac in dense or demanding environments ready to service ac clients in time
+ Wait and See
•Skip Wave 1 and go straight to Wave 2?
•Technology Refresh cycles vary by technology
• Smartphones 2 years, desktops 3, switching 4-8, APs 3-5 years, etc
•Conduct a ‘fit for purpose’ test (11n established for 6+ years)
•“11n is good enough, I can wait…..”
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13. Ethernet Speeds consideration

14. 802.11ac readiness
Offer a cost effective migration strategy
+ The ProSAFE WC7600 / WC9500 is 802.11ac ready
+ 2016 wider SMB adoption growth expected
+ New, Wave 1 ac APs in Oct
+ New, Wave 2 early 2016
+ Majority of SMB customer needs and applications today
more than sufficiently met with 802.11n
+ 11n 3 x 3 Dual Band Concurrent 802.11n APs deliver up
to 1 Gbps*
+ Place 11ac where it makes sense
+ Reliability is key for mission critical WLAN
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*Design / configurations dependent

15. Thank you!
arossi@netgear.com
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