Business

Our wireless network design, implementation and integration services can help you realise your project objectives whether you are looking for an audit of your existing wireless systems or contemplating the implementation of new services. Our framework enables us to identify and eliminate many of the common problems, such as interference, signal quality and intermittent connectivity across larger areas. This comprehensive process starts by us identifying your specific needs, performing a detailed site survey and then designing your wireless network, for your specific requirements and applications. This is followed by a swift, non-disruptive deployment, followed by hands-on customer services and support. We are able to support you in the deployment of wireless links, RFID systems, VoIP solutions, Mesh networks, wireless CCTV or any wireless application requiring aspects of mobility, ease of deployment and value and cost savings.

Wireless Network Design (WND)

Our wireless LAN Design Services can help to highlight the potential business benefits of wireless technology in your context, and help you to choose the best wireless LAN solution for your individual needs. The combination of our experience, industry best practices and systems integration services will assist you to quickly and strategically deploy secure end-to-end solutions delivering maximum value to your organisation.

The skills and tasks associated with designing, implementing and securing a wireless network are significantly different to those needed to design and implement a fixed wired network.

Our experience will guide you through choosing between a centralised architecture, where the wireless LAN is made up of essentially “simple” access points linked to a central controller/wireless switch which has all the intelligence/processing power; or a distributed architecture, which consists of standalone access points that contain all the necessary intelligence/ processing power and work independently of each other.

In partnership with you and your in-house technical team we can:

  • Capture your requirements and your user habits to correctly identify what type of wireless network best fits your needs, and future plans
  • Identify the best potential solutions in line with your required performance/budget constraints
  • Procure the complete solution consisting of a fit for purpose wired and wireless network and user devices for your needs
  • Audit and analyse your existing wireless network and recommend optimisation options to increase its performance/ capacity/ security/ stability and reliability
  • Analyse the readiness of your existing applications and infrastructure to support wireless networking

Wireless LAN Security Design

Wireless networking technologies provide convenience and mobility, but they can also introduce security risks on your network if not properly designed. For example, unless authentication and authorization mechanisms are implemented, anyone who has a compatible wireless network adapter can access your network.

The level of security can differ on a SSID and VLAN basis (e.g. networks may have an open authentication, non-encrypted network for guest access to the Internet together with an 802.1x LEAP authenticated, AES encrypted internal network).

We can help you navigate the complex area of the many security standards and configuration options available within modern wireless LANs and how to integrate these into existing network security mechanisms that may already be in use on your wired network. In discussions with you we will clarify and help you to consider the pros and cons of choosing between:

  • WEP
  • WPA/ WPA2
  • TKIP/AES/DES
  • 802.1x/ various EAP authentication methods
  • Virtual Private Networks (VPN’s)
  • Personal/device/session firewalls, e.g. ISA servers
  • MAC Filtering
  • RADIUS, IAS servers
  • Pre-Shared Keys; Enterprise RADIUS servers
  • WLAN > LAN
  • SSL / digital certificates
  • AAA (Authentication/ Authorisation /Audit) Servers, e.g. IAS server.

As with any network, wired or wireless, the more layers of security that are added, the more secure your transmissions can be. But, this has to be balanced with the increased complexity and management overhead required. The key is to get the right balance for your individual wireless LAN based on your applications and specific data needs.

Wireless network health check and Optimization Due to poor network design and configuration or changes in your environment over time, your wireless network may suffer from interference, dropouts, poor throughput and connection issues? It may no longer be helping you to deliver your business goals.

Our wireless network health check and optimisation service will help in diagnosing such problematic wireless networks. From wireless network dropouts, discovering hidden nodes, frequency interference, rogue access points and many more hazards to wireless networks, we can ensure that your wireless network starts to perform.

Our Health Check and Optimization service will look at and analyse the following:

  • RF Spectrum Analysis – to identify and characterise the use of the RF environment in your location
  • Identification of RF Interference
  • Measurements of signal strengths, noise and SNR
  • 802.11 Channel assignments and detection of co-channel interference
  • Wireless Packet statistical analysis – including packet error and re-transmission rates
  • Examination of access point configuration parameters
  • Examination of end user device configuration parameters

Performing a wireless LAN health check activity on an existing wireless network is a great way to baseline your wireless performance. As the environment in which your wireless network exists is forever changing, optimising your wireless LAN can ensure it is working at peak performance at all times.

Wireless Site Surveys (WSS)

A wireless site survey is a key step in designing and deploying a wireless network and the most important step to ensure correct operation, saving you both time and money later on. We use the latest industry tools and techniques to map out the RF coverage of your intended area and provide you with detailed documentation on all aspects of the survey. It is only after a professional wireless survey will you be equipped to design & quantify a fully scalable, cost effective and secure wireless network for your particular needs. The primary objective of the Site Survey is to ensure that all users of the WLAN will experience good connectivity and excellent performance from the WLAN within the desired coverage area.

