Wireless Post-Pandemic Era

Information Technology Department YU YI-TING

    With the rise of the new Internet Age, the demand for Internet access and bandwidth has been growing over the years. In order to improve the Internet speed and quality for each colleague in every office of the building to use, our department decided to replace the old fiber optic backbone and cables on all floors during the second half of 2021. According to different office sizes, we installed a proper number of Wireless Access Points to boost the Wi-Fi signal in poor reception areas and dead zones.

　　After the pandemic outbreak, Changhua Management Office implemented the government's epidemic prevention measures by adopting the working-in-separate-rooms strategy last year. For spaces that normally require less frequent use of computer equipment such as auditoriums and briefing rooms, we needed to attach additional network cables and power cords. The wiring took an extra amount of preparation time. Besides, our colleagues might trip over those loose wires on the path and the additional network cables and power cords also rose plenty of safety concerns.

      Following this year's epidemic prevention measures, we maintain the working-in-separate-rooms policy. With the completed replacement project of the old fiber optic backbone and cables, our colleagues don't need to reinstall network cables anymore as they did last year. This year, we replaced those cables with wireless network interface controllers and installed Wireless Access Points with higher capacity, which have reduced the preparation time for wiring and made the Internet connection more stable and faster.

    Not only are the new high-capacity Wireless Access Points a great boon to a smooth workflow under the working-in-separate-rooms policy, but their wider Internet coverage also ensures higher stability. As a result, our coworkers from the workstations are not limited to a specific working area in Changhua Management Office and can access Wi-Fi to manage their business or attend online meetings and classes in a meeting room as per business needs.

      Originally, the Wi-Fi signal was weak on the first floor of our office building. The connection kept dropping and couldn’t support too many users. Each of these problems was solved after the installation. Our colleagues can now rest assured and access Wi-Fi in different areas of the building without worrying about its capacity. Due to the pandemic, Changhua Management Office asked sales representatives to discuss business with our contact person in the temporary office space equipped with sneeze guards at the lobby on the first floor. We offer guest networks for visitors like sales representatives and guests to connect to. This allows them to show presentations as well as conduct business in real-time and facilitates the business process.

▲Wireless Network Coverage on the first floor of the office building of Changhua Management Office. Photo for illustrative purposes only.

▲Wireless Access Point in the office building of Changhua Management Office. Photo for illustrative purposes only.

    With more and more physical meetings and classes being held online, old audiovisual equipment in the first meeting room on the second floor and the one in the second meeting room on the third floor are becoming more and more insufficient. Users are sometimes experiencing problems like choppy reception of sound or video breakup. In order to improve work efficiency, it is necessary to replace the old devices with new ones. Meanwhile, our colleagues often require the use of the equipment at the same time, which causes inconvenience in its use. In this matter, we have planned to install new audiovisual equipment in the briefing room on the fourth floor in June 2022. This will provide additional space with audiovisual devices at the employees’ disposal. The project is ongoing and under assessment. We are planning to optimize the setup in the second meeting room on the third floor before optimizing and upgrading the equipment in the first meeting room and a briefing room. We are hoping to offer better tools to make video conferencing easier and faster for our colleagues to use.

▲Wireless Access Point in the office building of Changhua Management Office. Photo for illustrative purposes only.