To cater to the growing BYOD culture, enterprise Wi-Fi access point provider Ubiquity Networks Inc. has introduced UniFi 3.0 platform based on IEEE’s 802.11ac access point (AP) standard. According to Ubiquity, it is the first Wi-Fi platform to deliver 802.11ac APs and management software to support the growing needs of under networked businesses, hotel chains, restaurants, hospitals, schools, and more.
In a recent report on worldwide market for enterprise WLAN equipment, Gartner Research listed Ubiquiti as a vendor of coordinated wireless APs with a year-over-year worldwide unit shipment growth rate in 2012 of 205 percent. The company shipped its 10 millionth device (across all product lines) in December and was recently listed as the 70th fastest-growing technology company in Deloitte’s Fast 500.
In a statement, Robert J. Pera, CEO at Ubiquiti Networks, said, “Wireless networking is at an inflection point where it can completely replace wired networking everywhere but the data center.” He further added, “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.”
802.11ac or Gigabit Wi-Fi is the newest Wi-Fi protocol for the 802.11 wireless networking standard. It can deliver more than three times the data transfer speeds of the current 802.11n protocol in addition to improved network robustness, reliability and RF bandwidth utilization efficiency for demanding applications such as HD video, video conferencing, streaming media, VoIP and more.
Ubiquiti’s new UniFi 3.0 software offers unique and innovative “Zero Hand-Off Roaming” technology that enables mobile users to roam anywhere and seamlessly maintain their connection as they switch to the nearest AP. Whereas existing roaming solutions require negotiation with the client device and may cause latency and/or interoperability problems, Ubiquiti’s Zero Hand-Off Roaming makes multiple APs appear as a single AP, so it can work with any client and require no interaction from the client device, said Ubiquity.
“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,” noted Pera.
Built on the previous UniFi release, UniFi 3.0 offers hotspot management and a flexibly deployed software controller, which can run on-premises, in a private cloud or public cloud. New features of the UniFi 3.0 software include multi-site management capabilities, detailed analytics, WLAN Groups for flexible configuration of large deployments, and wireless mesh capabilities so that APs do not require a wired uplink.
UniFi 802.11ac access points are priced at $299. Initial customer shipments are expected to begin in April with volume shipments in May. UniFi 3.0 management software can be downloaded for free beginning April 15th at www.ubnt.com.
Edited by
Amanda Ciccatelli