The Challenge: Supporting a Major Increase of in-Store Wireless Applications — and a New Generation of WI-FI

Today’s wireless LAN (WLAN) is more than a network. It has become a critical business tool that helps retailers of all sizes improve the customer experience and associate efficiency. But wireless technologies and wireless initiatives have continued to evolve, pressuring the WLAN you have today and presenting numerous challenges:

Shoppers’ expect high-performance in-store Wi-Fi access

When today’s shoppers step into your store, they expect you to provide complimentary access to the store’s Wi-Fi network. They are looking to help control their cellular data fees and eliminate the connection issues that can occur inside a retail store. But providing guest access creates several issues:

• Ease of access – You need to be able to allow shoppers to easily sign in to access your WLAN
• Security – You need to be able to keep your network secure, despite the fact that you are offering open public access to your WLAN
• Next generation 802.11ac Wi-Fi support – The fifth generation of Wi-Fi is here. Analysts are predicting critical mass in just a few short years — in 2015 — and your customers are already buying 802.11ac-enabled mobile devices. You need to make sure that shoppers who have upgraded to these next-generation Wi-Fi devices can still access your WLAN
• Performance expectations – You need to provide your shoppers with dependable high-performance Wi-Fi connections — despite major and unpredictable fluctuations in the number of users and traffic on the WLAN

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