WiGig Solutions to Expand Bandwidth of Healthcare Networks

October 28, 2016 - The increased generation of electronic data and the steady proliferation of connected medical and IoT devices put pressure on health IT wireless networks. Wireless networking vendors are working to make wireless gigabit (or WiGig) available to enterprises as the demand for wireless docking, multimedia streaming, virtualization, and BYOD increases.

The WiGig market is on the rise and Grand View Research predicts it will reach $7.42 billion by 2024 as a result of growing demand for improved internet connectivity and faster network speeds for both consumers and enterprises.

Gartner states that WiGig developers intends to make their wireless technology standard, technology that will be used for a wide range of devices for actions requiring large amounts of data such as large file transfers and video streaming.

WiGig goes beyond standard dual-band 802.11ac technology by enabling the use of a third 60GHz band. The WiGig band allows extremely high frequency transmissions by directing data into a wider channel. When too many transmissions are fighting to go through from constantly connected devices, users experience disrupted connections which slows down their retrieval of information.  

“The growing demand for gigabit IP data is driving the adoption of wireless broadband access,” Grandview Research found. “Moreover, in high data density regions, gigabit IP data connectivity is essential for LTE deployments and metro Wi-Fi. The 60 GHz band is suitable for such applications owing to the distinctive propagation characteristics of the band and the large bandwidth obtainable that allow high spectrum reuse, which is crucial for the next-generation wireless network architectures.”

“Businesses are increasingly deploying resources to the cloud, whether a public, private, or hybrid cloud environment,” the research continued. “Maximizing the effectiveness of cloud computing depends on the sufficient broadband speed and reliability that is also cost-effective. Such factors are increasingly contributing toward the rapid industry growth.”

Grand View Research analysts have claimed that the “escalation in productivity from BYOD devices has put more pressure on wireless networks, making costs harder to control and the devices more complex to manage within an organization. Due to the growing transition toward virtualization and BYOD, business networks are struggling with increased complexity.”

WiGig is only effective for the devices in close proximity to the access point which isn’t beneficial to mobile users. However, deploying WiGig technology in designated ‘hotspots’ would take a significant load off the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands.

Placing a WiGig access point in a server room where massive amounts of data are being constantly accessed and transferred or in a conference room where high-definition video conferencing is offered would improve wireless speeds for all other users not taking up as much bandwidth.

The more solutions organizations deploy, the more valuable wireless bandwidth becomes. With every cloud, application, virtualization, and connected device implementation, the space available for wireless transmissions diminishes, slowing down and dropping connections more frequently.

The research pointed to the healthcare to benefit greatly from WiGig technology stating, “in the healthcare industry, Wi-Fi is increasingly used for mission-critical applications including cardiac and radiology imaging, telemedicine, electronic medical record procedures, handheld scanners, and voice over IP. In order to ensure that such applications run efficiently and securely, the healthcare industry requires high-performing, high-capacity, and pervasive wireless connectivity, hence driving the industry growth.”

Healthcare organizations considering adopting wearable technology for patients and allowing those devices access to their wireless network must have enough bandwidth to support staff and patient traffic before deploying any wearable policies. By moving high-traffic transmission to the 60GHz band the 5GHz and 2.4GHz bands are left to mobile devices and other connected devices, allowing organizations to continue to add devices to the network without worrying about straining the network.

As healthcare organizations continue to implement new technology to improve everyday operations, security, interoperability, and patient care, the more critical it becomes to invest in a wireless network solution that can support all current and future technology simultaneously.  

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