This webinar discusses the hot topics in mobility at the moment.
What are the implications of MAC addresses randomisation for enterprise networks?
Wifi 6E vs 5G - which is more relevant to education and research?
4. Govroam updates
4
• Currently available at 4,768 sites across 298
organisations. This compares to 4,176
locations a year ago.
• Usage affected by lockdown, but we still saw
growth particularly within the NHS.
• Govroam is forming part of business continuity
and disaster recovery plans, including
strategies for COVID-19 and Brexit.
• We encourage universities and colleges to offer
govroam alongside eduroam where appropriate,
to support their public sector visitors.
Commercial, 1% Blue light, 2%
Education, 13%
Government, 39%
NHS, 45%
Membership by sector
7. eduroam updates
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• Membership number now stands at over 600
• Vast majority of HE now participate in eduroam;
50% of FE colleges have joined
• Continue to focus on supporting and increasing
uptake in FE
• In final stages of fully virtualising national
infrastructure
[CELLRANGE]
NHS Trusts
[CELLRANGE]
FE Colleges
[CELLRANGE]
Other - local
authority,
science park,
society, other
education
New members Jan-Sept 2020
NHS Trusts
FE Colleges
Other - local
authority,
science park,
society, other
education
8. eduroam usage
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• Impact of COVID: anticipated peak of 1.7M
unique devices roaming in March fell to
~1.2M
• April saw the lowest device count since Sept
2013 - a quarter of normal usage.
• NHS hospital-related roaming
• International roaming has been reduced
even more
• There has been a gradual increase over the
summer and the return to campus as
restrictions have been lifted
0
200,000
400,000
600,000
800,000
1,000,000
1,200,000
1,400,000
1,600,000
1,800,000
Jan May Sept Jan May Sept Jan May Sept Jan May Sept
Unique Client Devices Monthly Count
(Based on calling station-ID attribute in Access-Accept
Events) Jan 17 - Sept 20
10. Finally, the wireless estate?
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• Long history of finance challenging new build plans to eliminate flood wiring, replace with WiFi on cost
grounds.
• Never been viable… until now?
• Quick review of the leading contenders to follow: 5G, WiFI-6E, Private LTE
• Caveat one: almost everything you can research online applies to the US market, where a very different
spectrum management regime is in force. Challenge your sales conversations for UK-based reference
sites.
• Caveat two: If you do opt for a wireless building – with the implied wireless IP telephony – take extra care
over requirements for ability to do emergency service calls
12. 5G - macrocellular
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• Characteristics of ‘telephony’ version:
•28GHz: higher speeds (av. 200-400mbps), reduced latency
•Higher density: 106 users per km2 (vs. 4,000 for 4G)
•Massive MIMO improves efficiency – but makes for expensive base stations
•Network slicing is much easier: dedicated private 5G networks at national scale, e.g. for IoT
• Impact expected 2022 in Asia, other regions to follow – perhaps 5 years from broad availability in the UK.
• “More than a year after the UK’s first 5G network was switched on, the technology still looks like a solution
looking for a problem” – Telegraph
13. 5G - mmWave
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• mmWave:
•30 – 300GHz, therefore very different propagation characteristics indoors.
•Small antennae, therefore easy to incorporate arrays in device formfactors, giving enhanced spatial
processing
•Propagation characteristics will require AP spacing as low as 10m
•Human hand can block the signal unless the phone handset has multiple antennae to compensate.
16. WiFi-6E
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• ‘Vanilla’ WiFi 6 faces congestion in the 5GHz ISM band
and DFS to protect licensed frequencies; it can’t achieve
its potential of ~10Gbps – it may even not be worth
upgrading WiFi 5 to WiFi 6.
• WiFi-6E operates at 6GHz (Ofcom is consulting on
releasing spectrum)
•No congestion or DFS: full 160MHz channels available
•Better management of congested environments through
OFDMA use of sub-channels, MU-MIMO, 1024QAM etc.
• Overall, better network efficiency, lower latency.
• But, Gartner forecasts that only 24% of notebook
computers and 22% of premium ultramobile devices will
have integrated 802.11ax technology by 2022.
18. 4G Private LTE
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• Various frequencies available 1.8, 2.3, 3.8, 26 GHz
• Standard LTE interface
• Addresses perceived limitations of WiFi:
•poor data throughputs
•variable latency
•signal loss during handover between Aps
• ‘Shared Access’ license required from Ofcom; available for a fee, first
come first served. (low power/indoors or medium power/single base
station)
Notas del editor
Talking points:
One roam is here defined as any successful authentication, excluding tests. Note that these figures are limited to users roaming outside of their home federation. Due to the nature of the service, we are not currently able to collect data on roaming within regional federations. So, these figures should serve as an indication of general trends rather than comprehensive scale of usage.
Peaks and troughs typical – also seen with eduroam – reflects working week vs weekend.
Affected by lockdown – roaming just not a priority for most organisations.
Steady NHS usage even through peak of lockdown, but now seeing usage in this sector growing beyond pre-lockdown rates. Note the fortnight around day 190 which shows no usage – this is due to a blip in data collection!
Beginning to see overall recovery in usage – we are now achieving the rate seen November 2019, though we’re not quite at the peak seen in Jan/Feb 2020.
We’ve continued to grow the govroam footprint even over lockdown, with several new federations, organisations and sites onboarded.