The site survey is the most critical step to successfully installing a W-Lan. The site survey provides the foundation to build the infrastructure will control the installation costs. Some may feel that a site survey is an unnecessary step, however a properly designed W-Lan will provide satisfactory coverage, even if some components quite working, and will take advantage of existing LAN if possible.

Why the need for a site survey?

Your wireless LAN works great from 9:00-11:00 and from 1:00-5:00, but during breakfast and lunch your access point closest to the break room shuts down. The microwaves in the break room cause a noise interference problem.

A good survey first takes into account current LAN infrastructure to help minimize installation costs. Additionally, access point locations should be designed to allow for redundancy in case of the loss of an access point. Some feel that the more access points the better the coverage, but following this thinking could cause serious issues to your wireless network.

Two access points on the same network that the channel selection is to close. On an 802.11G network if you were to choose channel 1 on one access point and channel 2 on another access point this would cause interference.

One of the biggest concerns in a Wireless-LAN, is my network secure? With horror stories of large corporations having credit card information stolen by someone sitting in the parking lot it can cause concerns.

System ID Advanced Solutions fix for these concerns.

The Advanced Solutions Group has a combined experience of over 200 installs and with this amount of experience there are very few problems that they haven’t seen. Some of the tools at our disposal:

• Spectrum analyzer- searches for noise, channel interference, and coverage. Even though it provides this information it takes an expert to understand what the patterns on the analyzer mean.
• RFS Lan Planner Software-allows us to put your companies building infrastructure to simulate your business layout to see wireless coverage patterns.
• Array of antennas- one type of antenna does not fit all applications. We have yagi/directional antennas, patch antennas, omni-directional antennas all at our disposal to see which antenna array will work best.

The spectrum analyzer searches for noise, channel interference, and coverage. Even though it provides this information it takes an expert to understand what the patterns on the analyzer mean. We stay adept on the latest security and encryption methods and recommend such for our installs.

If you are interested in a site survey consultation please call your System ID representative or send an email.

Some believe that installing a wireless network is as simple as placing a few access points in the ceiling and you now have Wi-Fi. System ID has seen that process fail time and time again. Dead zones, intermittent coverage and weak security all can result from a poorly designed W-LAN. We have seen instances when someone tried to correct wireless coverage issues by simply throwing more access points up when the actual solution was to reduce the number of access points. These are the steps System ID Advanced Solutions practices in order to guarantee a 100% coverage wireless network.

Some may feel that installing a wireless network is as simple as placing a few access points in the ceiling and you now have Wi-Fi. In an ideal world that is how Wi-Fi works but there is much more involved. Why is this so, and what are the steps System ID Advanced Solutions practices in order to guarantee a 100% coverage wireless network.

We ask for drawings of your facility that you need Wi-Fi in. This would include dimensions, obstructions, and pre-existing wireless network information if you had it.

System ID will perform a site survey. A site survey allows us to know if there are any noise problems. This would include Wi-Fi from neighboring companies or even devices such as microwaves that interfere with wireless networks. We also do a channel analysis. A channel analysis allows System ID to determine this least amount of interference and the best throughput or speed for the wireless network. The site survey also allows us to guarantee 100% coverage.

After a site survey System ID will send a Site Survey Report. This includes pictures of your facility, recommended placement of access points, and recommendation on hardware.

If after viewing the Site Survey report you decide to use System ID services. System ID will provide a Scope of Work with detailed information on what services System ID will do on-site.

We will schedule the services at a time that fits your schedule.

After receiving the signed Scope of Work and approval for an order from you, System ID will have your product shipped to your facilities so almost all of the hardware needed to complete your installation is on site.

System ID will then come on site and speak with your IT department to confirm what IP addresses you would like to use and to reaffirm details of the installation.

We will then begin setting up the access points on our custom mounted boards. This includes mounting the access points and antennas. The next step is actually mounting the mount boards with the access points and antennas into/onto your ceiling we will/can mount in other locations as well, but typically we are installing into the ceiling racks. We will connect the cat-5 cables to the access point.

After mounting all of the access points, we will install and configure your switch in your data closet or other designated location.

Once all cables are connected we will see the access point light indicators come on giving us one indicator that all infrastructure is connected correctly. Finally we will test the network and make sure that data rates, throughput, and coverage are running at optimal level.

One of if not the biggest concern in wireless networking is security. System ID utilizes the latest in encryption and authentication methods for wireless networking unless instructed otherwise by you.

System ID utilizes only the best of breed manufacturers in W-Lan infrastructure including Motorola and Cisco. Motorola has sold more W-Lan switches than any other manufacturer. Cisco is the leader in the network industry.

We also offer training of the graphical interface (GUI) of the different hardware pieces in order for you and your IT department to manage the network.

After your installation is complete System ID offers post sales technical support. We have an 800 number that can be called anytime from 8-5 central Monday thru Friday. The field engineer that came on site for your installation will give you his contact information if you need assistance as well.

Why System ID

In the professional services department alone System ID has combined experience of 50 plus years in installing W-Lan. In the last 3 years alone System ID has installed more than 3 million square feet of wireless coverage.

System ID has taken Motorola training courses and is certified in W-Lan sales trainings and tech trainings

Three of System ID’s employees have completed a training CWNP training course. The Certified Wireless Network Administrator (CWNA) is a foundation level certification that measures the ability to administer any wireless LAN. A wide range of topics focusing on the 802.11 wireless LAN technology are covered in the coursework and exam, which is vendor neutral.

Radio Technologies

Antenna Concepts

Wireless LAN hardware and software

Network Design Installation and Management

Wireless Standards and Organization

802.11 Network Architecture

Wireless LAN Security

Troubleshooting

How to perform site surveys