Wi-Fi Architecture

World Wide WiFi Experts® offer four fundamentally different service architectures for the implementation and deployment of Enterprise wireless networks. Because of these differences, we can always offer a fitting solution that fits your needs in terms of security, scalability, controllability, and investments.

Wi-Fi Architecture - structural foundation

Wi-Fi architecture forms the structural foundation of wireless networking, defining how devices connect, communicate, and interact within a wireless network. At its core, Wi-Fi architecture comprises several key components, including access points (APs), wireless clients and the network infrastructure.

Access points serve as the gateways through which devices connect to the network, transmitting and receiving data wirelessly. The architecture also encompasses the network's layout, whether it's a single access point in a home or a complex enterprise setup with multiple access points, controllers, and advanced management systems. Properly designed Wi-Fi architecture considers factors like coverage, capacity, security, and scalability to ensure a reliable and efficient wireless network that meets the specific needs of users and applications. This architectural blueprint plays a pivotal role in enabling the seamless wireless connectivity we rely on in our digitally connected world.

World Wide WiFi Experts® Wi-Fi Architecture

We offer four Wi-Fi services architectures:

Wireless as a Service (WaaS)
Cloud Managed
On Premise
SD-Access Wireless (SDA/SDN)

Wireless as a Service (WaaS)

Would you like to know how much you owe every month? Choose WaaS! WaaS has all maintenance included in the price, so there is no possibility of financial setbacks. Apart from the costs, acquiring and maintaining a Wi-Fi network calls for a lot of time and knowledge. With WaaS, the end users in your company can be ensured of having a fast, reliable, and future-proof Wi-Fi network at their fingertips.

Wireless as a Service (WaaS) is a way to outsource all maintenance aspects of the network. The complexity of and dependency on wireless networks is only increasing, however we can give you the peace of mind that everything is taken care of at a fixed amount a month.

Continued accessibility can be guaranteed by offering Monitoring as a Service (MaaS). This monitor mode works remotely, which allows our specialists to take care of tasks remotely as well. These tasks consist of: implementing changes, updates, and solving network and Wi-Fi problems.

Before we take over the day-to-day maintenance of the wireless network, an intake meeting will take place in order to optimize the current wireless network.

If you would prefer not to invest in equipment, we also offer the opportunity to rent the necessary equipment in a package deal, which includes extensive service such as guaranteed fast and stable internet and Monitoring as a Service (MaaS).

Cloud Managed

Are you looking for a way to keep constant tabs on your Wi-Fi network? Cloud Managed ensures you can always control and monitor your network by simply using a mobile phone or laptop. This will give you fast, easy and detailed insight in the statistics of your network. Moreover, upgrades and bugfixes will be taken care of by the vendor, who will also implement new features automatically, allowing you to focus on delivering new services to your clients.

Thanks to innovation in the areas of network and Cloud technology, new ways of implementing reliable wireless networks have been discovered. Cloud-managed access points are the main source of this new generation.

A cloud-managed access point or network solution enables company owners to manage their Wi-Fi and network infrastructure via the Cloud. This means that your company can connect to the Cloud by subscribing to a pay-as-you-go, on-demand model. The main advantage to this solution is high-end connectivity, but it also decreases the costs of the network infrastructure maintenance and eliminates the need for hiring a special network management team.

It used to be difficult for small and mid-ranged companies to manage their wireless networks, but with the Cloud Managed Wi-Fi solution it becomes possible to profit from prominent technology for a fraction of the costs. Advantages are:

optimal scalability and flexibility in architecture
improved network performance of wireless clients
significant cost reductions
improved network security
automatic back-ups of the latest functioning configurations
no controller on location
new functionalities can be easily implemented
no need for technical installers

From a technical point of view, the Access Points (AP’s) connect to a virtual controller, which usually resides in a public Cloud on the internet.

Control plane information, AP management, and other WLAN services are carries out via an internet connection between the Cloud controller and the local AP’s. The primary difference in architecture between an on-premise controller and a Cloud-based controller is the data plane traffic.

On Premise

Why outsource tasks if the specialists are on hand within your own company? Wi-Fi On Premise provides a Wi-Fi network based on your own needs and tailored to your primary business systems. It also offers greater flexibility because the Wi-Fi network is connected to the current network and is less dependent on an internet connection.

An On Premise model uses a process called wireless backhaul, in which both control and data plane communications are send back to the controller through a tunnel. A Cloud controller, however, offloads the information of the data plane as soon as it hits the LAN. This means that every policy enforcement is carried out on the AP itself, making the Cloud controlled AP’s semi-intelligent since they need be able to apply local policy enforcement.

The advantages and disadvantages:

Purchase:

Buying hardware has the main advantage that you are the owner of the physical product. The disadvantage is that room will have to be created, both in the office and in the budget, yet you can be completely sure that your data is safe and secure.

Maintenance:

Having your own hardware means that you are solely responsible for maintenance, and that the upkeep and downtime are at your own expense.

Scalability:

The scalability of hardware indicates how easy it is to grow with your company. If you need to hire ten new people within a year, the hardware has to be able to process that demand.

SD-Access Wireless (SDA/SDN)

Work smarter, not harder with SDA-Wireless. Would you like to turn something complex into something simple? SDA-Wireless is the answer. More can be done in less time and support associates become experts that help clients. How? SDA-Wireless centralizes network intelligence inside the Wi-Fi controllers and makes the network work for you.

We offer an improved IEEE 802.11 architecture which uses Software-Defined Networks (SDN's). This allows the Wi-Fi client much more flexibility and movement without sacrificing Quality of Service (QoS). The fast and seamless exchange with QoS efficiently uses radio sources available in major networks. The improvements consist of the integration of wireless management in the OpenFlow protocol, where encryption and decoding are separated from an access point.

Under this architecture, the implementation of the control plane is centralized by forming a CAPWAP tunnel between the AP and Wireless LAN Controller (WLC), while the data plane is directly distributed on the AP’s with help of VXLAN. WLC and AP are both part of the Fabric.