BYOD And Beyond: How To Turn BYOD Into Productivity

Mobility, Productivity, and BYOD

The mobility phenomenon is truly one of the drivers of technology today. A few short years ago, wireless was simply a convenience feature to provide connectivity in conference rooms and on campuses for students who wanted to sit outside while writing a term paper. Now with the advent of all these wireless devices, the requirement for mobility and wireless in motion, and the lack of physical Ethernet ports on these devices, wireless has moved from being just a convenience into being the true primary access layer for network connectivity. Gone are the days when a network administrator could sit down and plan “3 Ethernet ports per cube” and be ready to go for switch, access, and capacity planning. Now users aren’t connecting just their corporate-provided computers, but a bevy of personal and corporate provided devices that are truly changing work from a place you go to a thing you do – any time, anywhere, and from any device. In fact, over 80% of workers surveyed are bringing their personal devices to work – and 87% of those users are using them for work-related activities (not just Facebook!).

In 2011, IDC research reported that for the first time ever, more devices shipped without an Ethernet port than with one. As we prepare for this onslaught of wireless mobility in the workplace, IT administrators are faced with more challenges than ever before – how much bandwidth is enough? What types of devices might show up? Today we hear 72% of personal devices are Apple devices – but what about next year? How can an IT administrator prepare for an unknown set of devices, with unknown bandwidth and connectivity requirements, with the same number of resources, and still rest assured that he can confidently say his network is secure, high performance, and ready for the next wave of new technology – especially gigabit Wi-Fi?

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