HP Mobile Access Solutions Take on More Wireless Traffic

Hewlett-Packard has come up with a new design in wireless access points that can handle more traffic than standard 802.11 technology – good news for networking VARs working with high wireless-traffic clients such as healthcare facilities and educational environments. Here’s the deal:

The company’s Mobile Access Solution family of wireless APs feature three-spatial-stream, dual 802.11n radio technology to support as many as 15 HD videoconferencing sessions simultaneously. Most wireless APs use dual-stream technology, and in contrast a standard 802.11n AP can support 10 HD videconferencing sessions while a standard 802.11g AP can support just one session.

What’s more, HP Mobile Access Solution was developed as part of HP’s Converged Infrastructure, so the controller and network management software can control both wired and wireless network environments, said Jeff Schwartz, senior product manager, Mobility and Wireless, HP Networking. “This technology is first to market for the enterprise,” he said. “It integrates with existing controllers and wireless platforms and gives unified network management to both wired and wireless networks,” saving users money by not having to invest in separate network management systems and time by having all networks managed via one central interface.

The WI-FI-Certified APs offer near-Gigabit performance, Schwartz said, offering better performance for data-intensive applications such as multimedia or cloud-computing environments, as well as supporting more of the traditional data connections. “We’re not only increasing performance but also increasing density,” he said.

HP’s Mobile Access Solution is available now and includes the following:

• E-Series Multi Service Mobility (MSM) 430 wireless access point – a dual-radio, two-spatial-stream AP, list priced at $699;
• E-Series MSM 460 and 466 wireless access points – dual-radio, three-spatial stream APs, list priced at $999; and
• MSM 5.5 mobility controller software and Mobility Manager 3.10 network management software, both included with the APs.

“Ease of deployment was the No. 1 requirement for our customers, and it’s part of a lot of our technologies because we are a total solution,” Schwartz said. “That message resonates nicely with our partners, the channel and our customers. Our channel can assist with the deployment and not have to know both wireless and wired network solutions. And for the end user, having one management platform equates to a lower TCO.”

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