Wi-Fi infrastructure success story

Wi-Fi access points at the industrial company

Professional Wi-Fi for offices and production halls

In 2020 an industrial company with around 25 employees needed continuous, reliable Wi-Fi coverage – in the office areas as well as the production halls. PROXYTEC planned, designed and delivered the entire wireless infrastructure including segmentation, security and central management.

Wi-Fi site survey

Professional planning and execution of a Wi-Fi survey for the office and production areas. Based on the measurement results, access point positions were defined precisely to ensure complete coverage.

Manageable switches

Use of manageable network switches as the basis for the structured cabling and VLAN management. This allows central control and monitoring of all network traffic.

Centrally manageable APs

All access points are configured and monitored through a central management platform. Channel planning, transmission power and security policies can thus be managed consistently across the company.

VLAN segmentation

Logical separation of the network into separate VLANs for office, production, guests and management. This segmentation increases security and prevents different classes of device communicating with each other uncontrolled.

Firewall packet filtering

Configuration of firewall rules for packet filtering between the VLANs and to the internet. Unwanted traffic is blocked specifically and critical systems are protected.

Provisioning

Automated provisioning of the access points and switches: configurations are created centrally and rolled out to all devices. When devices are replaced or added, the provisioning system takes effect immediately.

Documentation in building plans

All access point positions, cable routes, switch locations and VLAN assignments were entered into the building plans. The complete documentation makes future expansion and support considerably easier.

Monitoring

Ongoing monitoring of all Wi-Fi and network components: utilisation, availability, connection quality and error rates are monitored continuously. Deviations are reported and resolved automatically.

Starting point & challenge

Before the project, the industrial company ran a Wi-Fi network that had grown without structured planning. Coverage in the production halls was patchy, there was no network separation between office and production devices, and guest devices sat in the same network segment as company computers. There was no central administration of the access points, which made configuration changes time-consuming and error-prone.

PROXYTEC first carried out a professional Wi-Fi survey to measure the actual signal strength and coverage and to determine the optimum number and placement of access points. On the basis of these measurements a concept was developed that combines complete coverage with maximum security.

Wi-Fi