Aruba Networks, a leader in network access solutions, has launched a solution to deliver gigabit Wi-Fi combined with the device density and application intelligence required by today’s Wi-Fi networks.

Enterprise IT departments are challenged by the overwhelming number of devices connecting to their networks, as well as increasing device density, both of which can lead to inadequate Wi-Fi capacity.

These IT administrators face the issue of “sticky” clients or devices that do not automatically connect to and stay connected to the best access point, resulting in slower speeds and inconsistent and unreliable connections.

Aruba’s 802.11ac solution solves these density, performance and reliability issues. With the Aruba ClientMatch technology, “sticky” clients are always connected to the best possible access point as they roam within the Aruba wireless LAN, ensuring predictable performance for all mobile devices.

“Imprecise roaming, sub-optimal load balancing, and related Wi-Fi performance challenges have been perpetual thorns in the side of IT and network operations managers for years,” said Craig Mathias, principal, Farpoint Group.

“Enabling client devices to always connect to the most available, highest-performing AP helps ensure that enterprises can benefit from the enhanced throughput and capacity that 802.11ac offers,” he added.

The Aruba 220 Series APs are purpose-built for 802.11ac, resulting in time and costs saving for enterprises.

Unlike modular 802.11ac APs, the Aruba 220 Series access points draw less power, so enterprises can delay replacing their existing switch infrastructure and can avoid the expensive labor costs associated with closet upgrades during WLAN design and deployment.

"Lufthansa Technik is offering a new aviation-qualified high-performance Wireless Access Point (WAP) based on the new 802.11ac solution from Aruba Networks,” said Andrew Muirhead, director of the business unit Innovation at Lufthansa Technik.

"As one of the first 802.11ac-based aircraft access points available for the aviation market, the solution offers airlines the ability to deliver high speed Wi-Fi for in-flight web browsing, real-time communications, streaming video, point-of-sale applications, passenger gaming and other Internet-based services. Lufthansa Technik selected 802.11ac to meet the need for high-density Wi-Fi in the aircraft cabin environment", he concluded.

Aruba’s WLAN solution incorporates unique capabilities for managing real-time UCC applications such as Microsoft Lync. It enables the extraction of call quality data from Microsoft’s new Lync Diagnostics API and combines it with network status data.

Monitored data includes R-value, jitter, delay, packet loss, Wi-Fi access point-to-controller packet loss, caller/callee identity mapping to MAC and IP address, call status, voice or video call type, and client sessions active at time of call.  The result is priority handling, end-to-end call visibility, faster root-cause fault identification, and a better overall user experience.

“UCC managers need end-to-end visibility into call performance so any issues that impact quality can be rapidly isolated to root cause,” said Jamie Stark, Microsoft’s Lync product marketing manager.

“Working with real-time, session-level metrics generated by Microsoft’s recently announced Lync Diagnostics API, as well as network data pulled directly from its Wi-Fi infrastructure, Aruba helps pinpoint the source of communication issues that impact Lync performance. The solution provides visibility into over-the-wire and over-the-air Lync performance, and is intended to help IT staff better identify, isolate, and ultimately, remediate UCC issues regardless of source.” – TradeArabia News Service