Franz Kafka once said: “Prague won't let go. This little mother has claws.” And even if the famous writer couldn’t possibly surf the net with his morning coffee, his words ring true one hundred years later, as his birth town has become home to a different kind of bohemia. The annual #WLPC 2024 is a wrap, and we couldn’t have wished for a better opportunity to learn and connect with the Wi-Fi community!
The Wireless LAN Professionals Conference (WLPC), held in Prague on October 20-25, 2024, once again brought together Wi-Fi experts from all around the world for a week crammed with meetings, engaging conversations, boot camps, deep dives, and… fun. Because at the center of this vendor-neutral, free of sales pitches event, are the people.
Whether you're a Wi-Fi engineer, tech enthusiast, or working in the wireless space, #WLPC is always where the sharpest minds in wireless networking are, enabling everyone to catch up with the community, learn and share with the best shapers of our industry, make valuable connections, and nurture friendships over meals, drinks, and in the hallways. This year was no exception!
Endless learning experience
At the core of #WLPC are community-driven presentations, featuring insights from industry experts across every role, including CEOs, engineers, sales teams, and support staff. This year, we had a chance to participate in immersive boot camps, deep-dive sessions, and expert-led talks covering the latest in WLAN technologies, including Wi-Fi 7, network security, and wireless design.
We discussed, among many other things, capturing data, roaming, the challenges in eliminating IPv4 addresses and their associated problems, as well as Multi-Link Operation (MLO) – the key feature of Wi-Fi 7, and the impact of Wi-Fi's move from OFDM to OFDMA.
Where there is Wi-Fi, there is Extreme!
This time around, the Extreme Networks team was represented by some big wireless players: David Coleman (CWNE #4), André Herkenrath (Solution Architect Sports and Venues with 15+ years of experience at Extreme), Chris Carr (Principal SaaS Solutions Architect), and Roland Ivens (Systems Engineering Manager Benelux).
David explored the progression of RF maps as an essential tool for wireless network management, explaining their role in optimizing coverage, signal strength, and network health. One of the highlights of this talk was how the recent innovations have enhanced both predictive and real-time RF visualizations.
André tapped into his vast experience in the sports and venues industry to deliver insights on designing and deploying high-density Wi-Fi for enterprise environments. He explained how these principles are now relevant to customers embracing Wi-Fi-first strategies and cloud-based applications.
Chris Carr and Roland Ivens led an exclusive evening session focused around ExtremeCloud Universal ZTNA – the latest offering in our network security portfolio. The gentlemen demonstrated the simplicity of onboarding access points in the cloud, using a zero trust policy engine and automated configuration and enforcement, ensuring consistency and unified observability.
To finish the day with a bang and enable even stronger connections, we gave out one hundred Wi-Fi 6E access points to our attendees, complemented by a one-year ExtremeCloud IQ Pilot license and a three-user license for ExtremeCloud Universal ZTNA!
