Solutions for Today’s High-Speed Wireless Applications
With the increased use of mobile devices, Wi-Fi is now ubiquitous with broad reaching adoption across all types of facilities – from offices, schools, universities and hospitals, to entertainment, hospitality and retail venues. With the growth of Wi-Fi has come significant developments in the technology, advancing from 10 to 100 Mb/s to Gigabit speeds and beyond to support everything from mission critical business applications to streaming of ultra-high-definition video.
In 2013, IEEE published the 802.11ac standard for very high throughput Wi-Fi, known as Wi-Fi 5, with Wave 1 devices supporting speeds up to 1.3 Gb/s and Wave 2 devices supporting speeds up to 3.5 Gb/s. IEEE will now taking Wi-Fi throughput a step higher with the development of the 802.11ax standard, known as Wi-Fi 6, offering greater than 5 Gb/s with the ability to theoretically deliver nearly 10 Gb/s in the future.
Industry standards recommend a minimum of Category 6A copper or OM3 multimode fiber for wireless access points (WAPs) as this is the only way to achieve greater than 5 Gb/s throughput. Most wireless access points (WAPs) today are also powered using power over Ethernet (PoE) technology, which is better supported with shielded twisted-pair cabling that offers superior heat dissipation and thermal stability.
As a leading global manufacturer of low-voltage copper and fiber optic cabling systems, Siemon understands that high-performance cables and connectors play an important role in supporting today’s high-throughput, high-efficiency Wi-Fi transmission and the delivery of Power over Ethernet (PoE) to Wi-Fi access points (WAPs). Successful Wi-Fi deployments also necessitate understanding the standards-based requirements needed to achieve greater than 5 Gb/s throughput and following design and installation best practices.
Read moreSiemon Category 6A and higher copper cabling solutions are ideal for supporting today’s Wi-Fi applications, with our shielded Category 6A and higher systems providing superior support for PoE. Siemon fiber cabling is also ideal for extended distance applications and deploying the minimum 25-Gig capable backbone needed to support Wi-Fi 5 and Wi-Fi 6 uplink capacity.
Siemon offers a range of connectivity solutions for connecting WAPs – including field-terminate plugs for direct connections as well as outlets, faceplates and modular equipment cords for traditional deployments.
Utilizing a grid-based zone cabling architecture to accommodate additional WAP deployments allows for rapid reconfiguration of coverage areas and provides redundant and future-proof connections. Siemon’s plenum-rated zone enclosures support intermediate fiber and copper connection points in the ceiling space, enabling shorter links from the zone enclosure to local WAPs. The use of zone enclosures also provides additional capacity to accommodate next-generation Wi-Fi technology that may require link aggregation and/or spare connection points to support the deployment of additional WAPs with minimal disruption.