RAISING THE PERFORMANCE BAR

WHY YOU SHOULD CONSIDER UPGRADING YOUR ENTERPRISE NETWORK TO THE NEW GENERATION WIRELESS TECHNOLOGY.

Wi-Fi 6 is becoming an indispensable technology for enterprise networks with increased bandwidth and performance. Introduced in 2020, Wi-Fi 6 and its supplement Wi-Fi 6E, which runs on unlicensed 6Ghz spectrum, have seen rapid adoption, making it the de facto standard for WLANs.

According to the Wi-Fi Alliance, it only took three years for Wi-Fi 6 to obtain more than 50 percent market share compared to the previous Wi-Fi 5 technology, which took four years to do the same. Referencing IDC Research, the Wi-Fi Alliance also stated that the number of Wi-Fi 6 products to enter the market this year will exceed 2.3 billion devices and 350 million Wi-Fi 6E products, respectively.

By 2023, it is estimated that Wi-Fi 6 and 6E will dominate the enterprise Wi-Fi market, with enterprise access point shipments expected to reach 13.4 million in 2026, according to global technology intelligence firm ABI Research. Considering this, the trend towards Wi-Fi 6 in the coming years is clear.

“Countries in the Middle East are actively adopting Wi-Fi 6-enabled solutions. For instance, in 2021, the UAE became the first country in the Middle East and Africa to release Wi-Fi 6 for indoor usage. The trend

Markus Nispel

was continued with the mega event, Expo 2020 Dubai, which had over 9,000 Cisco access points of which 400 were Wi-Fi 6 enabled, making it Cisco’s first Wi-Fi 6 customer in the UAE,” says Osama AlZoubi, CTO, Cisco Middle East and Africa

He says the growth of connected smart cities in the UAE and Saudi Arabia has also increased the demand for applications of Wi-Fi 6. Use cases include reducing traffic congestion, managing utility usage and enhancing overall crowd safety, thanks to its capability to support advanced connectivity in dense and dynamic environments.

What is driving the Wi-FI 6 and 6E adoption in enterprises?

“Simply put, Wi-Fi 6 offers 4x the capacity for more devices than previous Wi-Fi generations,” says Markus Nispel, CTO of EMEA at Extreme Networks. “Wi-Fi 6 ensures that high-demand networks can cope with the onslaught of corporate, guest, BYOD, and IoT devices that flood every organisation today. Network efficiency is at the heart of the value of Wi-Fi 6 as it protects bandwidth through traffic optimisation and prioritisation, instead of simply throwing more capacity at the problem. As a result, Wi-Fi 6 takes a much more intelligent approach to the sustainability and longevity of mobility infrastructure.”

He adds with Wi-Fi 6E, enterprises will be able to improve consumer experiences in all business verticals by providing them with enhanced efficiency through 1200 MHz of the new 6 GHz spectrum.

“Regarded as the biggest change to Wi-Fi in the last 20 years, the tech industry is rapidly adopting Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E due to the benefits they bring along such as increased speed, lower latencies, and better security. This means that enterprises can have smoother connections and lower latencies for their data. Additionally, WiFi 6 and 6E relieve network congestion, provide greater capacity, and reduce power consumption. This is a crucial thing for enterprises – especially if they have numerous devices connected to their Wi-Fi,” says Ehab Kanary, VP Sales, Enterprise Infrastructure, EMEA Emerging Markets at CommScope

According to Prem Rodrigues, Director for the Middle East, Africa & India/SAARC at Siemon, Wi-Fi 6 offers a series of advancements compared to previous Wi-Fi generations, bringing distinct benefits to the users. Firstly, Wi-Fi 6 delivers four times faster average throughput compared to the previous Wi-Fi 5 and data rates are expected to be more than 5 Gb/s delivering increased speed and capacity. Secondly, Wi-Fi 6 benefits from two high bandwidth wired IT cabling uplink connections that have enhanced remote powering capability for powering Wi-Fi 6 devices. Also, Wi-Fi 6 can operate at either 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz and can therefore support a larger volume of mobile devices in dense deployment environments.

