Improvement Proposal for Wireless Office Networks

Abstract: Wireless networks nowadays are more affordable and faster than ever and thus many companies incorporate wireless solutions into their networks. However, a lot of challenges are introduced with wireless implementations and knowing how to make the best use of one’s equipment can lead to increased quality of experience, higher security, and improved manageability. The Stockholm based company NetEnt has recently moved into a new office and enhancements on its new wireless network are to be implemented throughout the year. Wireless networks are complex to implement and even if the installation works properly there are still improvements that could be made. The presumption is that such improvements could lead to increased delivery quality for NetEnt. Thus, the main goal of this thesis work is to create a proposal of improvements based on best practices for NetEnt. During the thesis work, an investigation has been conducted to find general wireless network recommendations and vendor specific best practices. Recommendations were found in areas such as 802.11 frequency bands and standards, forwarding architecture, security, and management. The study showed that few recommendations alone would make a significant difference, but together they could make a noticeable boost to the network. The recommendations were compared to NetEnt’s network and an analysis of the differences was performed. The study showed that some advocated proposals were already met while other were planned to be implemented in a near future. The conducted analysis includes the remainder of best practices and is to be seen as a proposal of improvements, which is expected to help NetEnt’s IT department to increase the overall condition of the network.