802.11ac Wi-Fi Revolution Finds a Leader in Ubiquiti Networks

Started in 2005, Ubiquiti Networks has become a multinational technology company based in San Jose, CA who manufactures wireless products. Its main focus is on under-served and emerging markets. The company further claims that it is closing the digital divide by building network communication platforms for everyone and everywhere.

On March 25, Ubiquiti introduced UniFi 3.0, which is the first Wi-Fi platform to deliver 802.11ac access points (AP). It also offers management software supporting the growing needs of under networked business, hospitals, schools, restaurants and many more areas.

802.11ac is described as taking something great and making it even better. 802.11ac is designed to be a faster, more scalable version of 802.11n that couples the freedom of wireless with the capabilities of Gigabit Ethernet. Wireless LAN sites are expected to see significant improvements in the number of clients supported by an AP. It is sometimes referred to as Gigabit Wi-Fi and can deliver more than three times the data transfer speeds of the 802.11n protocol. It also delivers reliability and RF bandwidth utilization efficiency, which is helpful for such functions as HD video, video conferencing, streaming media and VoIP.

Robert J. Pera, Ubiquiti’s CEO explained, “Wireless networking is at an inflection point where it can completely replace wired networking everywhere but the data center. Ubiquiti is the first company to put high performance, scalable coverage and affordability in range of any organization and our rapid growth is a testament to that. Ubiquiti’s Zero Hand-Off Roaming technology is just another example of how we’re delivering unique innovations to solve the most important needs of highly mobile wireless users.”

Zero Hand-Off Roaming is a unique feature of Ubiquiti’s UniFi 3.0 software. The technology enables mobile users to roam anywhere while seamlessly maintaining their connection. They need only simply switch to the nearest AP. The current roaming solution requires that negotiations take place with the client device, which can lead to latency or possible interoperability problems. The way it works is that Ubiquiti’s Zero Hand-Off Roaming makes multiple Aps appear as a single AP. In this manner, it can work with any client and does not require any interaction from the client device.

The newest version builds on previous UniFi releases, and the controller can run on-premises and in a private or public cloud. Some of the new features in UniFi 3.0 are:

• Multi-site management capabilities, enabling a single controller to manage distributed deployments and multi-tenancy for managed service providers
• Detailed analytics, which can be used for managing large user populations and for faster troubleshooting
• WLAN Groups for flexible configuration of large deployments
• Wireless mesh capabilities so that Aps do not require a wired uplink

Initial customer shipments are expected sometime in April, while the majority of volume shipments are expected to be in May. The UniFi 3.0 management software can be downloaded for free starting on April 15, 2013. The UniFi 802.11ac access points are priced at $299.