Wi-Fi 6 & The Best New Access Points from RUCKUS

In this blog post, we’re going to talk you through Wi-Fi 6, the new internet standard, its benefits and reasons why it’s being introduced. The second part of the post introduces two new access points, soon to be released from RUCKUS, both of which are Wi-Fi 6 ready and we provide an overview of the specifications you can look forward to.

What is Wi-Fi 6?

Wi-Fi 6 is the next-generation wireless standard. Like most evolving technologies, Wi-Fi 6 is faster than the previous standards that came before it. Not only is it faster, but it also performs better, especially within congested areas such as high-density applications. Think about the number of devices we all have at home these days or trying to use the Wi-Fi within a crowded stadium or airport for example.

As the demand on networks increase, so too does the capabilities of the standards and hardware required to deliver it. More and more devices are being used, so congestion can quickly become an issue. Wi-Fi 6 is the new solution.

Wi-Fi SPEED

The latest Wi-Fi standard offers faster data transfer speeds, which are up to 40% higher than 802.11ac (Wi-Fi 5) and offer up to four times higher average throughput in congested environments.

This is realised through much more efficient data encoding and decoding within the increasingly more powerful chipsets in the equipment. More processing power means that more and more data can be packed into the same radio waves. The new Wi-Fi 6 hardware can easily handle the extra throughput.

Key Enhancements of Wi-Fi 6 (802.11az)

LONGER BATTERY LIFE

When Wi-Fi 6 access points talk to devices, they indicate when to receive the next transmission and when to sleep. With more ‘sleep time’ devices can conserve battery for longer periods of time. This is a new feature called ‘Target Wake Time’ (TWT) and comes into its own with the emergence of IoT technology and low-power devices which need to connect via Wi-Fi.

COMBATTING CONGESTION WITH OFDMA

Wi-Fi 6 works by dividing a single wireless channel into a large number of subchannels, each carrying data for a different device. The technology is called Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) and this enables an access point to talk to more than one device at a time.

IMPROVED CAPACITY WITH MU-MIMO

With improved MIMO—Multiple In/Multiple Out and MU-MIMO (Multi-User MIMO), Wi-Fi 6 now has the capability of allowing multi devices to respond to one access point at a time, where before, it was only the access point that had the ability to talk to multiple devices.

ENHANCED COEXISTENCE WITH BSS COLOURING

BSS (Basic Service Set) is a configuration that can be used where there are multiple access points (AP’s) all transmitting on the same channel in close proximity. This allows the AP’s radio to wait for a gap in the signal before transmitting or replying. This helps significantly in congested areas.

All of these features are incredibly important for today’s networks and the increased demand of highly congested network environments.

When is Wi-Fi 6 Available?

Wi-Fi 6 is already available. Apple’s iPhone 11 and the latest Samsung Galaxy S10 already support Wi-Fi 6 with many more devices on their way. As for access points, Wi-Fi 6 access points are also already on the market. The world’s first having been created and developed by Ruckus Wireless.

If you’re not investing in this technology now your network is going to be very rapidly out of date and unable to cope.

Ruckus Wireless New Product Release

R650 Access Points – Wi-Fi 6 Ready

We’re excited to announce the new release of the R650 access point which is the newest addition to the range of Wi-Fi 6 access points from Ruckus Wireless. The R650 is a mid-range indoor access point ideal for medium density locations in verticals such as education, retail, MDU and offices. What’s more the R650 can be fully managed and maintained via Ruckus SmartZone, ZoneDirector, Ruckus Cloud or Unleashed, delivering reliable, secure, high-performance connectivity.

R650 KEY BENEFITS:

The SmartZone controller based R650 will be on general availability on the 22^nd January 2020 with the Unleashed and Cloud versions following at a later date. Keep your eye out for more news.

R750 Access Points – Wi-Fi 6 Ready

Released earlier this year, the R750 is the world’s first-ever Wi-Fi 6 AP to be granted Wi-Fi Certified 6 status by the Wi-Fi Alliance, demonstrating the pedigree of Ruckus Wireless and its ground-breaking technology.

The R750 is another indoor access point, based on the latest Wi-Fi 6 standard, 802.11ax. This AP is designed specifically for ultra-dense environments such as auditoriums, conference centres and other high traffic indoor spaces. It bridges the gap between the performance of ‘gigabit’ Wi-Fi to ‘multi-gigabit Wi-Fi to help support and fulfil the increasing demand for better and faster connectivity.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

The R750 from Ruckus is a high-end dual-band, dual-concurrent Wi-Fi 6 AP that supports 8 spatial streams (4×4:4 in 5GHz, 4×4:4 in 2.4GHz). The R750, with OFDMA and MU-MIMO capabilities, efficiently manages up to 1024 client connections with increased capacity, improved coverage and performance in ultra-high dense environments.

R750 KEY BENEFITS:

Special Pricing

Future-proof networks with high-performance Ruckus multi-gigabit Wi-Fi access points (APs) and ICX switches.

Special pricing is available when you pair a Ruckus R650, R720, R730 or an R750 AP with the ICX 7150-48ZP or ICX 7650-48ZP switch.

These bundled solutions include 802.11ac Wave 2 optimized 2.5GbE access points and switches, or 2.5/5/10GbE switches to support 802.11ax and future generation Wi-Fi standards. Ruckus’ multi-gigabit solutions allow customers to double backhaul capacity without forcing expensive switch upgrades, as well as eliminate overpaying for performance that cannot be used. Furthermore, both ICX switches offer up to 90 watts of PoE power per port and 1500 watts total PoE budget. The ICX 7650 switch provides uplinks to 100 Gbps to future-proof any network.

For more information on either of these products and all of the associated pricing offers, please get in touch:  ruckus@purdi.com or call us on 0333 1212 100