A hot-off-the-press Wi-Fi 6E solution to navigate through a dense environment

Economia | Media house | Czech Republic

In the age of fake news and social media, accuracy and speed are fundamental to modern journalism. Although Economia, one of the leading publishing houses in the Czech Republic, has always excelled in the former, its wireless network began to struggle with the latter. To give this story a positive spin, Extreme along with its partners, Exclusive Networks Czechia and CDC Data, came up with a real scoop: one of the first Wi-Fi 6E implementations in the country!

Creating an informed, democratic society. Providing space for independent journalism based on opinions and critical thinking. Following strict professional and ethical rules when developing high quality content. These are the guiding principles of Economia, a Prague-based publisher and a major player in the field of online media, as well as economic and specialist press.

The company, founded in 1990, is currently the only Czech media house which, through a range of parallel channels, fully addresses the key part of the population: people who make decisions and who influence public opinion in the country.

Wi-Fi upgrade: not a walk in the park

Making decisions is also part of every day at the Economia office. Some are purely editorial, while others relate to the organization of the workplace itself. Due the skyrocketing popularity of online meetings, especially in the last few years, as well as the rising number of bandwidth-hungry mobile devices without a physical Ethernet interface, the IT department began to face increasing problems with the quality, security and speed of the wireless network.

It became clear that the existing Wi-Fi required an upgrade. However, solving connectivity issues in such a dynamic, digital-heavy media environment like the Economia’s editorial office isn’t exactly what you’d call a walk in the park.

Basically, the Economia environment could be described as adverse for wireless communication.

“The open space for more than 300 people, who are highly mobile and switch places on a regular basis, made the situation very complicated for us“, says Tomáš Eder, the Chief Technology Officer at Economia.

“Basically, the Economia environment could be described as adverse for wireless communication. The open space with minimal obstructions, the high density of users and the requirement for precise fail-safe mobility posed an interesting challenge for us”, says Michal Dolejší, Senior Presales Consultant & Systems Engineer at Exclusive Networks Czechia, who was directly involved in the modernization project.

“It was necessary to cover a relatively large area, which is generally unfavorable for wireless signal propagation. Economia also needed to provide a solution as soon as possible, as problems with the original wireless network were escalating very quickly”, adds Tomáš Holomek, Senior Network & Cybersecurity Engineer at CDC Data, the system integrator supporting the project.

Optimized network capacity with Wi-Fi 6 features

The Exclusive Networks Czechia team successfully identified the main pain points of the Economia’s legacy Wi-Fi solution.

“At the beginning of the project, we were asked to perform a site survey of the existing wireless infrastructure, from which clear recommendations emerged”, says Michal Dolejší. “The key change we proposed as part of the new design was a move to a multi-channel architecture, precision channel planning together with a redesign of the access point placement”.

To address the discovered issues, we proposed moving to a multi-channel architecture with precise channel planning.

The decision was made to leverage the key features of the new generation of Wi-Fi 6. For example, Orthogonal Frequency-division Multiple Access (OFDMA) allowed the Wi-Fi access points to communicate with multiple devices simultaneously. This new technology and approach of serving wireless clients can dramatically improve the overall performance and stability of the wireless network.

Taking it up a notch with Wi-Fi 6E

All Wi-Fi 6 features that improved performance, speed, coverage, and efficiency of the new wireless network were further enhanced with the ability of operating in a recently opened 6 GHz frequency band. The project involved the installation of AP5010 – the new, three-radio Wi-Fi 6E access points from Extreme Networks, designed for high-density environments like the one at Economia.

“The release of the 6 GHz spectrum and the reduced congestion that follows it represents a true revolution in enterprise wireless networks”, says Peter Majerčák, Team Leader & Architect at Exclusive Networks Czechia. “In Economia’s case, the list of observed benefits included an enhanced performance for high-bandwidth applications such as HD video conferencing, increased number of Wi-Fi channels supporting low-latency applications, as well as improved security for IoT and guest devices. Additionally, the performance of legacy clients will only improve over time, as more new devices will offload from 2.4 & 5 GHz and transition to 6 GHz”.

“We were able to provide a substantial improvement in the quality of the Wi-Fi network by changing the configuration using the original access points and then seamlessly following this up by installing new Extreme Networks elements. Subsequent support after the complete migration finalized the successful cooperation”, Tomáš Holomek adds.

Learn more about the AP5010 Wi-Fi 6E access points!

The “E” stands for “Extreme”

Wi-Fi 6E marks the beginning of a true paradigm shift in wireless networking. Following the successful implementation of the first Wi-Fi 6E access points, Extreme is coming up with a new model: AP5010!

Read More

Because content matters

When you’re in the business of information, accuracy and speed are of the essence. Therefore it was critical for Economia to solve the problem of overcrowded airwaves limiting the speed and capacity of the wireless networks. The hot-off-the-press Wi-Fi 6E solution, provided and delivered by Extreme Networks, Exclusive Networks Czechia, and CDC Data, was just what the editorial office needed.

„On the one hand, Economia has a long-standing tradition of journalism and providing high-quality, independent information because we believe content really matters. On the other hand – we are taking a forward-looking approach to leveraging technological advancements. Together with our partners, we decided that the Wi-Fi 6E standard will be ideal to support our digital transformation efforts and use cases like high definition video”, says Tomáš Eder.

Economia (...) is already prepared for the 6 GHz revolution.

“The number of Wi-Fi 6E compatible client devices is growing globally and Economia, being one of the first companies in the Czech Republic to embrace the change, is already prepared for the 6 GHz revolution”, says Michal Dolejší.

"On behalf of Extreme Networks I would like to thank Economia for their trust and the opportunity to participate in their Wi-Fi solution. Satisfying the needs of the users, operations department and management was important for us. This highly specific and demanding environment posed and interesting challenge for us and I am very happy that together with our partners from CDC Data and Exclusive Networks Czechia, we have managed to deliver on all of our promises", Michal Zlesák sums up.

About Exclusive Networks Czechia

Exclusive Networks Czechia is a global trusted cybersecurity specialist for digital infrastructure helping to drive the transition to a totally trusted digital future for all people and organizations.

The company’s distinctive approach to cybersecurity gives partners more opportunity and more customer relevance, equipping them to capitalize on rapidly evolving technologies and transformative business models. The Exclusive Networks Czechia story is a global one with a services-first ideology at its core, harnessing innovation and disruption to deliver partner value. With offices in 46 countries and the ability to service customers in over 170 countries across five continents, Exclusive Networks Czechia has a unique ‘local sale, global scale’ model, combining the extreme focus and value of local independents with the scale and service delivery of a single worldwide cybersecurity powerhouse.

Exclusive Networks Czechia is listed on the Euronext Paris stock exchange (Ticker: EXN).

About CDC Data

The CDC Data s.r.o. company specializes in system integration for IT infrastructure with an emphasis on providing high quality services. With over 120 employees and 6 affiliates, the company provides services across the whole Czech Republic. The scope of the company’s offer includes Monitoring solutions, IT Outsourcing, Virtualization, IT Security, Storage Systems, Enterprise Printing and Networking Solutions, and many more.

CDC Data applies an individual approach for each of its customers in order to perfectly cover their needs with optimal solutions and high quality, flexible services.