Usually, trouble with wireless devices and networks comes down to the efficiency of radio transmissions, not speed. Fortunately, products that implement Wi-Fi 6, the IEEE’s 802.11ax wireless networking standard, are well positioned to alleviate the performance problems that plague manufacturers. Most of the benefits of Wi-Fi 6 can be explained through three simple abbreviations. At first glance, these may seem like alphabet soup, but the features they represent offer significant improvements to organizations that deploy Wi-Fi 6.

For organizations to realize the potential value of AI, according to McKinsey, their AI strategy must align with their corporate strategy. They need a “clear data strategy that supports and enables AI,” and they must invest in staff and technical training to ensure they have the skills to implement AI at scale.

I keep those imperatives in mind when I work with business and IT leaders who wonder how AI might help their organizations. My advice to them: To get the most out of the technology — to make AI work for you — it pays to take a phased approach to implementation.

Whenever people ask me about preparing their IT networks for the future, two emerging technologies immediately come to mind: software-defined WAN and 5G mobile broadband connectivity. While 5G is still emerging, many organizations are already taking advantage of the capabilities of SD-WAN. By combining these technologies in the coming years, organizations will be able to achieve exceptional levels of performance, efficiency, security and resiliency.

Here are some of the ways these technologies are set to help organizations meet the networking challenges of the future.

With IT departments around the world suddenly focused on supporting their remote workforces, administrators are evaluating Windows Virtual Desktop (WVD) to allow users to be productive from home. WVD is quick to roll out, especially if users have already been synchronized to Azure Active Directory. However, there are underlying infrastructure prerequisites that should be understood before setting up the first Host Pool.

I have been helping admins who have been tasked with immediately piloting WVD, and this post aims to document some of infrastructure items that are commonly overlooked in the rush to stand up the solution.

Distributed the laptops? Check. Wireless mice? Check. Warm, snuggly pajamas with your company’s logo? Check. Your organization is ready for work from home. Except… you need to also extend your network to support this workforce. That’s where the real struggle is: where the hard-working IT professionals are having to support a massive influx of remote users, often without having the luxury of scaling out infrastructure or redesigning edge networks.

I want to outline a few suggestions that could help in these kinds of situations.

How do you plan for your network to accommodate an influx of work from home traffic? This is a question on a lot of network managers’ minds right now. Many organizations are busy keeping their networks up and running, making sure they have the right capacity, issuing notebooks, etc. And while they’re busy addressing these initial needs, they may not be thinking about the underlying infrastructure needed for increased WFH activity. What if you send all 10,000 people home — do you have the right capacity to support that? This blog will cover what should be top of mind when planning for your organization’s network to scale for WFH.