• The tech firm HPE Aruba Networking is unveiling its first line of Wi-Fi 7-capable access points, called “Wi-Fi 7 plus”.
  • The new Wi-Fi 7 AP product family offers up to 30% more capacity for wireless traffic than rival access points because of HPE Aruba’s patented ultra tri-band hardware technology.
  • The new product line contains a wealth of new features, including wider support for IoT protocols in the form of dual dedicated Bluetooth and Zigbee radios for high-density IoT environments and integrated, non-permanent external antennas.

HPE Aruba Networking, a tech firm, is introducing the first range of access points with Wi-Fi 7 capability to meet the growing demands of AI and IoT requirements. According to Larry Lunetta, vice president of product and community marketing at HPE Aruba, the company is referring to it as “Wi-Fi 7 plus.”

About Wi-Fi 7 plus

According to Larry Lunetta, vice president of product and community marketing at HPE Aruba, “These access points have a role in not only networking for AI, but AI for networking,” alluded to the belief held by CEO of Juniper Networks Rami Rahim that the field of AI networking is still in its infancy.

Because HPE Aruba’s patented ultra tri-band hardware technology allows its APs to fully utilize both the 5GHz and 6GHz bands at the same time, without interfering with one another or requiring the customer to give up part of either spectrum to avoid interference, the new Wi-Fi 7 AP product family offers up to 30% more capacity for wireless traffic than competing access points.

Many new features are included in the new product line, such as expanded support for Internet of Things protocols with dual dedicated Bluetooth and Zigbee radios for high-density IoT environments and integrated, non-permanent external antennas that, according to HPE Aruba, are made for difficult radio frequency environments.

According to HPE Aruba, the new series will be widely accessible worldwide starting in July 2024.

Also read: How do Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices update remotely?

Also read: How can IoT devices minimise downtime in a manufacturing plant?

Benefits to IoT

Lunetta claimed that improved zero trust security also benefits the new APs. To provide role-based access for users and IoT devices, the APs incorporate automated dynamic segmentation and HPE Aruba Networking Central Client Insights for increased IoT visibility. Link-level encryption, or MACsec capabilities, are also included; these add wired data protection to the AP. Additionally, according to Lunetta, there is a personal wireless network mode that allows users to self-serve in particular settings, like college campuses, while still adhering to the organization’s security policies and the security team’s oversight.

Customers of all sizes will profit from the services that HPE Aruba is supporting with the new AP series, according to Neil Anderson, vice president of cloud and infrastructure solutions at HPE Aruba partner World Wide Technology. He said that there is compelling evidence to support the use of ultra tri-band hardware technology to maximize the use of both the 5GHz and 6GHz bands simultaneously.

He added that the new APs would be a good fit for clients with high-throughput requirements and that HPE Aruba tends to be good in the outdoor, industrial, and manufacturing space.