April 29, 2021

Talinda East Africa: Wireless Networking Solutions for quality Business Communication and WiFi

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TALINDA East Africa

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Talinda East Africa: Wireless Networking Solutions for quality Business Communication and WiFi

Today, businesses of all types are feeling the pressure to re-design their wireless connectivity so as to accommodate increasing demands in their enterprise networks. The office environment just like a coffee shop is exposed to the influx of mobile devices, cloud based applications, mobile applications, and an overwhelming adoption of BYOD WiFi hungry practices.

There is a constant need for fast and reliable WiFi that is always on. However, some businesses lack budgets, time and resources in-house in terms of skills to design, deploy and manage complex WiFi systems. Not just a collection of Access Points (APs) distributing WiFi, a wireless network features much more with characteristic high security, superior performance, central management and configuration and high use density.

Typically, small businesses and startups with 2 to 5 people will start with a WiFi router from the Internet Service Provider ISP. While this works for a while, problems set in once the office begins to increment their devices e.g. Voice, and Video. Once office phones are set in the LAN network, staff start to hold video meetings, and using the internet to access their CRM it becomes a recipe for “hanging” webpages and choppy video calls.

Client feature: Mkopa Solar Head Offices at Chania Avenue Nairobi

Devices within a wireless network:

1. Access Point – According to Linksys, an access point is a device that creates a wireless local area network, or WLAN, usually in an office or large building. It connects to a wired switch, hub or router through a LAN or Ethernet cable and broadcasts the WiFi signal to a desired area. For instance, if your router range does not reach your office reception area, an access point can be installed and connected to the server through a LAN cable to allow WiFi access in this area. Talinda is a certified integrator of Indoor, Outdoor and Specialized APs like in room, mobile for Low, Medium and High density environments.

2. Router – A router receives and sends data on computer networks according to Cisco. Routers direct traffic on the internet like emails, webpages, in the form of data packets.

3. Network switch – Wikipedia definition is a networking hardware that connects devices on a computer network by using packet switching to receive and forward data to the destination device. This is where all office devices are connected – from voice, data to video – and powered with PoE switches. Some switches connect your business to fiber and LAN networks.

4. Controller – This is a networking device that manages all the devices in the network. We supply and install controllers in hardware device, software, virtualized servers and the cloud environments.

Client Feature: Canaan Factory Limited in Lari, Kenya

Here are some important benefits of a wireless network brings to your business – office/ factory/ restaurant/ campus network

1. Centralized management – With wireless networks IT Administrators can configure and manage the network devices – access points, switches from a single device often a Controller. This makes it easy to deploy a network and manage everything like performance and access from one device and possibly from a centralized location. As a result, administrators avoid doing the same repeat tasks on each AP or Switch.

2. Effortless WiFi roaming – Deploying WiFi systems is supposed to be quite systematic. It is important to pair devices that work together so that most applications work. For instance, some businesses are large enough to host more than one AP. In environments like office, campus networks with more offices distributed in different buildings roaming is important.

Picture walking into a coffee shop to order your regular coffee as you do an early morning pitch to your client. You are connected quickly, the internet is fast and you are ready to start the meeting. Only 5 minutes in, you realize the lighting in the cafe is really bad and your client admits he can’t see you clearly. You suggest to move into the terrace of the café where there is more natural light. Once you settle out it becomes apparent the meeting is choppy both audio and video. When you ask the barrister for help, she suggests connecting to another hotspot and shares the new password. So you have to disconnect from the first hotspot and enter your credentials once more to reconnect wasting another 10 minutes.

In an ideal situation WiFi roaming should solve this unnecessary disruption. How you ask? When people move across a wireless network environment like from one end of an office, hotel, school to another. They remain connected to the same network without having to reconnect or get disconnected. This is because all APs are connected to one single network. Work, meetings and learning goes on uninterrupted and seamlessly.

3. Network diagnosis – Admins experience network fluctuations, faulty or disconnected networks. But imagine if this happens in a network with 10, 20, 50, 200 APs and switches, it’s a headache. With a controller or master AP like the case of Ruckus unleashed AP, network diagnosis is simple, centralized and can be managed remotely. Admins can correct the situation before more problems occur.

Client Feature: Inca Restaurant & Bar – Lavington, Nairobi

4. Security – High compliance capabilities pushed towards networking manufacturers help to ensure they come up with devices that follow strict settings and security features to meet security policy and regulatory compliance requirements.

5. SSID security access – It’s great to note the APs, Switches and Controllers we supply and install meet the security features in the industry. What’s more with a controller or master AP you can separate your network into different SSID. In the case of a restaurant you have partition your network separating the staff network from the patronage network. So customers can access platforms like TikTok while staff can access the restaurant CRM from same network but through a different SSID.

Client feature: Astrazeneca Office Nairobi

6. End user connectivity – Deploying wireless networks is hardly straightforward. Sometimes end user using Mac and iPads have difficulties connecting to your network. This has a lot to do with the available frequency bands. With 2.4 and 5 GHz WiFi networks, the latter is most preferred in business environments due to its larger amount of available bandwidth over its counterpart. Most smartphones and tablets are 2.4GHz only so will work on this network, while some Apple devices work on 5GHz network. Good quality business grade APs operate in both frequency bands to serve WiFi users simultaneously in both bands.

7. End user experience – Overall, a great network helps processes within your business to be faster, clearer, with less disruptions like calling clients, emailing suppliers and video conferencing with your top executives abroad.

To deploy, a great WiFi network Talinda East Africa ensures quality and efficient solutions by starting with a site survey to determine at a minimum:

The dead spots
Areas that are likely to have a higher concentration of users
Number of devices likely to connect in each floor or room
Type of construction materials of the walls and floors (in a storey building deployment)

We are certified partners and installers of: Ruckus (Commscope), HPe Aruba, Cisco, Cambium, Ubiquiti, D-Link and more. We major in turnkey projects, office fitout and refurbishment projects, as well working on existing infrastructure upgrades, support and servicing for: