Why you should invest in a cloud-based WLAN

Almost all devices today – desktop, smartphones, laptops, tablets and wearables are connected through wireless and Wi-Fi networks. This as well as increasing mobility of digital devices requires wireless networks to be fast, secure and reliable while delivering high performance. To achieve this in a fast-paced business environment, corporates can no more rely solely on traditional WLANs and need to identify alternative solutions to power their organization networks.

This is where a cloud-based WLAN solution fills the gap left out by traditional controller-based WLANs. Here are five benefits a cloud-based WLAN solution offers over traditional networking solutions.

Minimum hardware requirements

One of the benefits of using a cloud-based WLAN is that it reduces the requirement for hardware components. The traditional LAN networking architecture requires an organization to deploy controller devices. This can be a challenge in the case of large and dispersed enterprises as it places a burden on them in terms of cost and the time taken to set up these devices. With a cloud-based networking architecture, you eliminate the need for such hardware as you can control the entire network through a single interface. This means that the time required to deploy the network is also minimized.

Scalability

With the traditional controller-based WLANs, scalability is limited as there is a limitation on the number of wireless access points (APs) that can be managed by a single controller. If you need more APs to be managed, you will end up buying more controllers, which means that you are paying more for the capacity than you require. On the other hand, a cloud-based WLAN can handle large number of APs without the need to buy additional controllers or resulting in unused capacity, thus ensuring seamless scalability from small to large locations or data centers.

Reduced cost

Cloud-based WLANs offer cost reduction on many fronts. For starters, reduced dependency on physical controllers leads to reduced hardware costs. Secondly, the architecture makes use of intelligent APs that are easier to deploy. This brings down the deployment costs. Additionally, the solution doesn’t necessarily need an upfront networking software purchase and hence the software costs are also reduced. The overall management and maintenance cost too comes down as it involves minimum hardware maintenance as well as a software interface to control the network.

Simpler monitoring and management

The cloud-based design makes it simpler to monitor and manage the entire network. Most cloud-based solutions usually make use of networking hardware that are designed for zero-touch deployments across office locations or data centers. This provides the IT team the ability to control the entire network from a browser irrespective of their location. The cloud-based solution also makes it possible for network administrators to lay down a consistent set of policies and configurations across all office locations and data centers.

Security

A security breach in a network can cause significant damage to the business. In a controller-based architecture, the IT team has to monitor, run vulnerability assessments and upgrade security patches manually across the system as a whole. A cloud-based solution automates much of this process and enables it to happen on schedule.

To conclude, on-premise controller-based architecture still continues to play a role in providing WLAN for offices and data centers. However, considering the increasing demand on  wireless networking services to be consistent, secure and high-performing, cloud-based solutions are becoming popular owing to their advantages over traditional WLANs. This creates a compelling reason for businesses to explore a cloud-based solution for developing competitive advantage.