Multi-Gigabit WiFi

            Current Wi-Fi speeds aren’t enough for most folks and with users becoming more mobile the need for faster Wi-Fi speeds are here, which is why WiGig is being developed and will soon be on the market according to Ali Sadri, president and chairman of the Wireless Gigabit Alliance. WiGig is one of the new Wi-Fi technologies (the other being Wireless HD) becoming available to companies which has estimated output speeds of up to 7 Gb/s, which is a huge leap in our current maximum speed of 600 Mbit/s on the IEEE 802.11n standards (Churchill 2011). WiGig has been developed by the top IT companies around the world including but not limited to; Intel, AMD, Microsoft, Panasonic, Samsung, Dell and Cisco. The new technology will use the 60GHz transmission while the older bands, 802.11n and 802.11g, are on spectrums 2.4GHz and 5.0GHz (Nadel 2011). These have become increasingly crowded as new users get on board with their iPads, iPhones, and iPod Touch’s. The new spectrum will allow for much greater throughput of data allowing seamless streaming of high-definition content, which helps companies that need to move data between each other very quickly (Nadel 2011).

This new technology will help any company especially IT looking to grow their wireless networks. CIOs should be looking towards expanding their networks according to the growth of the company and this new technology will make Wi-Fi a whole lot faster, which in turn leads companies to better serve their customers in response time. Both the customer and the employee is becoming more mobile due to Apple products and the mobile technology craze, which allow companies to be more flexible in while they work. The employee doesn’t have to be sitting at their desk all day in front of a keyboard. The only current concern for this new technology is its top speed maximum range, which is currently at 45 feet. Some ways around this is for companies to create a backbone network of Ethernet that runs behind the walls in strategic locations which can then connect to several WiGig transmitters (Nadel 2011). Also included with the new technology is the requirement of getting new equipment that run on the newer spectrum, which will cost companies money but in the future could lighten the load when additional users are needed to expand.

I believe the need to upgrade a companies wireless network for quicker speeds of data transfer is a no brainer for any IT manager because companies are constantly growing and more employees will become a drag on the older spectrums during peak usage.

Churchill, S. (2011). Fast Transistion to 802.11ac Predicts ABI. Retrieved 20 September 2011 from http://www.dailywireless.org/2011/09/19/fast-transistion-to-802-11ac-predicts-abi/

Nadel, B. (2011). 5 more tech Breakthroughs: Innovations in access, power and control. 
            Retrieved 20 September 2011 from http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9219724/5_more_tech_breakthroughs_Innovations_in_access_power_and_control