Refat Al-Karmi, Senior Consulting Engineer, META region at Juniper Networks, notes the Wi-Fi 6E ecosystem is rapidly spreading, and the UAE has made the 6 GHz bands accessible for WiFi 6E. Saudi Arabia is trying to maximize the potential of Wi-Fi 6E by making the entire spectrum open. With businesses in the region already testing and deploying Wi-Fi 6, it is likely to evolve into one of the top three critical wireless technologies that will further change business models, new product development, and customer engagement.

For most industries, advanced wireless networks are a strategic imperative, says Saleem Al Balooshi, Chief Technology Officer at du. The Wi-Fi 6 expansion into 6GHz is further driven by increased demand, with Wi-Fi 6E attracting unprecedented interest among regulators around the world, and also seeing a surge of product and strong deployments by service providers and enterprises. “We are seeing an increasing trend towards adopting Wi-Fi 6 offerings, which will result in additional benefits for the marketplace and help businesses move into the upcoming era of seamless connectivity such as higher education institutions, government, hospitality, healthcare and entertainment,” he says.

Should you wait for Wi-Fi 7

Expected to be ratified in 2024, the next Wi-Fi standard – Wi-Fi 7 or 801.11be – promises to deliver 46Gbps, five times

Ehab Kanary Osama Al-Zoubi

Prem Rodrigues

faster than Wi-Fi 6. This impending new standard being worked on by IEEE is expected to deliver higher spectrum and power efficiency, better interference mitigations, higher capacity density, and higher cost efficiency.

Kanary from CommScope says there is a lot of speculation in the market about the deployment of Wi-Fi 7, with various sources quoting anywhere between 2023 to 2025.

“Now if we take a look at the progression of Wi-Fi 6 adoption in the Middle East, countries such as the UAE, Saudi, and Qatar have already enabled Wi-Fi 6E, but the rest of the region hasn’t still caught up. Now there is a possibility if Wi-Fi 7-enabled devices come into the market in the next couple of years, we might see some regions/enterprises skip 6E completely in favour of Wi-Fi 7. This completely depends on the organisations goal. Those that prefer to remain on the “bleeding edge” of the technology without any budget constraints will choose 6E and then 7 in the next few years,” he says.

Nispel from Extreme Networks adds that Wi-Fi 6E marks the start of a spectrum paradigm shift for Wi-Fi that will have a huge impact for many years to come, providing the foundation for Wi-Fi 7 and other future generations of Wi-Fi. “Currently, Wi-Fi 7 is on the engineering chalkboard, but we expect enterprise Wi-Fi 7 in the next few years. So can we expect some new features in this future model? Sure. Wi-Fi 7 may have some

Refat Al-Karmi

new dashboard features and some new lane assist technology, but at the end of the day, the true value for Wi-Fi 7 will be that it will also be built on the 6 GHz superhighway that’s already available right now through Wi-Fi 6E.”

Will it replace wired Ethernet?

Al Balooshi from du believes that wireless technologies will prevail in the last mile of connectivity. Wireless technology offers a flexible, mobile, and economically viable service without requiring extensive cabling. However, wired Ethernet will still be necessary for servers and high-speed access points due to the fact that it offers a much more stable connection that is not affected by noise or signal jams, so physics will always be considered when providing connectivity for high and critical service points.

“The extent to which Wi-Fi 7 will be able to compete with Ethernet remains to be seen. Currently, CCTV cameras, door access systems, and many other facilities are connected via wired Ethernet in order to meet bandwidth demands and ensure security, but Wi-Fi 7 could eliminate these challenges. The extent of the change will probably be known within the next few years,” he says.

In many aspects, Wi-Fi 7 has the capability to replace Ethernet and can truly be a game changer, says Kanary from CommScope. The benefits that come along with it include all-wireless connections for homes and offices, which means the lack of cables in the building itself. Additionally, Wi-Fi 7 can yield speeds much faster than Ethernet, but it comes down to whether there is demand for such fast speeds.

“Faster internet is attractive to everyone, but the question becomes how fast is too fast? Switching to Wi-Fi 7 means upgrading the devices that are going to be connected to it, and for many people and companies, this might be something that doesn’t justify the high price tag that comes along with it. Therefore, even though it is possible for Wi-Fi 7 to replace Ethernet, the benefits it brings might not be relevant to everyone – considering the fact that the initial technology that uses it would have a steep price to it,” he adds.

