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Day 3 Thursday November 27, 2008 - 01:30 pm - 02:15 pm
Ammar Enaya (Sales Director, Middle East and Africa) Ammar Enaya has first-honor Bsc degree in computer engineering from KFUPM in 1991. In 1996, Ammar joined Fore Systems in the position of Middle East technical manager. In 1999 he Joined Cisco Systems as the sales manager for Oil and Gas sector in Saudi Arabia, and in 2004 Ammar moved to Aruba Networks in the position of Sales Director for the Middle East and Africa. Ammar has several industry IT certifications in designing and implementing Data and Voice networks, mainly in the internet service provisioning, IP telephony and Wireless networks. The All wireless workspace Wi-Fi technology has been steadily improving for some years, to the extent that many workers now rely on wireless as their primary data connection to the corporate network. Wi-Fi infrastructure for manufacturing and retail organizations, hotels, universities and schools is already a $1 billion market, with annual growth in double digits. Adoption to date in enterprise offices, also known as ‘carpeted space’ has been slower, as many CIOs and users still regard a Wi-Fi connection as inferior to a wired Ethernet connection. 802.11n is a game changer because when properly deployed it has the potential to displace wired networks to enable a completely all-wireless workplace. It is already accepted that a well-designed Wi-Fi network is more secure than a wired LAN connection. Likewise, millions of Wi-Fi phones are in use worldwide, demonstrating the maturity of multimedia over Wi-Fi technology. The latest Wi-Fi advance, 802.11n has now proven that Wi-Fi can offer higher performance than most wired Ethernet connections: 802.11n access points available since end of 2007 already support data rates to 600 Mbps, superior to common 100 Mbps Ethernet connections. This 5x increase in speed over older Wi-Fi equipment removes the last serious objection to adoption of the all-wireless workplace concept, where no cables need be run to individual desks and workstations. As a result of 802.11n, the edge of the corporate network will finally become wireless. The primary benefit of 802.11n is its superior radio performance, allowing connection at much higher data rates with saturated coverage that reduces the ‘dark spots’ with poor coverage that are sometimes experienced in legacy Wi-Fi networks. This presentation describes the technical advances in 802.11n, and predicts the future path of standards and certifications. It investigates the state of available silicon – the fundamental building block for a Wi-Fi radio – and assesses the risk that future developments make today’s products incompatible or obsolete. Beyond its RF capabilities, 802.11n raises potential difficulties in powering access points, and some vendors have used the step increase in performance to justify ‘new’ architectural approaches. These claims are tested, along with a discussion of options when upgrading existing Wi-Fi networks to 802.11n. |
 Ammar Enaya  |