Wireless Consulting Services

Ekahau offers an integrated suite of advanced software tools, RF scanning hardware, and cloud collaboration services to help organizations of any size to plan, validate, optimize, manage, and troubleshoot Wi-Fi networks. Progent's certified Ekahau experts can help you use Ekahau technology to carry out any stage of Wi-Fi design and management. Services offered by Progent's Wi-Fi consultants include:

• Define the RF characteristics of your physical environment (floor plan, materials, ceiling height, sources of RF interference, etc.)
• Determine your current and future requirements for Wi-Fi coverage, capacity, and performance
• Generate a predictive plan for Wi-Fi access point (AP) models, antenna options, locations, heights, and configuration
• Design a secondary coverage plan for roaming and high availability
• Onsite measurement and validation of your physical Wi-Fi implementation
• Onsite detection of RF interference from sources outside your Wi-Fi network
• Create a channel plan that minimizes co-channel contention and adjacent channel interference
• Centrally monitor and manage single or multiple Wi-Fi networks
• Provide actionable reports on performance analytics and issues
• Troubleshoot current problems and anticipate emerging ones before they disrupt productivity
• Adapt your Wi-Fi solution efficiently over time to continue meeting your evolving requirements

Progent also offers onsite support for performing Wi-Fi site surveys using Ekahau's Sidekick spectrum analysis hardware to measure actual performance and identify dead spots, RF interference, and other problems.

Ekahau's Product Suite for Wi-Fi Network Planning and Support
Ekahau Connect is a family of software, hardware, and services from Ekahau for designing and managing modern Wi-Fi networks. Used by the majority of Fortune 500 companies, Ekahau's Wi-Fi products are available by subscription as an integated suite. Some components of Ekahau Connect are also offered separately. Progent can utilize Ekahau technology to design, validate and maintain your Wi-Fi network or assist you to use your own Ekahau product stack.

Key components of the Ekahau Connect product suite include:

Ekahau Pro
Ekahau Pro software allows you to plan, verify and debug Wi-Fi networks. To create a predictive model, which can be done remotely, you draw or import a floor plan of your building. You then draw walls or import them to Ekahau Pro from a CAD program. You include doors, cabling, and elevator shafts and specify building materials. Next you select specific Wi-Fi AP products from Ekahau Pro's database, which includes coverage characteristics and antenna patterns associated with various access points. Ekahau Pro's 3-D planner lets you place or remove APs to build a heat map of Wi-Fi coverage. You can adjust AP type, quantity, placement, height and antenna options until the predictive model shows the coverage you require.

Ekahau Sidekick
Once your predictive model is completed and your APs are in place and configured, you can validate your deployment by performing an onsite survey using the Ekahau Sidekick, a portable RF scanning device that integrates with Ekahau Pro. This allows you to measure actual Wi-Fi coverage so you can tweak your AP deployment as necessary. Sidekick's integrated spectrum analyzer can identify areas experiencing interference from non-Wi-Fi transmitters and Ekahau Pro software can plot these trouble spots on your site map so you can resolve the issues.

Ekahau Sidekick 2
The Ekahau Sidekick 2 mobile testing and measurement device introduces the ability to validate the latest 6 GHz wireless networks (Wi-Fi 6E) as well as traditional 5 GHz and 2.4 GHz environments. Speed and accuracy are enhanced with four tri-band radios and a spectrum analyzer that scans at 50 sweeps/second. Compared to the earlier Sidekick device, Sidekick 2 offers almost double the speed for dual-band surveys and is 33% faster at surveying tri-band networks. Nine integrated 3D antennas deliver omnidirectional measurement consistency and virtually eliminate variances between Sidekick 2 devices. A quick-charge battery supports two working days on a typical site survey with a single charge.

Ekahau Analyzer
Ekahau Analyzer software connects to the Sidekick scanner and displays the results of key Wi-Fi network health measurements. To help you troubleshoot RF interference sources, the Analyzer app tests against specified requirements and uses pass/fail indicators to highlight results. When a problem is flagged, you can run the Sidekick's spectrum analyzer to pinpoint RF interference or overcrowded channels in real time. Features of Analyzer include Auto-Test, Signal Strength Analysis, Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) Analysis, Channel Quality Analysis, Connectivity Analysis, and Spectrum Measurements. Results can be displayed on a handheld Android or iOS device connected to your Sidekick, allowing easy mobility for collecting diagnostic data.

Ekahau Insights
Ekahau Insights software provides centralized visibility into network quality across multiple Wi-Fi deployments worldwide. Insight allows you to search and sort predictive planning and survey projects, rank projects according to network health, maintain an inventory of active APs based on location and technology generation, and track survey activity to ensure you validate your sites regularly. Automated analysis shows how your Wi-Fi networks perform in comparison to your requirements by site, floor, and area within a floor. A heatmap viewer displays visualizations for primary and secondary signal strength, channel interference, SNR, and network health issues. Support for tags streamlines file and workflow management by allowing you to organize and search projects by client name, site type, workflow state, and other contextual categories.

