†WatchGuard Technologies, a leader in advanced network security solutions, announced the†AP420, a new 802.11ac Wave 2 access point (AP) that provides the power and speed needed to support throughput-intensive and latency-sensitive applications like VoIP, video, music, and large data file transfers over Wi-Fi. It also includes a 4×4 Multi-User MIMO (MU-MIMO) dual radio that offers high client-density support to help eliminate Wi-Fi connection delays, and a third radio for dedicated Wireless Intrusion Prevention System (WIPS) and RF optimization scanning.
“These new APs are all about improving user experience and eliminating the need to sacrifice application performance for security. They’re perfect for demanding environments like tradeshows, auditoriums, large conference rooms and shopping malls, where people with a variety of devices use the network all at once,” said†Ryan Orsi, director of product management, Wi-Fi, at WatchGuard Technologies. “When these APs are managed with our secure, scalable, and feature-rich Wi-Fi management platform—WatchGuard Wi-Fi Cloud—customers get powerful WIPS, in-depth guest and airspace analytics, and invaluable marketing engagement tools.”
“For customers, having access to high-performance Wi-Fi means they get fast and reliable connectivity. But for us, it means much more. We need to provide the secure access, and be able to get intelligent information from it to help optimize our business operations and offerings,” said†Stuart Rowbotham, managing director of Bromley.net. “The new AP420 with Wi-Fi Cloud gives us all of that by combining performance and security into a solution that is simple to deploy and manage. We get reliable high-speed Wi-Fi that’s not only secure, but also delivers an immersive guest experience, which is good for the customer and good for our brand.”†
WatchGuard Wi-Fi Cloud is architected from the ground up to focus on ease of deployment and administration. It simplifies even the most complex aspects of Wi-Fi management, making fast, secure, and intelligent Wi-Fi accessible to organizations of all types and sizes. The latest release of WatchGuard Wi-Fi Cloud continues to push performance with new features that improve the Wi-Fi experience for users connected to WatchGuard’s APs, new application visibility and firewall policy control, pre-defined user role policy, plus an integration with Google for Education to ensure that only devices registered in a school’s Google domain can connect to the school Wi-Fi network and that network access policies are enforced.