Thought leadership for last mile networking in the age of digital transformation.
Smart In-builiding network considerations
Think differently about traffic
Virtually every connectivity format is now based on Internet Protocol (IP). It is the 'I' in IoT. Even cell traffic ultimatly becomes IP packets. Any in-building connectivity solution simply must optimize for IP traffic. The good news is doing so creates optimal and homogeneous connectivity that everything else can use. One in-building network bus for everything...
Build a TCP/IP vacuum machine to gather every bit of traffic possible
Imagine an IP traffic bus that extends to the last inch. That bus becomes a very efficient, payload based vacuum that networks together all traffic. This is how network cost is reduced. Each bit added reduces the cost to move all bits. WIFI, Ethernet and even DAS traffic can ride that bus. It is massively scalable with the best economic efficiency available.
Deploy fiber to the last inch
Fiber Optics are the undisputed champion of the capacity game. No technology will provide more future proofed and cost effective traffic delivery than fiber. It is fast, secure, and cost effective. A building served by fiber is a proven way to build CRE value. Deploy fiber as deeply as possible into the reaches of your building. Then, forget it. GPON plus IP networking is SMART.
Calculate the unit TCO of every connection and traffic bit
A homogeneous IP in-building IP bus is cheaper to deploy, manage and scale. This is why IP networking is the basis of the Internet. It is throughly rung out and massively scalable. Plus, it is far easier to secure an IP network helping to reduce the TCO. Using a cost/bit TCO calculus will illuminate the virtuous and continuously falling cost as new devices and traffic are added.
Share Infrastructure - create a new cost basis
There are two kinds of in-building devices - those that are IP based and those that soon will be IP based. Proprietary protocols and cabling solutions are marching to the halls of extinction and in their place IP networking over fiber is the gold standard. Morse law is your friend - reduce the cost of moving a bit and more reasons to move bits will emerge.
Take A Modular Approach
That IP bus, ideally based on fiber, makes it easier to plug and play. That is one of the reasons that TCP/IP has won the network protocol wars. It is easy to deploy, manage, and secure. You can plug in a wireless access point, laptop, security camera, door lock, AV device, HVAC or smart light with relative simplicity. Because it is is the same, it is far easier to manage and secure.
Deploy indoor location beacons
WiIF, Private 4/5G cell networks and even Bluetooth LE can easily provide precise indoor location service. It is an easy incremental add to any indoor connectivity solution. Most of the big logos, like Apple, are investing in indoor locations service based on WIFI triangulation for example. Layer the internal device location on top of a digital twin map of your interior spaces and you are set up to be the Uber of your market.
Optimize for mobility
You have heard the stat - 80% of all cell traffic originates inside buildings. We have become a mobile society. WIFi has reached a muti-hundred percent market penetration while indoor cell systems like DAS have yet to cross into double digit market penetration. Cost and the lack of democratized spectrum are a couple of the reasons. But that is changing. CBRS is a massive block of prime spectrum set up for Private 4/5G use. Apple equipped new devices with CBRS bands starting with iPhone 12. It is now possible to deploy a Private Cell network without any carrier involvement. WIFI 6 and soon 6e are available for deployment with massive improvement in all regards.
Design for low latency
The value of a piece of information declines with the passage of time. Knowing a customer shopped for a TV last month is interesting. Knowing the customer is standing in front of the TV display right now is priceless. This is the root of the cloud and edge computing explosion and that is all about latency. This is speed of light stuff demanding that data be collected, stored and made available for correlation in milliseconds. Poorly designed networks will defeat latency SLAs before the bit get to the edge computing device.
Plan for big data
Most of the value of any digital transformation or 'Smart' project involves moving up the OSI stack into the application and data layers. Back to the Uber example: lift the hood and it is all about matching rider data with driver data with wallet data in real time. As CPU's double in speed and the cost of memory/storage falls, more and more of the building inhabitant experience will be about big data and AI. Computing and networks have reorganized. The device and eyeballs are probably mobile and indoors someplace. The applications and data are in the cloud. The distance between the two is all about connectivity and the measure of success is probably latency.
5G will change everything...
Not news, but what does it mean indoors? It means that cellular services and their connected devices are on a journey to a new cell network experience where gigabit services are expected and required. Under the hood, 5G builds on 4G by using those low bands then adding the capacity of higher bands concurrently. 5G will bond different frequencies and even wifi to create a new experernince. As higher and higher frequencies are employed, staggering new speeds become available. Assuming, of course, those higher bands can penetrate your building. Modern construction and things like e-glass essentially make buildings Faraday chambers for the higher 5G bands. Fortunately, there are a number of options open to CRE owners and inhabitants to deploy a private 4/5G solution INSIDE the building, often with zero carrier involvement.