The modern world is built on networks that connect devices, people and systems. This connectivity underpins advances in AI, cloud technologies and countless other innovations. Whether your organization uses the cloud, a hybrid model or on-premises infrastructure, networks remain the common thread.
Network technologies: Meeting diverse needs
Enterprises require a range of technologies to ensure reliable and seamless network connectivity tailored to their locations, devices and applications. The architecture below gives a top-level view of these needs and the various technologies that can address them:
The rise of wireless technology
Wireless technologies are experiencing accelerated adoption. Advancements in WiFi and other cellular-based technologies make them more reliable, affordable and easier to manage. This even extends to industrial environments (OT) where wireless counterparts are supplanting wired sensors.
However, enterprises face specific challenges in ensuring seamless connectivity:
- Harsh environments: Places where laying cables is impractical or impossible
- Moving devices: Maintaining connection for mobile assets (drones, vehicles, etc.)
- Disconnected sites: Linking buildings within a campus or proximity
- Outdoor operations: Ensuring coverage for mobile workers and applications
One answer to address this challenge is Cisco's Ultra-Reliable Wireless Backhaul (CURWB). It offers long-range, high-bandwidth, low-latency communication especially suited to enable:
- High-availability applications: Crucial for real-time communication and video
- Hard-to-reach locations: Extending coverage where wired solutions are impractical
The role of CURWB: Enabling ubiquitous, high-performance connectivity
CURWB is transformative in establishing ubiquitous connectivity for demanding environments and applications. Here's how it achieves this:
- Ultra-low latency: CURWB ensures minimal delays in data transmission. This is crucial for time-sensitive applications like industrial automation, robotics, and real-time video surveillance, where even slight delays can be disruptive.
- Exceptional reliability: Network downtime can translate into lost productivity and safety issues in industrial settings. CURWB offers high reliability, bolstering the dependability of critical systems and ensuring operational continuity.
- Mobility support: CURWB is particularly advantageous for AGVs (automated guided vehicles), AMRs (autonomous mobile robots) and other assets on the move, providing continuous connectivity. With CURWB, assets maintain uninterrupted communication with control systems even as they navigate warehouses and factory floors.
- Challenging environments: Designed to withstand harsh conditions often found in industrial settings and remote sites, CURWB extends network reach into areas where cabling is impractical or overly costly to deploy.
For example, HCLTech helped our Swedish automobile client achieve uninterrupted network coverage and connectivity of moving assets by defining the implementation approach and building the solution capability using CURWB technology.
The outcome: Truly ubiquitous connectivity
In conclusion, by addressing performance, reliability and coverage challenges, CURWB enables a truly ubiquitous wireless network. Devices, machines and people can seamlessly connect throughout the enterprise, unlocking these benefits:
- Enhanced operational efficiency: Ubiquitous wireless connectivity drives streamlined communication and data flow, boosting efficiency across the enterprise
- Real-time insights: With ubiquitous connectivity, sensor data collection and analysis can happen in real-time, leading to better decision-making and faster issue resolution
- Increased agility: The ability to rapidly connect new devices and systems empowers organizations to adapt quickly to changing requirements
