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Because marketing people like to make things confusing, we have Wifi 6, and now Wifi 6E. So what is the difference? Both are based on the 802.11ax standard, so no difference there. What 6E does is introduce support for the 6GHz frequency, which means more channels, less CCI, and the ability to deploy wider channel widths. Like the 5GHz spectrum though, different countries have allowed different parts of the spectrum to be available for 802.11 use, and like 2.4GHz and 5GHz, this is unlicensed spectrum*. Another thing to note is that currently 6E is only approved for indoor use. Let’s break down what 6E actually introduces: ...

This will be a short post, summarising my experience with the CWISA exam, which I passed recently. The Certified Wireless IoT Solutions Administrator, or CWISA is the assosciate level exam that starts you on the CWNP IoT certification track. It is also a requirement for CWNE certification. As it’s an assosciate level exam, the depth isn’t huge, but the topics covered are broad. I took the newly released CWISA-102 exam. This exam will stay current until September 2025, as it was only recently refreshed. For study, it’s first important to thoroughly read through the exam objectives to understand the topics covered, and the depth of knowledge required. As I’ve already had quite a bit of experience with a lot of the topics through my home automation journey, this wasn’t a hard exam to study for, and using the study guide from the previous version of the exam was sufficient for me, with a couple of read throughs. My prior knowledge of zigbee, as well as having previously passed CWNA certainly helped to speed up the process. I always ensure that I get the official practice exams, as they are a great gauge of where i’m at in my preperation, and they also help to prepare you for the typical language used in the exam. This is always important for me, as it gets my head in the right space and can help for some of those questions that are worded a little funny that you see in ever vendors exam. Even with my confidence, I was still nervous heading in to the exam, as you do wonder if you are being over confident in your prior knowledge, and will it actually stack up when the time counts. Thankfully it was more than enough to get me through, and I was soon able to breath a sigh of relief when the confirmation that I had passed came up on the screen with a 51/60. The exam is certainly fair, and covered all of the topics listed in the objectives, with the expected level of knowledge required for all of the topics in order to pass. ...

What is 802.11r roaming and why is is so important to users (and you)? Wireless roaming is an essential feature for any wireless network, especially for those that are deployed in large, multi-building environments such as universities, hospitals, and campus networks. A simplified explanation is that “802.11 roaming refers to the process by which a wireless client device seamlessly transitions between different access points (APs) or base stations within a wireless network while maintaining an uninterrupted connection. Roaming is crucial for mobile devices, such as smartphones, laptops, or tablets, as they move within the coverage area of a Wi-Fi network.” The reality is that acheiving this is a hell of a lot harder! BUT we have some standards and nerd knobs that help us to make it a little bit easier. These include: ...

Having had Zigbee in the home for a couple of years, and getting more and more devices spread across the home, I figured it was time to understand a little more about the protocol, and also work toward my CWISA certification. Zigbee is a wireless networking protocol that is primarily used for low-power, low-data rate applications in the Internet of Things (IoT). Zigbee falls under the IEEE 802.15.4 specification, which covers a suite of high-level communications protocols for creating personal area networks (PANs) via low-power digital radios. ...

This post is applicable for both CUCM and Unity Connection, but for simplicity sake we will just cover CUCM here. The process of uploading and converting Unity Connection is the same. This process is also the same no matter which version of CUCM/Unity connection. Cisco have released the following field notice that covers upcoming changes to connections between CUCM/unityCx and LDAP servers for syncronising and authenticating users. https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/voice_ip_comm/cucm/trouble/12_5_1/fieldNotice/cucm_b_fn-secure-ldap-mandatory-ad.html The short of it is that Microsoft are enforcing that connections should now be over SSL rather than unencrypted transport methods. This was initially going to be enforced from March security patches onwards, but has now been pushed back. Regardless of the time frame though, it is important to make these changes now, rather than be caught in a rush later. ...