Aruba 320 Series
Aruba Networks has revealed its advanced 802.11ac Wave 2 Access Points (AP) due to hit the local market in September.
The Aruba 320 series AP is the only 802.11ac Wave 2 AP that can integrate a bluetooth low-energy (BLE) beacon that can help manage battery-powered Aruba Beacons from the Cloud for firmware updates, battery life monitoring, and configuration changes.
The new series features multi-user, multiple input/multiple output (MU-MIMO) grouping, resulting in greater network performance. It also represents the only Wi-Fi solution to offer enhanced ClientMatch that is MU-MIMO client aware, enabling increased overall network capacity.
“Multi-user MIMO gives us the ability in some cases for the AP to communicate with more than one device at the same time,” Aruba A/NZ systems engineering director, Mark Verbloot, said.
Multiple mobile devices, ultra HD content, and the Internet of Things (IoT) will continue to place more demand on the network, and Wave 2 will play well into meeting those requirements, Verbloot said.
Matrix CNI director and major account manager, Andrew Ratcliff, said it has seen an explosion of devices coming onto wireless networks.
“All our customers are hungry for more bandwidth and better service for their users. Multi-user MIMO is an important step,” Ratcliff said. “Most of our customers when they’re asking about APs and choosing the appropriate pathway, they want the highest performance possible so they can increase the longevity of their investments. The new APs will give customers the choice to obtain the highest performance that’s available.”
Ratcliff said it has a lot of clients within the education sector, and BYOD was having a huge impact on the amount and variety of devices on the network.
“We’re already seeing a strong appetite for the 320 Series among customers,” he said.
To prepare for the anticipated influx of Wave 2 devices, Aruba has introduced new innovations into its patented ClientMatch technology, which originally solved the “sticky client” problem. The sticky client problem refers to mobile devices that do not roam to the next AP, causing significant performance degradation.
The newly enhanced Aruba ClientMatch technology incorporates intelligent awareness for Wave 2 MU-MIMO clients, automatically steering and grouping MU-MIMO devices together on Aruba 320 series APs. This allows the 320 series to transmit data to multiple Wave 2-enabled devices simultaneously, increasing overall network capacity.
