magazine
38
A recent study by Juniper Research
revealed that there will be more
than one billion BYOD users within
enterprises by 2018
[1]
. As enterprise
employees increasingly expect their
wireless smartphones and tablets to
work in all office locations at all times,
the ‘bring your own device’ (BYOD)
trend threatens to swamp enterprise
network capabilities and produce a lot
of dissatisfied users.
There are multiple factors driving
this phenomenon, including the evolving
workforce (remote/home office staff
and the use of contract/temporary staff)
and the growing role of technology in
all types of business. BYOD places great
pressure on IT departments to improve
network services for wireless users, and
the answer is not simply to beef-upWi-
Fi networks.
Pushing wireless users onto the
Wi-Fi network may seem like a great
solution, since theWi-Fi network is
already in place. However, there are
several different types of user, andWi-Fi
administrators will not be able to serve
them all. For example, security concerns
prohibit visitors and contractors from
accessing theWi-Fi network – and even
employees, as they may not be able
to get the bandwidth they need in a
congestedWi-Fi network.
The solution is to provide access to
the mobile data network. Today’s 4G
networks deliver roughly the same data
throughput as Wi-Fi, and individual users
can have individual accounts so the
Enterprise small cells can improve Customer
Lifetime Value (CLV) for operators by as
much as 329% in a typical medium-sized
business, according to an international study
for the Small Cell Forum by wireless advisory
service Real Wireless.
Real Wireless found that by delivering
improved coverage and customer satisfaction,
operators can expect to make a return on their
investment within the first year and will see
improved customer retention as well as spend.
The study shows that a medium-sized
business with 180 employees and an office floor
space of 2700m
2
that installs four enterprise
small cells can increase the CLV by 329%,
from £65,000 to as much as £271,400. Even
conservative estimates show an improvement
of 194% to £190,000.
Real Wireless found that businesses are
increasingly unwilling to accept poor in-building
coverage, with 82% of those surveyed saying
they would switch provider to guarantee
coverage.
Professor Simon Saunders, Technology
Director and co-founder of Real Wireless, said:
“Our research found that there’s a very definite
business opportunity for operators providing
enterprises with small cell coverage, with a
very tangible financial pay-off....It is not just
the carrier that can benefit, but the enterprise
too. Employees quite rightly expect their
smartphones to work in the office, so improving
coverage means fewer dropped calls and less
frustration.”
He added: “As part of this study we looked at
all the other options, including DAS, repeaters &
Wi-Fi.While all have parts to play, it is clear that
small cells offer a strong commercial benefit: an
improvement in customer lifetime value of this
amount is something that operators worldwide
should be sitting up and taking notice of.”
enterprise need not provide the access. The
challenge is that 4G doesn’t always reach
inside walls, so mobile network access may
be limited inside office buildings.
To address this problem, enterprises
must take on the responsibility of providing
indoor mobile network signals. There are
two major ways to provide mobile service
inside buildings and both involve working
with mobile service providers.
One option is to use small cells, such
as picocells, to deliver the wireless signal
indoors. However, picocells typically only
support one mobile operator: enterprises
that want to provide mobile network
access for customers of all mobile service
providers will have to install individual
picocells for each operator’s frequencies.
Another problem with picocells is
that it is difficult to provide uniform
performance within a large enterprise.
Each picocell has a fixed amount of
capacity and limited reach depending
on where the device is located. A
deployment might necessitate multiple
picocells with overlapping coverage,
which would have to be engineered to
minimise interference.
The case for DAS
A better solution is to use a broadband,
multi-operator Distributed Antenna
System, or DAS. This provides mobile
service by distributing multiple wireless
signals through a series of ceiling- or wall-
mounted antennae located throughout
the organisation. The DAS can deliver
service for all major operators through a
John Spindler, director of product management at TE
Connectivity, explains how to improve network services
within offices for users of wireless smartphones and tablets
Solving the BYOD Problem
single infrastructure and set of antennae,
providing a much more efficient way of
delivering mobile service. Every antenna
broadcasts the same frequencies, so there
are no interference concerns.
With an in-building DAS in place,
enterprises can provide wireless
data services to all users in a BYOD
environment without concerns about
Wi-Fi security or Wi-Fi network overload.
To obtain a DAS, the organisation
contracts with a DAS vendor for the
deployment and then negotiates
retransmission rights with the mobile
operators to carry their signals over the
DAS. The process is fairly straightforward.
DAS solutions are available for
enterprises of all sizes, from small
companies to multinational corporations
with large offices.With a DAS, everyone
bringing a wireless device to the facility
can expect strong and uniform mobile data
services throughout a building.
Today’s enterprises must deal with an
onslaught of BYOD devices, and relying on
outdoor 4G networks to provide indoor
service will not meet their connectivity
needs. By deploying a DAS, the enterprise
can efficiently and effectively serve all
BYOD users while avoidingWi-Fi network
management burdens.
Small cells bring benefits to all
High Power
DAS remote
Indoor Antennae
Wireless networks
[1]
