AirEngine AP & IdeaHub: The Next Step in Collaborative Digital Offices

Offices are the engines that drive enterprise innovation.

As recorded in the biography Steve Jobs, it is hard not to be impressed by how Jobs founded Apple in a garage. This is not simply admiration for the creator of a legendary enterprise, but an aspiration for a working environment where we can closely collaborate, work in the ways we want, and create infinite possibilities.

How can we make office work as efficient as a garage-based partner start-up? To find the answer, we need to know what the pain points of today's offices are:

Network: Online offices, remote collaboration, and device intelligence are becoming increasingly common. But without effective networks, we cannot work effectively. Networks that can cover all smart devices and enable office work anytime, anywhere are therefore crucial for modern enterprises.

Devices: Conventional office devices and tools reduce work efficiency, requiring the shift to a digital-led approach.

Application: Seamless communication is central to successfully conducting business, with today’s world requiring far more from remote collaboration powered by high-quality connectivity.

Huawei believes that developing ICT infrastructure for intelligent collaboration and device-network convergence can enable digital offices and improve work efficiency and creativity. That is the thinking behind the two digital tools AirEngine Wi-Fi 6 AP and IdeaHub.

Figure 1: Huawei AirEngine AP and IdeaHub

Hot-desking depends as much on the company's network as on corporate or personal preference. As well as freeing offices from cables, AirEngine Wi-Fi 6 AP helps enterprises build high-quality office networks with full coverage, zero dead spots, zero packet loss, and zero delays.

How does the AirEngine AP extend its reach to every corner? Thanks to intelligent antenna algorithms and beamforming technology, the AirEngine AP increases signal strength by 100% and extends coverage by more than 20%, ensuring signal coverage everywhere.

The solution’s dynamic-zoom smart antenna can sense dynamic changes in the density of mobile office terminals accessing the network. When low, the AP works in wide-angle mode by default to improve signal coverage. When high, the AP reduces the signaling angle of its antenna to reduce signal boundary interference, increasing the access rate for users by 20% and solving the problem of poor experience for high-density indoor access.

The AirEngine AP's intelligent roaming technology ensures uninterrupted roaming by learning the behavior of each device, enabling office workers to work seamlessly on the go. The dual-fed and selective-receiving technology greatly improves the stability and reliability of Wi-Fi connections and prevents disconnections regardless of location or usual dead spots like corridors, elevators, and stairs. The AP can also easily cope with quickly moving devices, giving a worry-free office Wi-Fi experience.

The AirEngine AP's intelligent multimedia scheduling algorithm automatically identifies multimedia applications, dynamically senses latency and adjusts bandwidth, and provides private line-level access assurance while delivering unlimited user rates. With built-in containers supporting software-defined IoT (SD-IoT), the AirEngine AP also provides IoT device connection and sensing capabilities. This enables applications such as door access through facial recognition, automatic lighting and temperature adjustments, scheduling meetings with QR code scans, and one-touch projection.

More often than not, work projects are collaborative, which in turn greatly benefits from digital tools. The Huawei IdeaHub is an intelligent office terminal designed to enable teamwork. Integrating HD projection, intelligent writing, cloud conferencing, and intelligent applications, it enables the free flow of information, efficient team collaboration, and quick access to applications.

IdeaHub integrates a range of devices including a projector, whiteboard, microphone, speakers, and conference terminals. Light in weight and with a unibody design, it supports wireless access and serves as a mobile conference room whenever needed.

Smart devices such as mobile phones, computers, and tablets can share the screen with IdeaHub with one click. Users can make notes with ease, write smoothly, and share information through QR code scans, allowing them to enjoy the convenience of a paperless office and the free flow of information in the most natural way.

IdeaHub integrates professional audio and video capabilities with scenario-based intelligent technologies to support intelligent noise reduction and intelligent view, enabling teams that are thousands of miles apart to hear and see each other clearly. IdeaHub also provides functions such as intelligent sign-in, real-time captioning, translation, and meeting recordings to improve meeting efficiency.

IdeaHub has a built-in office application market and can be quickly integrated with enterprise office automation (OA) and more service applications to serve different functions, including daily operations, command capabilities, and technical demonstrations. 

The potential of the AirEngine AP and IdeaHub can be fully unlocked through intelligent collaboration and device-network integration to create a digital office space with a superior experience.

When an IdeaHub is connected to an AirEngine AP, it is identified as a smart screen device that enables intelligent collaboration.

The AirEngine AP preferentially schedules, accesses, and reserves bandwidth for IdeaHub, and automatically optimizes the roaming of devices using screen casting. Moreover, continuous network packet loss measurements and loss rates can be viewed.

The integration of the AirEngine AP and IdeaHub and the collaborative innovation in both products have created digital offices with ubiquitous gigabit access for seamless remote collaboration. The solutions can help accelerate global transformation towards efficient and collaborative digital offices.