Customer Spotlight: Electromag

Here’s a scenario many businesses encounter: profits are booming, the client pool is growing, and now it’s time to expand to new markets. How do you balance that growth with maintaining your company’s reputation for excellence? As they say, with great growth comes great responsibility. To remain known as a dependable company, it requires dependable tools.

Enter Electromag!

An industry leader in in-building DAS design, iBwave’s customer Electromag Wireless has become synonymous with dependability even as they continue to grow. We sat down with Electromag to find out how iBwave has helped their business expand into an affordable, time-saving solution for clients across the US and Australia.

Before we dive in, let’s learn a bit more about the solutions Electromag provides to their customers.

About Electromag

Electromag is a specialized iBwave certified RF engineering team that provides in-building coverage design service for DAS, small cells and Wi-Fi. They’ve worked on over 200 sites globally, primarily across Australia, the United States and United Kingdom. They partner with System Integrators and OEMs to provide designs for various types of venue such as hospitals, airports and convention centers, employing a range of technology types. The team also has hands on industry experience with iBwave’s advanced RF design tools.

Recently, Electromag has seen a massive increase in demand for in-building Small Cells and Public Safety designs.

With this increase in demand, Electromag has added a wide pool of talent to make light work of difficult project designs. They also adapted their business process to provide an affordable and quick turnaround time for such projects and can complete them in 1-2 working days.

How is Electromag able to provide such quick turnaround time for projects of this scale?

With the help of iBwave software, of course! Since adopting iBwave for in-building design report generation, Electromag has been able to drastically reduce the time needed to complete projects.

The Electromagnetic Frequency, Link Budget, and Antennae reports generated by iBwave are all essential to Electromag’s mandate to provide swift service to their clients.

“Prior to the adoption of iBwave design, our workflow involved the use of AutoCAD to create schematics and antenna layouts. This was a rather cumbersome design process. It’s now a thing of the past, thanks to iBwave.”

Not only does automatic report generation save time, it also increases accuracy.

How has iBwave increased in-building network design accuracy for Electromag’s clients?

iBwave’s 3D imaging provides unprecedented control when planning network design. The software can automatically generate a three-dimensional model of a building by uploading its measurements. Not only does this relay a remarkable level of detail to Electromag’s clients, it also provides them a powerful tool for visualizing and communicating project-specific information.

iBwave’s cloud connectivity feature lets Electromag communicate seamlessly with project stakeholders. If design revisions are necessary, having access to documentation and project-specific info makes it easy to deliver updates and reduce the need for trial-and-error troubleshooting.

“iBwave has become synonymous with RF Design because of its transformative effect on the way we design and document venues.”

Which iBwave products does Electromag use?

What are the different types of venues and technologies that Electromag designs for?

Electromag works with System Integrators and OEMS to provide designs for many types of buildings such as:

They also design for a wide portfolio of technologies including UMTS, GSM, LTE, CDMA, Public Safety and Wi-Fi.

What are some of Electromag’s biggest accomplishments?

What better way to share Electromag’s greatest accomplishments than testimonials from some of their customers?

I appreciate that you have a group of individuals who can take a project and run it to completion. Your iBwave designers do well to coordinate with our members on project kick-off, progress reviews, and final submittal. Additionally, the time change has proven to be extremely beneficial when deadlines area tight because we get 24 hours, around the clock progress.
– Director of Engineering, System Integrator in Georgia, USA
Electromag brings a team of highly skilled RF Engineers who work as an extension to our in-house design and project team, and we have successfully worked with this model for the last 4 years. The ability to utilize the substantial experience of their team of Engineers has proved to be crucial when taking on complex projects. Electromag helps RFI attain “round the clock” productivity and surge through the peaks and troughs of the project flow cycle.
– Head of Services, System Integrator in Australia
Electromag has been very responsive to all of my requests and has consistently met all requested timelines. At this point, I am utilizing Electromag for some of my most complex DAS designs because of the confidence I have in their abilities.
– Director of Design and Implementation, System Integrator in New York, USA

What are Electromag’s three most valuable features of iBwave software?

3D Modelling
Report Generation
Prediction Accuracy

A final thought from Electromag:

“It’s clear to see why iBwave design has become so widely accepted in the industry. It’s also clear that iBwave is the go-to tool for Small Cell, Wi-Fi and more complex heterogeneous networks. It’s a truly powerful and versatile tool for any RF engineer or project manager.”

A big thank you to Electromag for taking the time to chat with us!

To find out more about Electromag, visit www.electromagrf.com

To check out other entries in our Customer Spotlight series, visit https://blog.ibwave.com/tag/customer-spotlight

Dense Network Architecture – Why is it Important Now and Why Should You Care?

Dense Network Architecture – Why is it Important Now and Why Should You Care?

For the last 15 years iBwave has supported the majority of the carriers in the world through millions of in-building network deployments as they focused on a smooth and secure transition to the next generation of technology e.g. 3G to 4G. For the next 15 years we plan to accompany our carrier and enterprise customers on the same successful path where DNA (Dense Network Architecture) will play a central role.

