Aruba Networks, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company, announced an enterprise-grade Wi-Fi 6E solution set – the 630 Series of campus access points (APs). The APs are the first enterprise-grade Wi-Fi 6E solutions available to the market, according to a statement released by the company.
Wi-Fi 6E refers to Wi-Fi devices that operate in the 6 GHz band. Right now, wireless networks are becoming oversubscribed, throttling application performance, negatively impacting network user experience and reducing productivity. Opening the 6 GHz band more than doubled the amount of radio-frequency (RF) spectrum available for Wi-Fi use, which can help partners and customers that are increasing their use of video, remote devices and IoT devices and cloud solutions to enable remote and hybrid work styles. Using Wi-Fi 6E allows for less congested airwaves, broader channels and higher-speed connections, according to the statement.
Aruba Announces First Wi-Fi 6E Access Points
Aruba’s new Wi-Fi 6E offerings allow organizations to take advantage of the increased capacity, wider channels in 6 GHz, and significantly reduced signal interference with 3.9 Gbps maximum aggregate throughput to support high bandwidth, low latency services and applications such as high definition video, next-generation unified communications, augmented reality/virtual reality (AR/VR), IoT and cloud, according to the statement. Additionally, with a new ultra tri-band filtering capability, which minimizes interference between the 5 GHz and 6 GHz bands, organizations can maximize their use of the new spectrum, according to Aruba.
Since the FCC decision to open the 6 GHz band in April 2020, 39 additional countries that are home to over 1.3 billion people have opened the 6 GHz unlicensed band for Wi-Fi 6E, according to the Wi-Fi Alliance. According to research firm 650 Group, Wi-Fi 6E will see rapid adoption in the next couple of years, with over 350M devices entering the market in 2022 that support 6 GHz. The research from 650 Group expects over 200% unit growth of Wi-Fi 6E enterprise APs in 2022.
Aruba Wi-Fi 6E APs: Spurring Enhanced Innovations
“With connectivity demands growing exponentially, Wi-Fi 6E can take advantage of up to seven, superwide 160 MHz channels and uncongested bandwidth in the 6 GHz band to deliver unprecedented multi-gigabit and low latency connectivity,” said Kevin Robinson, SVP of marketing at Wi-Fi Alliance. “Wi-Fi 6E will spur enhanced innovations and exciting new services. Wi-Fi Alliance is pleased to see longtime member Aruba bringing Wi-Fi 6E solutions to market that will help organizations better support critical activities like videoconferencing, telemedicine, and distance learning.”
“Aruba has two decades of leadership in Wi-Fi innovations, backed by an unwavering commitment to providing our customers with the reliable, fast, high capacity, and secure connectivity they need to pursue and exceed their organizational objectives,” said Chuck Lukaszewski, vice president and wireless chief technology officer at Aruba. “Since 2016, we have helped lead the advocacy effort that has led to the 6 GHz band being opened all over the world. As such, we are extremely proud to be the first vendor to bring enterprise-grade Wi-Fi 6E solutions to market so our customers can take advantage of the huge increase in capacity that 6 GHz delivers.”
The new Aruba Wi-Fi 6E solutions are part of Aruba ESP (Edge Services Platform), an AI-powered, cloud-native edge computing platform. The new Aruba 630 Series APs will be available in calendar third quarter 2021.