Rodrigues from Siemon says although some might think that Wi-Fi 7 devices can support transmission speeds at similar levels to structured cabling systems, it looks extremely unlikely that wireless networks will make balanced twisted-pair telecommunications cabling obsolete in the near future soon.

“The number of connected devices is growing exponentially. With the Internet of Things (IoT), billions of devices are already connected, and many more are to come. With more technologies pushing the boundaries of innovation, we, at Cisco, believe that we will always need a combination of access technologies that are complementing each other, from wired to wireless and Private 5G,” sums up Al Zoubi from Cisco.

Saleem Al Balooshi

IN THE DRIVER’S SEAT

DANNY SHAPIRO, VP OF AUTOMOTIVE AT NVIDIA, TELLS HOW THE COMPANY IS POWERING THE FUTURE OF AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES WITH ITS ADVANCED SOLUTIONS.

Can you tell us how Nvidia is expanding its reach in the automotive industry?

Nvidia is almost 30 years old, and the company has undergone amazing transformations. Our roots, of course, are in gaming and graphics, and one of the biggest markets we serve is the automotive industry. There are many ways in which our technology helps the auto industry. It started with enabling the automakers to do things they had never done before using our graphics technology. Part of this was 3D design, structural analysis, virtual wind tunnels – everything to design and build the car.

About 15 years ago, we started looking at taking our graphics technology and bringing that inside the car. Wherever there were touch screens, instrument clusters, and rear seat entertainment, Nvidia worked with automakers such as Audi and VW to deliver consumer electronics experiences into the car. Compared to consumer electronics, cars used to feel very dated. So we help the auto industry to advance state of art and the user experience inside the vehicle.

At the same time, our company was going through its transformation into an artificial intelligence company, using our GPUs to do more and more complex mathematical calculations. So we looked at opportunities with the auto industry to use this computing horsepower to make transportation safer and more efficient. For example, cars today have many sensors, extra cameras, LiDAR, etc., and all these are generating an enormous amount of data. NVIDIA processors – what we call Nvidia Drive- is the platform that goes inside the car, which takes all this information and can essentially recreate a 3d model of everything that’s going on around the car.

Is your autonomous cars strategy centred around Nvidia DRIVE?

That’s right. Nvidia DRIVE is hardware and software that goes inside the car - it’s a SOC (system on a chip). So we’re using the same computing, hardware, and software you put in the data centre into the vehicle. You must be able to do such high-performance computing in the car because within a fraction of a second, we have to scan all around the vehicle and create this picture of what’s in front of us.

It’s like a mobile edge supercomputer. We are constantly scanning – 30 times a second - through the video and sensor data to understand the environment, build a plan, save time, and ultimately control the car.

Do you offer deep learning capabilities?

So that’s part of Nvidia DRIVE OS running inside the car and we also have DriveWorks, a toolkit that allows developers to leverage deep neural networks. There might be one for pedestrian detection or sign recognition, and we have a deep neural net that calculates the distance. There’s a lot of redundancy built in for safety. For example, we have a neural net that can detect people or cars ahead of us. There’s also a separate neural network that is doing what’s called free space calculation, which is looking for the absence of objects. So having these different types of redundant and diverse algorithms increases the system’s safety. We could easily run 20 or more deep neural networks simultaneously to understand what’s around us, where we can safely drive, and then predict the behaviour.

Is Nvdia DRIVE Hyperion production ready now?

Drive Hyperion is a branded solution of computing, software, and sensors that we use. We are a computing platform. We support all different kinds of sensors, many types of LiDAR, and types of cameras, so each customer can create their own configuration. We are working with Robo taxi companies, shuttle and trucking companies - they’re building their own, so there’s no one set solution. But what we’re doing in terms of having our own vehicles, collecting data, and training is establishing a fixed set of sensors. We’re working with many different tier one suppliers on this. Additionally, if our customers use the Hyperion sensors, they’d benefit from all the data collection we do. We are doing this with companies like Mercedes Benz and Land Rover.

Are self-driving cars really safe?

