The days of inferring that WiFi mesh standards such as EasyMesh are bad for businesses such as Airties, with their own mesh architectures, are a distant memory. By defining low-level protocols, EasyMesh removes much of the cumbersome communications legwork between access points and gateways, meaning the likes of Airties can concentrate on developing high level intelligent functions on top of standardized technologies.
Despite Airties being early to embrace EasyMesh back in 2018, the idea that EasyMesh is still in some way a competitor to Airties’ own mesh is something that certain camps just cannot shake off.
Perhaps the latest move from Airties will change a few minds, as the Turkish vendor has announced a new level of EasyMesh support by injecting Release 2 of the standard into its Smart WiFi portfolio. The latest integration effort is a direct response to operator customer demands since early 2020, during which time pandemic trends have promoted smart WiFi strategies from low priority to top priority for ISPs, according to Airties CTO Metin Taskin.
EasyMesh R2, which was released in early May 2020, goes further, Taskin told Wireless Watch’s sister service, Faultline, with full Airties Smart WiFi integration, while with EasyMesh R1 Airties was still required to build low level functions itself. “Now we have built all the smartness on top, so we don’t need to do the low level silicon integration,” Taskin explained. “We used to implement on the chip level, but now the EasyMesh protocol collects information from an AP, while the logic is still there.”
Taskin continued, “EasyMesh is a standard way of collecting performance data and sending comments, but how to manage that data is not done by EasyMesh – you still need diagnostics.” This comment piqued our interest, considering that building WiFi diagnostics into EasyMesh as standard is a key part of R2 – allowing vendors to use the same protocol to aggregate and transmit WiFi environment data to improve QoS. As well as more diagnostic capabilities, R2 comes with new traffic controls, improved security features, and better spectrum optimization.
However, Airties argues that this standard lacks smartness, so operators still need something like its own compatible Smart WiFi software to deliver enhanced diagnostics and additional performance enhancements, such as advanced steering, channel optimization, zero-touch installation, and remote home WiFi management.
EasyMesh also reduces bespoke integration efforts typically needed across OEMs, chipsets, and software. “This is better for us. When you have a system defined by standards, you can test it without a single line of code,” he added. “EasyMesh also gave us faster scaling opportunities, because there is less going back and forth.”
We learned that any new installation of 802.11ax (WiFi 6) Airties is involved with is EasyMesh-based, while remembering that no WiFi environment is pure WiFi 6 today as there are still plenty of legacy devices in the field to deal with.
Looking further ahead to WiFi 7, which might arrive around 2024, Taskin believes EasyMesh will still have its place in the next generation of WiFi technology. After all, the protocol is not dependent on WiFi standards, and WiFi 6, 6E, and 7 will all need mesh, just not everywhere, Taskin explained, claiming that 40% of homes still need at least one AP.
In terms of customers, Airties has broken its silence by announcing that Australia’s Telstra is using the new standards-based WiFi EasyMesh architecture, with added functionality and control from the Airties Edge software and Airties Cloud services.
As a long term Airties customer, claiming to have enabled the world’s first service provider deployment of EasyMesh in 2019, Telstra has bulked up with Airties Edge, which is relatively new to the company’s product portfolio. Taskin explained that EasyMesh sits under the edge, where the edge software library controls EasyMesh and allows real time diagnostics to be done at the edge, while WiFi network maintenance can be carried out in the cloud.
We are told a handful more existing customers have rolled out Airties Smart WiFi software with EasyMesh R2, as well as “one or two” brand new customers, according to Taskin, which we established are most likely to be in Europe rather than in North America or APAC. Rival Plume’s OpenSync seems to be preferred in the USA, where several cable operators are deploying the technology.
It’s worth mentioning that OpenSync can work on top of EasyMesh, where EasyMesh makes up the mesh networking layer, while OpenSync serves as the connection to the cloud, where it manages service functions such as security and control. However, we are unsure if this is still the case with EasyMesh R2.