We are UK-based Wi-Fi consultants, who specialise in providing vendor-independent consultancy, design services, project managment, solutions delivery and support services for institutional Wi-Fi. We work directly with Public Sector and Corporate clients and a big part of our work is in providing sub-contract services to other providers in the industry.
We don't just do Wi-Fi surveys, but provide a holistic approach to Wi-Fi strategy that includes comprehensive testing of:
- client devices,
- wireless access points, and
- the environment
that are all essential to ensure the reliability of your Wi-Fi now and in the future. Only this way, can any supplier claim to deliver total peace of mind.
Our company has been built on 35 years of experience covering a broad customer base:
- Regional Public Sector and Corporate organisations with offices and home workers, especially where hot-desking is required.
- Healthcare, especially NHS Trusts
- Retail and distribution warehousing
- Education, including Universities, Colleges of Further Education, Sixth Form Colleges and Schools (both Local Government and Independent)
- Hospitality and Public Spaces
- Sub-contract services for telecommunications companies and network solutions resellers.
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What is Wi-Fi Design Really About?
For your Wi-Fi to be reliable, it needs to be designed properly.
Whilst we use, and are certified for Ekahau design platforms (ECSE), excellent Wi-Fi design requires more than just a tablet or a laptop running a piece of software. It requires the expert use of a range of specialist tools.
Even if you have done a Wi-Fi survey and your heat maps show excellent coverage, if you haven't tested client roaming and throughput, then unseen problems will still cause connection drop outs!
Whatever vendor solution you purchase to deliver your Wi-Fi, your end user client devices (Smart Phones, Laptops, etc.) will be the limiting factor. Client Devices have a lower specification than your Wi-Fi Access Points (APs) and they often operate much slower than their specification suggests, so the Wi-Fi design needs to be holistic to match client devices to APs for the Wi-Fi to perform at its best - please see our technical design articles for a detailed explanation. Wi-Fi design platforms like Ekahau Pro don't measure client signals.
Wi-Fi design does NOT translate either to pumping up the AP signal strength. Essentially Wi-Fi Access Points (APs) need to deliver discrete cells that are tuned to the performance of your client devices, with extra APs in strategic locations to accommodate roaming. For various reasons, very strong signals impair performance in an institutional setting, and because this all happens wirelessly, you can't see it happening - again please see our technical design articles for a detailed explanation. By doing a Wi-Fi survey using multiple APs mounted on tripods, and testing AP configurations based on your actual client devices, we will be able to find the optimum position and configuration for your APs, that will optimise roaming and throughput, so that your Wi-Fi performs at its best.
Other factors will also be incorporated into the design, such as the applications being run over the Wi-Fi, their particular demands for roaming and capacity, and any particular demands for Quality of Service (such as Wi-Fi telephones).
Some configuration defaults will also need to be changed to deliver the best performance. APs are often sold on features that deliver high speeds, but not all features work well in an institutional setting, such as setting AP channel widths to 80MHz (or wider) or wider. In practice, institutional Wi-Fi delivers more overall throughput with narrower channel widths - again see our technical articles.
On-site tests and measurements are therefore an essential first step before deploying a new Wi-Fi solution.
Wi-Fi vendors position the automated management features of their solutions. But, only when the Wi-Fi has been properly designed and configured, will the automated features of a Wi-Fi solution - Radio Resource Management (RRM) - be able to operate correctly.
This website provides information that provides the details. Click the links below to find out more.
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| Wi-Fi Design Benefits | What Needs to be Done? | Our Difference | Specialist Tools |
Our Founder has more than 35 years experience in the communications business, working with both the Public Sector and large corporations. Throughout this time he has worked closely with leading equipment manufacturers such as Cisco, Aruba and others in the development of network equipment, the sale of network equipment solutions, and the design and delivery of large public networks. He recognised that there was a big gap between the marketing and reality of high-speed Wi-Fi networking, which has also created a gap in the understanding of Wi-Fi deployment. So, IP Networks was formed in 2017 to provide services to address this gap, to complement your overall IT strategy.
We work with equipment from leading Wi-Fi vendors, such as Aruba, Cambium / Xirrus, Cisco / Meraki, Mist, Commscope / Ruckus.
Contact Mark Woodley if you have any questions.
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☎ 07786 246 113
(Should you be calling from outside the UK, replace the 0 with +44)
© IP NETWORKS LTD 2021, Registered in England No. 1105 9876 VAT Registration No. 281 6848 68