Our number one concern is safety. Everything we do is focused on delivering safe cars. I think that’s the reason why you don’t see them driving around everywhere now because we haven’t reached that level of safety yet. The biggest challenge is that we humans are unpredictable driving on the roads. So the vehicles need to be aware of it and anticipate it. If we got rid of all human-driven vehicles today and replaced them with safe autonomous vehicles, that would be a much easier problem to solve. if you go back five years or more, everyone was predicting by 2020, we would have self-driving cars. That didn’t happen because we underestimated the complexity. As we’ve gotten in, we recognized we need more computing and high-resolution sensors to improve safety. So our approach has been to create this drive platform, which we call a softwaredefined car.

BRIDGING THE GAP

ERICSSON IS KICKSTARTING THIS YEAR’S ERICSSON INNOVATION AWARDS, INVITING UNIVERSITY STUDENTS TO USE THEIR SKILLS AND INNOVATIVE THINKING TO SOLVE GLOBAL CHALLENGES. SENA ERTEN, VICE PRESIDENT AND HEAD OF PEOPLE AT ERICSSON MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA, TALKS ABOUT THE THEMES EXPLORED IN THIS YEAR’S COMPETITION.

What are the themes and problems explored in this year’s competition and how they will drive digital innovation?

This year, Ericsson is inviting university students from across the world to propose innovative technology solutions to help tackle sustainable development challenges. The theme of the Ericsson Innovation Awards (EIA) 2022 challenge is ‘Impact Our Sustainable Future’ and will take inspiration from the 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs). With more than EUR 50,000 in prizes up for grabs, the competition will encourage students to identify an interconnected challenge to tackle with their team and create new innovative tech solutions that can make a lasting change and drive digital innovation in the process.

How will it complement regional government initiatives to foster a tech talent ecosystem?

As governments across the region adopt digital technology, we are seeing an increased push in offering students opportunities to pursue science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) to drive local innovations. Competitions like the EIA that engage students in the STEM space are an excellent way to get students excited about technology and foster their interest in pursuing tech careers in fields such as robotics, and coding - subjects that are becoming vital to the digital development of nations across the Middle East and Africa. With cooperation being an essential element of tech innovation, EIA will instill in students the spirit of teamwork to achieve a common goal while also encouraging independent learning. It will also increase the problem-solving abilities of students in real-life situations, thereby empowering them to emerge well equipped as the future workforce of the digital Middle East and Africa.

What were the impact and practical applications of the previous competitions?

I’m glad you asked as highlighting the end results of the competitions are truly a testament to their impact and success. Over the past few years, we have seen plenty of success stories, however, two exceptional submissions that come to the top of my mind are from Team BlisCare who won EIA 2021, and Team OwnLabs who won EIA 2018.

The theme of EIA 2021 was bridging the digital gap, and students were encouraged to propose technological products and solutions to build a fairer and more equitable future. The competition saw Team BlisCare devise an innovative solution that focused around enabling equal educational opportunities for visually impaired people and used a tablet to create digital braille in real-time from any text or graphic. The solution was also designed to be cost-effective and to supply endless material both online and offline.

EIA 2018, under the theme “The Future of Truth”, challenged student teams to answer the question of how technology can improve the way we find, validate, and share truth in a fully connected world. Team OwnLabs, from Senegal, sought to address the lack of school labs in Africa by offering physics, chemistry, and biology classes in a virtual reality environment via a smartphone. The beauty of OwnLabs’ idea was its simplicity to help young people find truth through experimental science and reach their full potential.

How will the competition seek to bridge the skill and talent gap in STEM?

To answer this, it is important I emphasize how important private-public partnership is in bridging the talent gap in the tech industry. Partnerships between tech corporations and educational institutions to provide STEM learning opportunities creates an environment of efficient practical learning. This environment allows students to leverage real-world learning opportunities that improve their skills and help them grow their interest in pursuing exciting and rewarding STEM careers. As a company committed to empowering STEM education and fostering diversity and inclusion across academia, the Ericsson Innovation Awards will identify changemaking talent and help make their smart ideas into reality.

How will the competition encourage STEM career exploration and skill development?

The EIA competition gives students the chance to pick any issue on the given theme and develop innovative solutions to tackle it. Giving students this freedom encourages them to delve deeper into their chosen issue and broaden their knowledge and understanding of the topic. Devising a workable technological solution for the issue will propel them towards exploring the topic further in the real world and perhaps even empower them to academically pursue the area.