Are you new to industrial Wi-Fi and worried about perceived reliability issues? Many companies worry wireless local area networks (WLANs) are unreliable or only available for (or useful with) new equipment and state-of-the-art applications. Wireless technologies are no longer a luxury or bonus. They’re mandatory for modern industrial networking. As the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) drives changes on the factory floor, wireless infrastructure is the central nervous system that keeps everything functioning.

Wireless technology is a part of daily life. Odds are, you’re reading this very blog post on a smartphone, laptop or tablet connected to Wi-Fi, right? Before that, you likely checked your email, favorite news sites or other sources of information without giving a second thought. It’s true, the days of landlines and DSL have largely disappeared from our daily lives.

Are you feeling the pressure of increasing production demands from your manufacturing facility? You’re definitely not alone. We hear this as a top concern when we talk to industrial manufacturers worldwide. And since these demands will only continue to increase, industrial automation efforts become even more important for finding new efficiencies while increasing quality. One way we’re seeing companies address these demands is through driverless transport systems, called automated guided vehicles (AGVs), specifically wireless AGVs.

People in many countries take reliable electricity service for granted. That's because over the years large, mature, highly connected electric grids have been built out. They consist of central power stations that deliver power to major load centers via high capacity power lines. These power lines are branched and divided to provide power to smaller industrial and domestic users over the entire supply area.

Industrial wireless applications are being used more and more by leading manufacturers and operators to improve availability and reduce costs. That sounds great, but before considering it for your facility, you might be wondering how difficult it is to make sure industrial wireless networks are secure.