Q&A: VARs Need To Step Up To Make Money On Latest WiFi Trends

Bruce Miller, vice president of product marketing at Xirrus.
Bruce Miller, vice president of product marketing at Xirrus.

Wi-Fi specialist vendor Xirrus introduced what they said is the industry's first cloud-managed, wall-mounted 802.11ac Wi-Fi access point, which delivers high-speed Wi-Fi and Gigabit Ethernet wired access in a single solution focused on hospitality, education and healthcare space.

The product is touted as a low-cost enterprise-class 802.11ac AP.

Bruce Miller, vice president of product marketing at Xirrus, has an extensive history in the space as the previous executive director of product management at Ixia and senior product manager of Lucent Technologies.

He explains how the new product is a natural fit for hospitality-related deployments as well as how solution providers and partners can take advantage of markets through 802.11ac in the areas of hospitality, healthcare and education. 
What do you see currently trending around 802.11ac?

11ac is being adopted at a fast pace within the industry as a whole. This is supported by its nearly 3X performance gain over 802.11n and at a price similar to previous generation 802.11n solutions. New, low cost 11ac solutions are pushing the technology into all areas of the enterprise – indoors/outdoors, low and high capacity areas, etc. And 11ac’s use of the 5GHz spectrum is driving greater adoption of devices that support the standard for delivering the best performance.

Where do you see VARs/solution providers making money through 802.11ac in hospitality?

Wi-Fi is now the number 1 amenity in hospitality settings. Good Wi-Fi service is fundamental to repeat business. Many hotels have older infrastructure – sometimes 7-plus years-old – that were not designed to handle the density/capacity requirements of today.
802.11ac is a perfect upgrade option for these types of deployments. VARs with managed service provider offerings can deliver a turn-key solution that they own and can operate remotely via cloud management.

Where do you see VARs/solution providers making money through 802.11ac in healthcare?

Healthcare continues to expand its use of wireless technology and is one of the fastest growing market segments in the industry. Applications for wireless in healthcare settings are many, including mobile tablet usage by doctors, nurse call systems, medical equipment network connections, location tracking tags, guest access for visitors and patients, and more.
VARs and solution providers can position 802.11ac solution upgrades that will help address the growing use of the wireless network with high performance solutions that deliver robust, reliable service. The 5GHz Wi-Fi spectrum used by 802.11ac is much cleaner, higher capacity, and more reliable than the legacy 2.4GHz spectrum used more commonly in the past. Managed service providers can offer turn-key solutions that reduce IT resource requirements.

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