Driving Connectivity Beyond The Carpeted Space

The challenges associated with extending mobility in the industrial environment are very different from the office environment. Achieving success and cost-efficiency in industrial mobility solutions requires an in-depth understanding of the unique issues in the industrial environment, and how those issues translate into specifications for the mobility backbone — the wireless infrastructure.

Regardless of what is being produced — from power and petrochemicals to vehicles, electronics and more — the coverage area is far more expansive than the typical enterprise. Where some enterprises may have a campus environment with a number of buildings clustered in a fairly close proximity, the industrial environment often includes large outdoor areas that may extend for miles, plants that may be down the road or many miles away as well as workers spread throughout dispersed locations — from a remote area inside the enterprise campus to a customer site. Not only is the physical area vast, it consists of varying physical environments — inside and outside the four walls — where reliable wireless connectivity must be established in spite of elements that might include environmental factors such as extreme temperatures or wind as well as obstacles like buildings or large equipment.