Ekahau Capture
Ekahau Capture software works with the Ekahau Sidekick Wi-Fi scanner to capture Wi-Fi packets in order to help experts resolve complex network problems. Packet capture may be required to resolve issues involving connectivity, roaming between APs, poor audio, dropped calls, unbalanced channel utilization, faulty Wi-Fi software drivers, broken hardware, misconfigured APs, device limitations, or security threats like unencrypted traffic or denial of Service (DoS) attacks. You can also use Ekahau Capture to calculate Wi-Fi traffic statistics including retry rates, average data rate, and frame type distribution. Ekahau Capture saves packet captures in PCAP format so they can be analyzed with third party tools. Ekahau Capture can collect and store 802.11/a/b/g/n/ac frames and perform captures on a single channel or on multiple channels.

Progent's Predictive Wi-Fi Design Services
Progent's predictive Wi-Fi design services can be performed remotely and make use of Ekahau's RF simulation and analysis tools to design an efficient Wi-Fi LAN. With predictive design, you provide Progent's Wi-Fi experts your facility's floor plans and describe your environment including walls, doors, cable access, elevator shafts, and relevant materials. You also define your coverage, density, and performance requirements plus your constraints. In addition, you project the types of endpoints your clients will operate, the apps they will use, and the maximum traffic they will generate. Progent will use your input to build a mathematical simulation of your facility and devise a design that includes the preferred manufacturers for your access points, the recommended number of APs, their optimal location and antenna type, their most effective configuration and their anticipated performance.

Progent's On-premises Wi-Fi Site Survey
Progent's onsite Wi-Fi survey uses a Ekahau's Sidekick RF signal collection device and related software to help you to confirm, tune, and troubleshoot an existing Wi-Fi deployment. These services are typically performed immediately after a new installation or used as a diagnostic tool to expand, optimize, or troubleshoot an older wireless network. Offered throughout the United States, Progent's on-premises Wi-Fi site survey services feature walkthrough testing for RF coverage and contention, detection of AP overpopulation, RF propagation tracking, data protection assessment, and selection of the best locations for client-requested Wi-Fi APs.

Progent's consultants can deliver remote and onsite guidance with a broad range of Wi-Fi access points and offer support such as Cisco Aironet wireless access point set up, Cisco Meraki Wi-Fi access point management, Cisco Small Business 100/300/500 Wi-Fi AP configuration, Cisco Catalyst Wi-Fi access point deployment design, Ubiquiti UniFi wireless access point configuration, and Apple AirPort Wi-Fi access point setup. Progent's on-premises survey features consultation with your network management staff to determine performance parameters for the Wi-Fi network. Progent's BICSI RCDD and Ekahau certified Wi-Fi site survey professionals can recommend affordable WLAN improvements that incorporate the latest Wi-Fi technology and provide maximum ROI.

Progent offers expertise for building a state-of-the-art Bring Your Own Device Wi-Fi network by providing services like iPhone and iPad integration, and Android phone and tablet consulting. Apple iPhones and tablets, Androids, Windows Phones, and other mobile devices can present user density challenges and may also cause transmission power mismatches that require special setup for APs. Progent's wireless site survey provides the information you need to address these challenges and build an efficient and productive BYOD ecosystem.

Deliverables for Progent's predictive and onsite Wi-Fi site surveys can include:

• RF Wi-Fi Spectrum Analysis including identification of RF issues associated with your environment's layout, physical structure, and other potential sources of interference so you can anticipate and resolve problems during the wireless network design process.
• Coverage Maps in the form of color RF contour images (heat maps) for the areas that need coverage to help you to determine the most efficient quantity and location of WAPs and indicate likely signal leakage zones and coverage gaps
• Capacity Plan for specifying and delivering the bandwidth needed to support all apps and users
• Cable Paths depicted as red line diagrams you can provide to cabling installers
• Device Installation guidance on where and how to install wireless devices plus description of special equipment that may be required (NEMA enclosures, antennas, etc.)
• Infrastructure Requirements to specify all facility and networking equipment needed to support the Wi-Fi deployment like available switch ports, Power over Ethernet, electrical, and rack capacity

Advanced Network Infrastructure Consulting
Progent has one of the largest rosters of certified Cisco CCIE network infrastructure engineers of any independent IT support company in the country. and can help your organization to integrate your Wi-Fi LAN seamlessly into your corporate network. Progent can assist your company to deploy and manage Cisco ISR routers, switches, and security appliances as well as Cisco Mobility products including Wi-Fi access points and wireless LAN controllers. Progent also offers advanced consulting for networking technologys from Juniper, Apple, WatchGuard, and other leading vendors. To learn more about Progent's online and on-premises consulting expertise for Cisco wireless technology, refer to consulting and debugging support for Cisco wireless technology.

To assist you with enterprise-wide security and compliance issues, Progent can provide the support of IT security consultants who have earned advanced certifications from CISM, CISSP-ISSAP, GIAC and other major data security authorities. Progent's security and compliance experts can provide a broad range of remote and on-premises services such as vulnerability assessments, penetration testing, disaster recovery planning, and endpoint active security monitoring and ransomware defense with SentinelOne technology.

Contact Progent for Wi-Fi Survey Consulting
To learn more about Progent's consulting services for online wireless predictive planning and on-premises wireless surveys, call 1-800-993-9400 or visit Contact Progent.