What if the oxen are behind the cart? Obviously, the cart won’t be pulled.
However, when it comes to WiFi this analogy doesn’t apply because the wireless networking industry and other mainstream industries can both pull each other. The infrastructural changes in the WiFi industry take place observing how WiFi is being used by home and business users.
But businesses, especially small businesses, can take cues from what’s happening by following WiFi industry trends and overhauling their businesses to be in sync. In this article, we’ll explain how to do this.
Increased Security
Being the owner of a small business, if you are tired of reading articles with the title “WiFi for enhanced security,” then here’s something new for you. Not only WiFi, but associated practices can also increase security for your data.
Have you ever heard of RADIUS server? A RADIUS server offers enhanced security. Suppose you are using WPA-2 Enterprise security and each WiFi user in your company is assigned with login details. When they enter their IDs and passwords to log in, the RADIUS server receives the information and verifies them before granting access.
You may not have known this before, but now you do. Since you want your data to be secured, next time you won’t give a thought to WiFi alone, but also to other practices related to the installation of WiFi, which, in this case, includes installing a RADIUS server. In case you are worried about the difficulty level involved in the installation, don’t be. Follow this simple tutorial to configure WPA-2 with RADIUS server.
Small Business Deals
Selection of Equipment
Investing in the right equipment can make a network safe for small business owners. If you invest in a business-class router, then you’d get multiple SSIDs. The benefit of this is users will be given guest access, separated from the main network and subsequently, the odds of the main network being compromised will be reduced.
Investing in a dual band business router has its benefits, the most important of which is using two different SSIDs at two different processor speeds; 2.4GHz and 5GHZ. As the administrator, you will be able to decide which device will use 2.4GHz speed and which 5GHz.
The device that is sending or receiving highly classified data can be assigned 5GHz speed because 5GHz doesn’t share its platform with other wireless devices. The only problem with 5GHz is poor coverage compared to 2.4GHz. To deal with the coverage problem, a small business needs the right device.
Be Industry Specific
The way things are shaping up in the WiFi industry, certain industries are clearly going to benefit. For example, WiFi gear manufacturer Aruba Network is rumored to be acquired by the tech giant Hewlett Packard. Aruba Network is widely recognized for its healthcare-centric WiFi solutions.
In July 2014, Consulate Health Care, one of the largest healthcare providers in the U.S., selected Aruba for wireless network upgrade. When the upgrade is complete, more than 2,500 Aruba Instant controller-less access points will be set up to facilitate Consulate. Consulate is a large-scale healthcare provider with more than 200 centers across 21 states. But that doesn’t mean small businesses can’t utilize Aruba’s WiFi solution.
In fact, if the acquisition indeed takes place, then small businesses in the healthcare sectors will benefit because HP will reportedly increase its reach and add small and medium sized businesses to its list of clients. The only challenge for small businesses is the susceptibility of the WiFi technology in Aruba, which may not support flexible pricing on 3G and 4G coverage.
But once acquired, HP may work on Aruba’s WiFi infrastructure to increase its clientele. Besides, it’d be difficult for HP to take Aruba’s WiFi solutions to countries outside of the U.S. because prices are fixed artificially in many of those countries and the competition is often inadequate. This means U.S. clients will be on HP’s priority list, implying opportunities for small and medium scale businesses, who operate out of the healthcare sector.
So as we can see, small businesses can keep on upgrading themselves if they keep their eyes open and take notes of all the latest news and trends in the WiFi industry. This can enable you to embrace the WiFi best practices so your business yields a profit.
WiFi Photo via Shutterstock
But the WiFi technology is not really free of loopholes. You still need to implement some security system to make sure that your data is not open to the public.
As Internet connection has become mandatory part of small businesses, due to which it is important that we should utilize enough security measure to stop any sort of hacking which can actually destruct any growing group or organization.