In addition to satisfying their customers mobile communication needs, network designers are certainly keen to the opportunities posed by mobile and wireless technologies in their facilities. This is all predicated on a robust wireless network, which much be designed to accommodate present and future demands.

Each year Cisco publishes the Visual Networking Index (VNI) which provides a forecast of Internet Protocol (IP) requirements for 5 years. The 2017 VNI provided a forecast for growth in mobile IP as shown in the graph below. For the wireless Network Designer and Integrator (NDI), some key takeaways from this graph are as follows:

Source: Cisco VNI Mobile 2017

• Wi-Fi and mobile IP traffic is growing far faster than fixed (wired) traffic
• Mobile device and offload from mobile network to Wi-Fi will account for 47% of IP traffic
• Wi-Fi traffic from mobile offload to Wi-Fi, and Wi-Fi only devices, grows to 49% of all IP traffic

Clearly, the Wireless designer must plan for growth in coverage and capacity of their Wi-Fi network.  Every venue will have important considerations regarding installation aesthetics, technology migration, code compliance, etc.