Extricom announced immediate availability of the RP-23ac, a dual radio access point designed for the latest 802.11ac Wi-Fi standard. Unlike most vendors' 802.11ac access points which are crippled by a lack of non-overlapping 80 MHz channels in the 5GHz band, Extricom's RP-23ac can be deployed without requiring any adjustment to the channel plan, or reconfiguration of other APs, to deliver on the performance promise of 802.11ac.
It is Extricom's unique single-channel architecture that makes it possible to fully exploit the increased performance and efficiency of 802.11ac, which can only be realized by using 80MHz bonded channels. With Extricom's interference-free Channel Blanket, only one clear 80MHz channel is needed to blanket an entire facility with a full-featured 11ac wireless network. In contrast, just as 802.11n is rendered useless at 2.4 GHz by too few non-overlapping channels, multi-channel architectures face the same channel-planning nightmare for 802.11ac with 80MHz channels. Industry analysts agree the shortage of available 80MHz channels is a severe constraint, while the small gain from 802.11ac with 40MHz channels has no cost justification.
With the advent of 40 MHz channel bonding, first introduced by 802.11n, now 80 MHz and in future 160 MHz, the inherent advantages of single channel architectures have become impossible to ignore - enterprise-wide coverage using a single channel avoids numerous interference related issues, allows seamless mobility with zero roaming delays, and is fast and easy to deploy.
The RP-23ac access point is designed for 802.11ac Wave 1 support (80 MHz channels) with one 802.11ac radio and one 802.11n radio. Optimized for low power consumption, the RP-23ac can operate both its radios simultaneously using 802.3af power, which avoids costly Power-over-Ethernet (POE) infrastructure upgrades. The RP-23ac is the first Access Point in a new family of 802.11ac products Extricom is designing to fully utilize the rich capabilities of 802.11ac, including MU-MIMO and 160MHz channel bonding.
As enterprise WLAN deployment priorities shift from coverage to capacity, Extricom is proving its superiority with seamless roaming, and better performance scaling in high-density environments, and is unmatched in large spaces like stadiums and arenas. Large enterprises using multi-channel solutions have successfully transition from 20MHz to 40MHz, but with 80MHz channels they are struggling. Extricom's interference-free Channel Blanket stands apart from microcell / multi-channel architectures with a massive and sustainable performance advantage, that will only continue to widen as the complete 802.11ac standard rolls out.
"802.11ac plays into our hands. Our Channel Blanket approach can fully utilize the channel bonding features that are necessary to realize the big performance promise of 11ac" says Gideon Rottem, Extricom CEO. "Existing Extricom users will be able to quickly boost capacity of existing networks with the RP-23ac simply by layering an additional 802.11ac channel blanket - with zero disruption, no site survey, and no channel planning required." he continues.
802.11ac marks an inflection point for the Wi-Fi industry - the end of the glory days for multi-channel architectures. "We hope enterprises will recognize this as an opportunity to replace ailing multi-channel 11abg or 11n networks with a new foundation that is better suited to the high-density, high-capacity, all-wireless future ahead of them." added Gideon Rottem.
The RP-23ac is available immediately and is offered at MSRP of $895.