DNA is the Path to 5G

With the completion of the first 5G new radio 3GPP standard, the wireless industry is in the final dash towards commercialization of 5G technology potentially by 2019. Major wireless carriers are actively conducting trials to prepare for the fast approaching commercialization phase of 5G. As an integral part of the wireless eco-system, iBwave is working closely with its partners to ensure that they are well-prepared for this final step. We have a clear vision today that networks are becoming denser, this is true from a couple of different perspectives. First, we see the fixed architecture is evolving towards richer fiber-based networks for both backhaul and fronthaul. Second, we see that there is a densification of Radio APS from 3G to 4G and also in Wi-Fi with the number of global Wi-Fi hotspots growing exponentially, and forecasted to grow by 454 million by 2020 (Statista). Also, a total of 2.3 million Small Cells were being shipped last year (Source: RCR).

Don’t Forget the 3 80s

Industry trends and numbers shows that data traffic is increasing at a rate of 80% per year, we also know that 80% data traffic originates in-building and that 80% enterprises are ready to switch providers if they get better indoor coverage in an effort to improve customer experience. We can call this the 3-80’s rule and if you look at it you should start thinking of your Dense Network Architecture (DNA), from an in-building standpoint. It is important to take this approach because this is where most of your traffic is happening and this is where most of the enterprises will focus their energies to improve quality of customer experience. Today however we are not seeing this mindset as a majority of the early 5G trials are happening outdoors.

Ensure Your In-Building Networks Are 5G Ready

To address the above, at iBwave we think that 5G trials need to be conducted indoors alongside the existing outdoor trials, to highlight potential deployment issues for your Dense Network Architecture (DNA). Potential issues such as the current structured cabling and whether it supports DNA, or not? We have to move into a fiber-rich architecture inside the building, we need to figure out whether passive optical LAN is going to replace the typical CAT 5 or CAT 6 structure cabling? The 3 80’s rule should make us focus much more on in-building because that’s where the traffic is. This will help us pin point potential issues which might be very critical, for example whether the current cabling CAT 5 and CAT 6 is able to handle 5G or whether this next gen technology requires fiber rich networks inside the building.

Ask the Insiders

iBwave is happy to help our Carrier and Enterprises customers navigate the world of DNA and 5G networks by helping them prepare in advance and choose the best options. If you are an enterprise and you are curious about hearing what DNA and 5G will mean for you then come talk to us.

Send us your comments below or ask us a question here

Webinar Recap: Do’s and Don’ts of Stellar Wi-Fi

Webinar Recap: The Do’s and Don’ts of Stellar Wi-Fi

On January 30th, well-known Wi-Fi experts David Coleman (CWNE #4) and Gregor Vucajnk (CWNE #96) of Aerohive Networks joined us to kick off an exciting webinar series on deploying high-performance Wi-Fi in the Enterprise.

In this first webinar, Dave and Gregor covered off the basics of deploying a Wi-Fi network that will work correctly the first time – using a 3D modeled interpretation of the USS Enterprise’s captains deck.

The 3D model was completed in iBwave Wi-Fi our powerful 3D Wi-Fi Planning and Design solution (a big thank you Chiyo, our super 3D modeling master!)

Here’s an overall view of the model with a few of the key areas highlighted:

Read: “Why 3D Modeling is More Than Just Cool”

What Topics Were Discussed?

While the full webinar is available to anyone to view here, here is a quick recap of some of the webinar highlights.

WATCH WEBINAR

Antenna Patterns

In this part of the webinar Dave and Gregor discussed external vs. internal antennas and how the RF coverage are so different for both with external antennas having a more typical dipole omni coverage (think doughnut-shaped) while internal antennas have more of a cardiod shape (think heart-shaped).

Here are some iBwave Wi-Fi 3D antenna patterns that were shown in the webinar to illustrate the differences in vertical and horizontal coverage.

Where and How Not to Place APs

Using examples of ‘Bad-Fi’ taken from the infamous ‘Bad-Fi’ website run by Wi-Fi expert Eddie Ferrero (if you have not seen it be sure to check it out!)

Here are a couple examples of Bad-Fi that were highlighted:

2 APs are better than one?

Heavy metal?

Beyond looking at examples of poor AP placement, Dave and Gregor went through some more examples of where APs should not be placed, but also how they should be placed in specific types of environments.

They discussed in-depth, topics such as:

Where Not to Place APs (for example: reflective surfaces, too close to the wall in certain circumstances)
How to place APs in high-density environments
How to place APs on a ceiling
How to position antennas on walls
How to place APs between multiple floors
How to avoid interference
Channel Bonding

Here are a couple of pictures illustrating the topics:

And much more in between.

How was the webinar received?

With such knowledgeable hosts, I wasn’t surprised the webinar was very well received by those who attended.

“Great Presentation!”

“I cannot wait to see the future webinars in this series!”

“Looking forward to the next webinar with these guys!”

Thanks Dave, Gregor and Aerohive Networks for joining us!

Speaking of Aerohive, did you hear their exciting news?

Just a couple of weeks ago Aerohive announced news they would be releasing three 802.11ax access points later this year. To learn more about the access points, be sure to check out Aerohive’s blog that talks about the announcement and goes into more detail about the APs themselves.

What’s Next?

Stay tuned for the announcement soon of our second webinar in this series where Gregor and Dave will discuss Wi-Fi design best practices for hospitality venues.

You can also give a try to our eBook about Wi-Fi Challenges and Best Practices in Hospitality written with the help of the industry expert Ronald van Kleunen. We’ve included a detachable customer requirements checklist in the book, take it with you to the field and keep it handy!

Wirelessly yours,

Kelly