OK, so about two years ago I was a bit cautionary with respect to the deployment of 802.11ac. There weren't all that many products on the market, especially clients, and 802.11n was working just great for essentially everyone. But the landscape has certainly shifted over the past nine months, with my updated conclusion being that there's really no longer any reason to wait. I mean, what's the alternative? Deploy more .11n? Sure, that'll work, but with the huge uptick in demand resulting from more users with more devices running more applications with greater throughput, time-boundedness, and capacity requirements being seen everywhere today, such isn't a good long-term proposition, technically or financially. Wait for 802.11ac Wave 2? Nope, because once again that means more .11n, or delaying any upgrade enhancing one's WLAN altogether. Given all the demand noted above, such isn't a good option, either.
So, then, the time to deploy 802.11ac is indeed now, which is why I'm pleased to have the opportunity to participate in an upcoming InformationWeek/Network Computing Webinar on exactly this subject. Also speaking are Robert Crisp, who heads up Worldwide System Engineering for Meru Networks, and Gregory Martin, Director of IT operations for Royal Caribbean Line. Think your RF environment is tough? Try deploying Wi-Fi on a cruise ship made of steel. I can't wait to hear about this one.
So I hope you can join us next week - Wednesday, 12 February, at 11:00 AM eastern time. Registration is of course free. We've also got a new Farpoint Group White Paper on this topic in the works, and it should be available then as well.