What I’d Like to See at MFD3
For the past 5 years or so I’ve paid pretty close attention to an event called Tech Field Day. What started with the Wireless Field Day group has now morphed into Mobility Field Day.
I have had the great opportunity to be on both sides of the table at these events, as a delegate to ask questions, as a vendor to answer questions, and even as a customer to provide insight as a living case study.
Now that Mobility Field Day 3 is upon us, taking place September 12–14, 2018, I will be tuned in to follow the exclusive Q&A that takes place at these events via their freely available webcast and social media channels (watch the hashtag #MFD3 for the chatter.) Since I am not in the room for this go round, I’ve decided to start posting up my questions and thoughts ahead of time.
Here is what I hope to see addressed at Mobility Field Day 3. I will be updating this for the next couple of weeks and I’ll send out a new tweet when I post a new question, just in case you care.
Sidenote: I don’t have any insight into whether or not these questions are going to be answered, if they are real or imaginary products, or if there’s any validity to what I will be asking. However, I think they make for fun conversation points and I look forward to seeing if they get a response from these manufacturers and delegates!
NetScout
I’m really happy to see the return of Netscout to Mobility Field Day. As a long time supporter of their products, it’s great to think that they might be introducing something either by way of update, new product, or a glimpse into at least what they’re working on.
AirMagnet + AirCheck G2 Integration
This is definitely something I would love to see.
I’m going through an exercise right now where I’m trying to figure out a cost-effective way to do a large number of site surveys with a device that will give me accurate results. My AirCheck G2 is one of my absolute favorite tools, but aside from doing spot tests, its functionality seems disconnected from the world because it doesn’t have an interface to any software. Granted, Link-live is cool, but it could be doing so much more.
If you couple that with the lack of support in functionality and updates for Air Magnet, it seems like it would only make sense to open up Air Magnet to allow for an Air Check to be used as a survey tool, similar to what the Sidekick is for Ekahau.
Add API integration into that so that you can build an eco-system of low-cost alternatives, and you’ve got an industry primed by Ekahau’s Sidekick to market to.
As the added touch, integrate support for USB GPS devices so that I can use my Air Check to do outdoor survey. That would be the “one more thing..” I’d love to see.
Link Live API
I’m not necessarily going to hold my breath imaging a team of developers at NetScout working the integrate the G2 into Air Magnet, but at the very least a northbound API for Link Live might be a great way to at least collect some data and push to other toolsets. Being able to designate a test point location name, run a few auto tests, shoot the data to Link Live, and then be able to pull that information into something may be valuable too.
Aruba Networks
My precious
Aruba has made some great headway recently with some cool acquisitions and I’d love to see those start to fall together into something a little bit less disjointed than where it currently is. One dashboard to rule them all.
CBRS
Anyone who knows me knows that this is a question I would ask. I want to know what Aruba’s stance on CBRS is and if they don’t have one, what they’re planning to do for future product releases, 5G, and the future of WiFi.
Cisco
CBRS, also
Cisco has supported CBRS for quite a long time, but they haven’t made the same waves in the industry that Ruckus has.
I love to hear an update on what they’re doing and see how that works into the overall fabric of the technology. They’ve had Evolved Packet Core, 4G, LTE, and 5G components for quite a while. I’d love to see what the plan is to move into 5G with their WiFi components.
Mist
What’s new and what’s next
One of the great things about being at Field Day is you get to see a glimpse of what the roadmaps can be for these companies and products and what the anticipated moves into new technology are. Mist has been on the cutting edge of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning with wireless networks now for about the last year, so I’d like to see what they’re planning on doing next.
BLE
Does anyone ever really use the BLE solutions they provide? Does anyone use BLE at all? They had some pretty amazing technology when it was first introduced, and there’s still a few steps ahead everybody else in this game, but is anyone actually using it? If so, how and where and why spend money on it?
Fortinet
Analytics
I have been a long time fan of Kiana analytics, the group the powers the analytics that Fortinet uses. Recently Kiana‘s been doing some pretty amazing things with security, as published on their website, and I’d love to see if Fortinet plans to integrate some of that technology at a deeper level than just IP, Network, and packet based security.
How do you integrate video analytics, traffic based threat detection, location services, and more into one single security platform? It could be pretty interesting have a solution that aides in network and physical security in a single component that helps you do all of that.
Just thoughts..
Again, all of these are just random thoughts and I have been looking at the list of vendors. I hope these questions get asked, and more than that I hope that their answers to them. I will definitely be watching and on social media during MFD3!
