Whether you’re at a music festival, football game or production floor, a well working network can bring a smile on your face – even if you don’t realize it. Meet the man behind the Wi-Fi: Dennis Wols from Indicium B.V., our amazing Extreme Hero and a walking mix of energy, competence, determination, commitment and good humor!
Extreme and Indicium go back a long way. We’ve got many projects under our belts, including the Zwarte Cross festival, which recently came back after three years of the pandemic break. What does Zwarte Cross mean to you, on a personal level? Have you ever enjoyed the festival’s activities outside of work?
Zwarte Cross is the largest festival in the Netherlands with more than 220,000 visitors in 4 days. I had the pleasure to attend two previous edition, in 2018 and 2019, as a “regular” attendee. It’s an all-round festival with lots of different music genres played from multiple stages, so there’s always something nice for everyone. The festival’s unique, relaxed and cozy vibe is something I enjoy a great deal. Throw in some beer and a nice weather and you’ve got yourself an “ultimate” atmosphere 😉
This year I was involved in the IT infrastructure team at the Zwarte Cross for the first time and one of my jobs was the complete rollout of the Extreme solutions, including the wired network and Wi-Fi. As you can guess, it was a completely different experience from what I had in the years before. Especially with all the preparations and setting up the network as effectively and efficiently as possible.
Zwarte Cross 2018 - check the Customer Story!
What are your impressions after this year? What was your overall experience as a network admin? What turned out to be the biggest challenge for you?
It’s always a challenge to provide network for such a large event. By means of fiber optic connections, copper connections & mesh connections, we try to provide every corner of the festival site with good coverage. Needless to say, we’re dealing with a lot of people who constantly use wireless connections. By means of different types of antennas, we try to illuminate certain areas in order to properly distribute the number of users over the number of available access points.
Of course, no matter how well you prepare, in practice you will always run into some unforeseen issues. Consider this: you need to rig the entire network physically over about 160 hectares in just a couple of weeks, only to have everything torn down after 4 days of the festival. We try to get the most out of it in a short period of time, but this occasionally brings up some great challenges. But all in all we’re looking back on a very successful edition where we achieved another great performance!
We’re looking back on a very successful edition where we achieved another great performance!
Certified Wireless Design Professional, your most recent achievement, says everything about your expertise in wireless networks. Guess that knowledge and experience came in handy during the Zwarte Cross rollout!
Definitely! In 2018 we had the opportunity to participate in a 4-day training from Devin Akin, a Certified Wireless Network Administrator (CWNA) from Extreme Networks. That course inspired me a lot at the time and gave my Wi-Fi knowledge a huge boost. In 2020 I finally obtained my own CWNA certification. To continue the CWNP process, I have chosen the Certified Wireless Design Professional (CWDP) path. This training mainly focuses on Wi-Fi Design and I completed it in 2021. I’m always eager to extend my knowledge on everything that’s related to Wi-Fi 🙂
Speaking of wireless – how would you describe your experience with Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E solutions so far?
Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) is currently the standard we provide to our customers. This new Wi-Fi generation offers a number of technical improvements compared to its predecessor. For example, it’s using Orthogonal frequency-division multiple access (OFDMA), which is a different method for sending data to your devices, not only ensuring higher speeds, but also more capacity. Working in the field, we still regularly come across older clients which do not support this standard and therefore we cannot use this new functionality yet. However, this will resolve itself in the near future around the next cycle of the old hardware replacement.
As for the Wi-Fi 6E, we have just started using it but I already see a lot of potential here. Wi-Fi 6E adds the 6 GHz band, in addition to the “regular” 2.4 and 5 GHz. This means that a completely new spectrum becomes available to the clients that support it. New/higher speeds can be achieved within this frequency, but what I personally think is a nice addition is that we get a clean spectrum. Little to no CCI & ACI ensures good stable connection for the clients. In terms of range, the 6 GHz reaches less than the 5 GHz, which means that this will need to be included in the design phase. All in all I am very positive about this development and very curious how this will work in practice.
I’m always eager to extend my knowledge on everything that’s related to Wi-Fi.
Where there are access points from Extreme Networks, handheld devices from Zebra Technologies can often be found not far away. Got any cool deployments involving solutions from both vendors that you’d like to brag about? 🙂
We have used the combination of Extreme Networks and Zebra Technologies in a lot in different environments. For us, it’s a golden combination that we can rely on.
One of our customers is still running on the ExtremeWireless WiNG platform. They use the WiNGVX 9000 Wireless Services Controller, coupled with the AP7532, AP310, AP305c and AP460c access points. This environment consists of multiple sites where they use various mobile computers from Zebra Technologies. The MC33, TC8300 and L10 tablets, in combination with DS3678, run flawlessly in the Extreme Networks setup. The customer in question uses forklifts, so fast roaming from access point to access point is a must. A telnet-based application is therefore used on the Zebra hardware where stability and connectivity has high priority.
I’m happy to admit that this customer is also currently building a completely new factory which will be running on the ExtremeCloud IQ platform. I’ve done the Wi-Fi design for this environment and I’m very much looking forward to seeing it all in action – think you should get a nice Extreme customer story out of that!
We have used the combination of Extreme Networks and Zebra Technologies in a lot in different environments. For us, it’s a golden combination that we can rely on.
Extreme Intuitive Insights, the recently introduced app for device lifecycle management, troubleshooting and network performance monitoring, embraces the integration of Extreme’s cloud technology and Zebra’s devices. Have you had a chance to play around with the solution yet?
Unfortunately, not yet – not personally, at least. I have read a couple of things and seen the solution online. From what I gathered though, I think it's a very good development because it allows you to get more information from the client’s perspective. Certainly, the piece of connectivity that you can normally only see from the wireless, you can now also see from the client side. That should give you much more insight into a potential problem and how you can solve it. I'm really looking forward to laying my hands on this solution.
Not unlike your good colleague from Indicium and a fellow Hero, Kees Brouwer, you’re an avid football fan. You must have heard about Extreme’s latest Wi-Fi partnerships with Manchester United and Liverpool FC!
Of course, it’s very cool! And yes, Kees and I are big football fans and we’d love to attend either Old Trafford or Anfield Road to see a game and check out those setups up close. Who knows, maybe Extreme could figure something out for us? 😉 In any case, I’d be very curious to see how these locations are provided with a network and which functionalities are used there.
Check the interview with Kees Brouwser from Indicium!
Speaking of football – we know you’re a big fan of Feyenoord Rotterdam! Have you ever dreamt about lending your hand to modernize the network at De Kuip, the home of your beloved club?
For me there is only one club in the Netherlands and that is of course Feyenoord. As a born and raised Rotterdammer, also living very near De Kuip in my younger years, I was practically raised with the club. It would definitely be a great honor to have Feyenoord as a customer!
All work and no play… what are you usually up to when you’re not designing, building, and deploying new Wi-Fi networks?
When I'm not busy designing, building and deploying new Wi-Fi networks, I find my relaxation in playing football myself, together with my friends and family. Besides that, my girlfriend and I have a son called Moos, who of course also requires the necessary attention 😉 The little man makes sure that when I'm home I don't have to think about work for a while.
Idea of a perfect holiday?
My idea of a perfect holiday has always been a mix of chilling out, some cool activities and traveling, but ever since the birth of Moos I’ve noticed that this has changed a bit. When browsing locations you are now looking at the amenities for children first, and then think about how you can kick back and relax yourself. Yeah, it’s a nice cliché, but if the little one is having a good time – so will I 😉