Telecoms distribution opportunities in 2013

ICON is the UK leader in voice mobility wireless infrastructure solutions (VoWLAN), wireless handsets and specialist IP-PBX solutions and in 2012 it consolidated this position by extending its portfolio to include Wi-Fi infrastructure from the technology leader Extricom.  

The brands it now distributes include the SpectraLink, KIRK, Extricom VoWLAN solutions, and the specialist IP_PBX solutions Wave IP from Vertical Communications and FortiVoice from Fortinet.

Hot products and applications

Hot for 2013 will be WLAN solutions for voice and other triple play applications such as available from vendors SpectraLink and Extricom.  

Growth in BYOD is fuelling an explosion of demand for 4^th generation Wi-Fi infrastructure which can handle high bandwidth voice, video, and data applications and at the same time support a secure and robust BYOD policy.  Mark Shane, Sales Director for ICON commented,

“With its unique channel Blanket technology we expect the Extricom solution to win increasing penetration as a result of its ability to deliver a wide coverage area, guaranteed bandwidth with easy deployment in Triple Play and VoWLAN environments.”

Market Trends

 In 2013 the biggest driver in the market is expected to be the increasing use of BYOD in the enterprise and public space.  People are increasing expecting organisations and venues to provide Wi-Fi access and in educational establishments the development of IT teaching based on tablets is fuelling demand for robust Wi-Fi infrastructure.  These BYOD’s are stretching the capability of traditional Wi-Fi infrastructure especially in situations such as schools and stadiums where simultaneous logons en-masse can cripple a network.  Mark commented,

 “Since partnering with Extricom we have seen a number of enquiries from our channel partners for WLAN solutions in large public spaces and I am confident that we will see a growing demand for 4^th generation VoWLAN solutions throughout 2013 and into 2014 as institutions and public places look for and deploy high bandwidth VoWLAN and BYOD access Wi-Fi networks.”

BYOB and Enterprise Wi-Fi solutions

BYOD - a headache for IT departments.

With over 90 million iPhones and 40 million iPads sold in 2011, there is no doubt that these and other mobile devices are changing the workplace dramatically. Employees want to use their own devices at work – and companies are starting to see the value in letting them do that. The Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) trend has become a way of life.  

As most of these devices do not have LAN ports, the only way to connect them to the company network is by using the WLAN.  This is where the problems start.  Mark Shane, ICON Sales Director explained,

“Organisations need to address the technical demands that the BYOD trend brings. Some key challenges being security architecture designed to support these devices and the risk of losing infrastructure control as private devices connect to the organisation's network.” 

 “The issue,” says Mark, “is that in large-scale WLANs traditional microcell WLAN architectures are struggling to meet the reliability, capacity, manageability and security dynamics of BYOD devices that require high mobility.”

 “The only safe way for an organisation to do this is to use a 4^th generation Wi-Fi infrastructure solution designed specifically for BYOD and Triple Play (voice, video, data).  The problem is that most Wi-Fi infrastructure available today are not 4^th generation."

"The Extricom Channel Blanket solution, supplied by ICON, is one of the few 4^th generation solutions available and only a few years ago, according to Gartner, Extricom was one of only two vendors supplying 4^th generation solutions in the market.”

ICON has been in this space for several years providing SpectraLink Wi-Fi handsets into the enterprise and regularly comes across the problems caused by enterprise Wi-Fi infrastructure which is just not up to the job.  Mark explains,

“The problem is that most of the installed Wi-Fi is 3^rd generation micro-cell technology which is just not adequate when it comes to BYOD and other Triple Play applications."

"When you start using your WLAN for BYOD and telecoms the WLAN takes on a completely different perspective.  It needs to be much more robust and becomes a strategic investment and, in those cases where there is a commercial imperative behind the WLAN it needs to be much more reliable”

How can the channel embrace this opportunity

In general, the traditional telecoms channel has not embraced the opportunity of BYOD and Triple Play or voice mobility.  This is due partly to not having access to a suitable solution or to the specialist knowledge which is needed to deploy a large scale WLAN using traditional microcell WLAN technology.  Mark commented,

“There is a need in the channel market space for a WLAN infrastructure solution which is Triple Play capable (voice, video & data) and which can be deployed and set up without complex surveys and advanced technology tweaking."

"Traditional microcell Wi-Fi infrastructure solutions struggle to deliver against customer needs and the complex deployment surveys and fine tuning needed to deploy them successfully means they are not suited to distribution through the traditional telecoms channel."

"The fourth generation solutions from Extricom overcome these issues and because they do not need complex surveying or fine tuning they are an ideal solution for the telecoms distribution channel.” 

Download a fact sheet

How future mobile technology & the influx of new devices will shape the enterprise space.

Mark believes that there is a mismatch between the trend to use BYOD, the enterprise’s desire to deploy and manage Wi-Fi infrastructure which is Triple Play capable and the traditional telecoms distribution channel’s ability to deliver robust WLAN solutions.  Mark says,

“This will only get worse with the increasing use of 5Ghz Wi-Fi devices.  At 5Ghz all the problems of a traditional microcell Wi-Fi deployment are magnified.”  

With the increasing use of BYOD and the growing trend for public spaces to deploy WLAN for commercial purposes Mark sees an increasingly frustrated end user unless the sector moves to 4th generation solutions such as the Extricom solution.  

For those enterprise organisation’s which have already invested in the earlier generation WLAN technologies the only solution may be a rip and replace if they want to benefit from the BYOD trend.

 “But,” says Mark, “for those in the channel which pick the 4th generation solutions such as Extricom Channel Blanket technology the opportunities seem to be boundless.”