Our wireless network survey covers 802.11a/b/g networks and involves the following steps:

  • Identifying and agreeing priorities with regard to the areas of coverage required.
  • Wireless Network Engineers on site taking RSSI, RF noise, SNR, RF interference, etc readings
  • Range and coverage analysis
  • Capacity / throughput analysis
  • Interference analysis
  • Existing wireless network identification and analysis
  • Identification of access point locations
  • 802.11 channel planning
  • Identification of wiring/switching requirements

We can conduct a proxy site survey involving a physical tour of your building accompanied by sample readings to extrapolate from. This enables us to give you an early approximation of your wireless network needs and can help in providing a provisional quote that will guide you in assigning a budget for the future.

However, the full site survey will involve the collation of a comprehensive set of measurement data and will enable us to provide accurate pricing, a complete network design including the wireless network implementation/integration requirements.

A site survey report will be produced that details the settings used in the survey and shows graphical images of the signal strength and expected data rates in the wireless network. The report also details the recommended locations and numbers of access points along with the types of antennae to use.

Wireless Network Installations (WNI)

Having installed numerous wireless networks we have developed an extremely strong skill set and fine tuned the best processes in end to end wireless network deployment.

NexGen Solutions will undertake the project management of your wireless network installation, integration, commissioning/testing and make sure it is delivered on time, to performance and to budget.

We will work with your in house technicians to ensure the smooth installation and minimum disruption to your working environment and zero downtime on your existing network.

  • Agree installation time and days
  • Ensure you are aware of any pre-installation steps required to be carried out on your existing Network or IT infrastructure
  • Procure all required network infrastructure equipment
  • Arrange and carry out all installation cabling work as required
  • Install the wireless equipment and accompanying network equipment, and integrate into existing IT architecture
  • Commission the wireless network and conduct comprehensive post installation testing, including throughput and coverage tests
  • Configure and enable user devices to connect to the new wireless LAN
  • Carry out a post installation check after you have had a chance to use your network to ensure you are fully satisfied.

After you have had some time to make use of your wireless network we will carry out two post implementation checks with you to ensure that your requirements have been met and that you are fully satisfied with your wireless network.

Trial & Pilots

If you are not ready for a full wireless network installation or are not quite sure exactly what you will need and how beneficial a wireless network would be for you then why not conduct a small trial. We can provide some qualified customers wireless trials or pilots. These offer a low cost and low risk way to trial a wireless network and can often be deployed relatively quickly.

Wireless Solution Integration (WSI)

To ensure that any new wireless LAN will work seamlessly within your existing network infrastructure integration requirements must be identified and designed in.

The degree of integration required will depend heavily on the complexity and configuration of your existing network and IT infrastructure. It may be as simple as reserving a few fixed IP addresses or as complex as interfacing with and re-configuring existing AAA servers (Authentication, Authorization, Auditing), firewalls, routers, switches, VLANS, DHCP servers, etc.

Our approach takes into account:

  • The types of user applications
  • The Operating systems
  • Network server configurations (e.g. DHCP options, IP network settings)
  • Existing switching architecture – Logical VLANs, subnets routers and Power over Ethernet (PoE) capabilities
  • Existing security servers/policies/ settings (e.g. RADIUS servers, Firewalls and user account management e.g. Active Directory)
  • Presence of Legacy/ neighbouring wireless networks
  • Ethernet cabling infrastructure

Where possible integrating with existing facilities such as AAA servers, user account management systems, DHCP servers, Web Proxy servers, etc will be used to enable minimum disruption and maximum return on your existing investment.

Outdoor Wireless Networks

Our outdoor wireless solutions cater for many scenarios, whether your looking for a Mesh network (MCN), for community access between education campuses and home; or long / short distance wireless links (point to point (P2P) or point to multi-point (P2mP)), for connectivity; NexGen outdoor wireless networks can deliver your requirements.

A typical scenario for a Mesh network would be the distribution of say a LES 10 over multiple sites for a LA, allowing them to save significant costs whilst rolling out a managed service to schools and the community. At the same time the other radios in the Mesh network would provide local access around each site, and be further extended to penetrate the catchments area for extended and complete wireless provisioning to a residential community. A typical use of such a network would be for pupil laptop schemes (PLS) or computers for pupils (CfP), virtual learning environments (VLE’s), handheld learning (HL), or wireless CCTV.

The benefits of our solutions are clear, reliable, high-performance and cost effective outdoor wireless solutions for multiple applications. In addition to this our vendor neutrality will ensure that not only do you get a solution which is fit for purpose and within budget, but also you benefit from the latest technologies as they hit the market.

All outdoor wireless solutions from NexGen are fully managed and integrated into your existing network infrastructure, hence allowing you to seamlessly manage service provision, without the need for multi layered systems.

With the evolution of wireless technology it is now possible to deliver multi-service outdoor wireless networks in a single solution, networks which allow both carrier grade connectivity at 99.999% uptime, with a data throughput of up to several hundred Mbps (x00 Mbps) and end user access over typical Wi-Fi, eliminating the need for any specialised equipment at the user end.