Multi-Dwelling Units
Deliver the Connected Home Experience

You invest a lot of resources to provide a great living experience in your multi-dwelling units (MDUs). But whether it's student or military housing, luxury apartment complexes, assisted living or other properties, your residents expect more. They no longer see you as just the landlord, they want you to be their network service provider too. That means supporting a huge number of smart devices, demanding video and gaming services, and other high-bandwidth wireless applications. And it means making the network delivering them just as reliable as residents' water, heat and electricity.

That's a lot of technical challenges to overcome. But your residents don't want to hear about how hard it is to provide great Wi-Fi in places with thousands of devices, large indoor/outdoor coverage areas, and multi-story buildings. All they know is that the property down the street offers free Wi-Fi. Does yours?

Give Residents Unlimited Wireless Access at No Additional Charge

Network access rolled into the rent sounds great to residents. And it's becoming a bigger factor in where people decide to move and whether they stay. But wireless dreams can quickly turn to nightmares-for both your residents and your business-if your Wi-Fi isn't simple, reliable and secure.

RUCKUS makes it easy to deliver high-performance Wi-Fi across thousands of units and tens of thousands of users. Even in environments with mixed indoor/outdoor spaces, older brick and concrete construction, and high device density, you can provide secure, reliable connectivity. With simple, secure onboarding and management, great Wi-Fi doesn't have to be more complicated than any other utility on your property.

Deliver Consistently Great Performance, Even When Usage Surges

Residents are connecting more devices-laptops, smartphones, gaming systems, smart home devices. They want a connected home, where wireless services link every aspect of their work and play. They're looking at you to give it to them.

RUCKUS 802.11ac wireless solutions support more simultaneous devices and higher-bandwidth applications, even in challenging residential environments. RUCKUS's ZoneFlex access points with patented BeamFlex+ antenna technology adapt for interference and other wireless challenges automatically to provide consistent connections to every device and user.

Onboard Devices Simply and Securely

Your residents' Wi-Fi love will quickly turn to hate if connecting their devices is a chore, or if they have to constantly provide credentials to log back onto the network. And if they're relying on you for their Wi-Fi, you better make sure you're protecting their sensitive traffic.

RUCKUS certificate-based onboarding makes Wi-Fi access simple and seamless-for both your residents and your IT team. Residents can connect any device, anywhere on the property in seconds, through a branded self-service portal. They can log on once and never have to do anything again. And they can do it all through a platform that protects every connection with the strongest wireless encryption.

Multi-Dwelling Unit (MDU)

What's Driving Wi-Fi Demand in MDUs?

Residents' need for high-speed, reliable Internet/Wi-Fi is acutely felt in the MDU market. Wi-Fi is an essential utility, like heat or hot water:

• Bulk Wi-Fi is a dynamic that is changing the way MDUs purchase and deploy Wi-Fi solutions. MDU owners are able to make their buildings more competitive and appealing to residents.
• The average home has more than 8 devices connecting to the Internet; in an MDU setting that number multiplies exponentially by the number of residents in a unit.

MDU WLAN: Residents Expect to Connect Everything

WLAN in the Student Housing Market

Exponential device growth and bandwidth usage is driving higher demand

• As students are increasingly demanding ubiquitous coverage in dorms, schools are outsourcing Wi-Fi implementation to property managers
• Property managers want to take advantage of low TCO and enjoy a profitable ROI
• Student housing needs to include automated onboarding to accommodate the influx of new devices students are bringing

WLAN in the Luxury Housing Market

What do luxury housing providers seek in a Wi-Fi solution?

• Residents expect speed and ubiquitous coverage for multiple devices, often including “smart home” devices and security
• Property owners want a platform that is easy to manage
• Property owners want to take advantage of the trend of Bulk Wi-Fi, which enables them to monetize their WLAN investment and resell at a much lower cost to residents

WLAN in the Military Housing Market

What are the considerations for a Wi-Fi solution for military housing (barracks)?

• Military personnel need high QoS for multimedia applications such as video calling
• Service providers need a vendor partner with established inroads into the defense sector
• Final decision makers are tasked to meet strict budget guidelines

MSPs Play an Important Part for MDUs

• University, luxury, and military housing providers often rely on MSPs to help with selection, implementation, and management of a Wi-Fi solution
• MSPs can help ensure proper support for organizations without large IT staffs
• MSPs are important business partners - a good service provider seeks to maximize business value for the end customer
• MSPs enable housing providers to bring modern enterprise-grade Wi-Fi to residents faster

How MDUs benefit from Enterprise WLAN:

• Pervasive coverage across the campus
• High density to accommodate users with multiple devices
• Thorough, easy to administer and secure BYOD
• Flexible deployment and scalability
• Value-added services (location-based services/user analytics)
• Help desk support

Key Enterprise WLAN MDU Benefits In Depth

Pervasive coverage
Once, Wi-Fi was viewed as a “nice to have,” and now it has become mission and business critical. Today, people expect uninterrupted Wi-Fi coverage for their favorite applications, no matter where they go.

High density to accommodate users with multiple devices
MDU residents can be simultaneously connected to a smartphone, laptop, tablet, wireless gaming devices, and so much more. This puts strain on the network, affecting all residents. A Wi-Fi solution designed for the MDU market accommodates high density.

Methodology

For this report, IDC drew from its library of research on enterprise networking, US public higher education, and connected consumer devices to form a comprehensive view of the opportunities and challenges contained within the multi-dwelling unit market.