By Claus Hetting, WiFi NOW CEO & Chairman
Intel Connectivity Analytics delivers driver-level Wi-Fi client insights to the Cisco Catalyst Center or Cisco Meraki Cloud at no additional cost – but what practical benefits can IT departments expect from receiving detailed Wi-Fi telemetry and reports? A new white paper authored by Intel IT says client or network connectivity issues can now be resolved by IT departments in seconds as opposed to (in some cases) days.
Wi-Fi problems can be notoriously difficult and time-consuming to resolve because client-side behaviour is largely invisible to network management systems – unless of course the network infrastructure happens to be Cisco’s and the Wi-Fi clients are Intel’s. In that case Intel Connectivity Analytics (ICA) delivers client-side telemetry that can help IT departments resolve connectivity issues in seconds.
That’s the conclusion of a new Intel white paper released this month. The findings are the results of practical field testing of ICA performed by Intel’s own IT department, which is responsible for smoothly connecting thousands of employees to Intel’s corporate Wi-Fi network every day. Intel IT has identified multiple use cases for ICA including identifying driver and hardware issues, problems with roaming, coverage holes, and discovering APs that are not functioning as required, the paper reports.
“On the client side, troubleshooting a connectivity issue without Intel Connectivity Analytics could take 10-15 minutes, and the IT administrator could fix only one client at a time. ICA has helped MTTR drop significantly to 10-15 seconds, and the solution can simultaneously identify numerous problematic connections,” Intel IT says in the paper. On the network side resolutions could formerly take days but are now discoverable in seconds, Intel says.
In the case of ICA (and other initiatives) Intel IT has played the role of ‘customer zero’ to field-test, verify, and assist in the development of ICA in a three-way collaboration with Intel’s Client Computing Group and Cisco. More recently Intel has expanded the Intel Connectivity Analytics program to include new partners Wyebot, Ambeent, and Extreme Networks.
To download the highly recommended new white paper click here.
/Claus.
