100 percent Vvisibility into the Wi-Fi environment. We often complain about the Wi-Fi being down or slow, but the truth of the matter is that the Wi-Fi is more than just the Wi-Fi. There is an entire wireless ecosystem that must be monitored and managed, and any part of it could cause performance degradation. It includes back-end and front-end infrastructure, connected devices, nearby devices, and non-Wi-Fi connected devices like Bluetooth or even microwaves. It is known as the Radio Frequency (RF) Spectrum, and it’s necessary to understand how this entire spectrum is operating in order to truly have Wi-Fi Assurance. Anything on this spectrum — including nearby neighboring networks or hot spots — can impact a facility’s wireless network. If IT is going to solve network issues, they must be supported with a tool that knows everything about the environment, and can pinpoint the root cause of issues down to individual devices.
In addition, the RF Spectrum is dynamic. It isn’t enough to monitor the spectrum periodically; it must be analyzed 24/7 in order to truly capture all data, and allow IT to proactively resolve issues. This requires multiple radios to be constantly scanning the environment. If there are any problems, healthcare IT professionals need to be able to act quickly. There is no time to waste. Assurance solutions that analyze the entire environment ensure that IT has all necessary information to resolve issues before there are any negative impacts. This keeps things running smoothly and efficiently, allowing healthcare professionals to focus on patient care.
Remote Testing and Monitoring. Network issues can strike at any time, and might happen sporadically. Unless IT is directly monitoring the network like a remote client would when the problem strikes, it is incredibly time-consuming to lock down what caused the issue. Remote, continuous network tests change that. An Assurance solution equipped with this capability that can act like a remote client on the network can run tests without requiring constant input from IT, and test for any performance issues before the network is affected. If an issue is detected, the platform should automatically notify IT with the exact details on when the test failed, why it failed, and actionable suggestions for resolution.
Whether a clinic, nursing home, or hospital, healthcare facilities need to rapidly and proactively isolate anything that is impacting the Wi-Fi, because a poorly performing wireless network directly affects lifesaving and mission-critical apps, devices, and gadgets. Wi-Fi ecosystems are vast, dynamic environments that must be continuously monitored. With Wi-Fi Assurance, healthcare professionals can ensure that all wirelessly-connected technology operates in an optimized manner.
About the author: Roger Sands is the CEO of Wyebot, the leading data-analytics driven platform for mission critical Wi-Fi ecosystems.
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