A year since the first 11ac Wave 2 Access Points first hit the market, early technology adopters are taking advantage of the increased speeds and efficiencies offered by Wave 2. More have taken a wait and see approach, watching as market assortments increase and prices begin to fall.
The 2nd wave of 11ac technology products offer the most advanced wireless technology available. Along with their ultra-fast wireless speeds, reaching theoretical rates nearing 7 Gbps, Wave 2 products support the highest user capacities, built right into the standard.
Still many wonder, “Do I really need to upgrade to Wave 2?” Will my customers actually see that much of a difference in the network?” The following four reasons will help you understand why now is the time to seriously consider upgrading to Wave 2 technology.
1 Marked Increase in Wireless Speeds
The upsurge of mobile streaming video and voice applications puts a tremendous strain on wireless networks, decreasing their speed and efficiency. Wave 2’s increased speeds easily support latency-sensitive applications.
As stated above, 11ac Wave 2 supports theoretical wireless speeds topping nearly 7 Gbps. Though a vast majority of Wave 2 access points on the market aren’t yet offering speeds anywhere near 7 Gbps, available access point speeds are still incredibly fast, reaching rates closer to 1.7 Gbps.
Throughput over a Gig is still likely going to be more than enough to accommodate an abundance of bandwidth-heavy users in a variety of settings. In environments where more bandwidth is needed, Wave 2 is equipped to provide it.
2 Maximum User Capacities
While speed is critical to improving the user experience, network designers, and IT professionals will appreciate the increased number of users, devices, and applications that 11ac Wave 2 networks can handle. Wave 2 adds a fourth spatial wireless antenna stream, whereas previous wireless technology only supported up to three antenna streams. The additional stream, like a highway, adds another available “lane” for sending and receiving data, increasing the number of devices that can connect at a given time.
Increased capacities also mean greater support for Wi-Fi-dependent IoT devices, demanding corporate and education networks with multiple simultaneous devices per user, and the pervasive public availability of Wi-Fi in shopping, hospitality, entertainment and sports complexes.
Long term, Wave 2 future-proofs the network by supporting the increasing capacity needs of future IoT devices and mobile technology advancements on the broad 5 GHz frequency spectrum, which is expanded to support a wider frequency range, to 160 MHz, than earlier wireless standards which maxed out at 80 MHz.
3 Multi-User MIMO Improves Network Efficiency
The addition of MU-MIMO or Multiple User Multiple Input, Multiple Output is new with the 11ac Wave 2 release. MU-MIMO allows multiple Wave 2 client devices to simultaneously communicate with the Access Point improving the efficient use of the frequency spectrum and network bandwidth while allowing simultaneously connected devices to get on and off the network faster than ever.
This is a significant improvement over previous wireless standards, including 11ac Wave 1, which rapidly sent and received data to a single user device at a time.
4 Beamforming Antenna Technology
New antenna technology takes advantage of existing antenna designs to improve the directed efficiency of focused antenna signals to respective client devices. Beamforming technology provides optimal signal and reception reliability between access points and clients.
Beamforming adjusts beam signals instantly to counteract device movement and changing radio conditions. Beamforming enhances the user experience through improved connection reliability between the Access Point and user devices as they move about the network.
EnGenius EnSky 11ac Wave 2 Access Points
EnGenius recently announced the availability of four new enterprise-class 11ac Wave 2 Access Points.
Ideal for deployment in high-density environments such as campuses, sports arenas, shopping malls, and resorts, EnSky 11ac Wave 2 APs combine MU-MIMO technology to provide high user capacities and ultra-fast speeds reaching 2.5 Gbps for reliable, fast connectivity to wireless client devices.
These new access points are designed to work with the EnSky Series Managed Switches and ezMaster™ Network Management Software to provide a scalable and flexible wireless management solution with no AP licensing fees.
Try out EnGenius product today.
