As adoption of smartphones and tablets continues to grow, more and more companies are employing BYOD policies and people are taking these mobile devices to work. However, with the types of devices being used on corporate networks, businesses need to rethink how they're running their networks. Specifically, Cisco UK believes businesses need to focus on making their wireless networks as reliable as their fixed line networks.
IDG cites Sarah Eccleston, head of borderless networks for Cisco UK and Ireland, as saying businesses need to beef up their wireless networks to ensure employees, clients and visitors get the same level of service on their mobile devices that they have come to expect on their PCs and laptops via a wired connection.
"In a traditional world, if your wireless network wasn't performing reliably, you simply plugged in your Ethernet cable. But you can't plug an Ethernet cable into a tablet or smart device because it doesn't have an Ethernet port," Eccleston is quoted as saying. "The wireless network is becoming more and more relevant and can't just be a best efforts technology any more."
Eccleston goes on to say that the biggest issue is making wireless networks as fast as fixed networks. Though the number of connections to a fixed line network is restricted by the number of ethernet ports, the number of mobile devices on a wireless network can vary at any given time. Then there are the tasks of improving speed and reliability.
Eccleston says if business don't boost their wireless networks, they'll fall behind.
"If organisations don't improve their wireless capability then they can't really truly enable these devices for productivity, and that has all kinds of implications in terms of employee satisfaction, and the ability to recruit and retain younger talent," she's quoted as saying.
Further Reading
Cisco: Wireless Networks Need to Catch Up with Fixed Line
