NETGEAR Inc. has added a new IPv6 switching line, new wireless access points for its Insight cloud management solution, and a streamlined satellite for the Orbi Pro Mesh Wi-Fi †family to its lineup of SMB products. The hardware maker has also rolled out a new version of the Insight cloud management platform that aims to deliver more capabilities to business owners, MSPs, VARs, and integrators.
All of the new offerings debuted at the 2019 Consumer Electronics Show, which is taking place this week in Las Vegas.
The NETGEAR Smart Managed Pro S350 IPV6-ready switch series consists of five models, including 8-, 24-, and 48-port Gigabit Ethernet switches with 2 or 4 SFP ports for fiber uplinks. The 8- and 24-port models will include PoE+ (Power over Ethernet Plus) variants. They offer Layer 2 features for enhanced performance and ease of use. Purposely designed for environments where voice, video, and data are all carried over a single network, the new units feature support for L2/L3/L4 Access Control Lists (ACLs), Quality of Service (QoS), Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP), and Spanning Tree Protocol (STP).
NETGEAR Business’s Orbi Pro Mesh Wi-Fi Ceiling Satellite connects with the Orbi Pro Router or any other Orbi Pro satellite via the vendor’s patented FastLane3 technology with a dedicated wireless backhaul for environments where wiring is challenging or impossible. Alternatively, in new builds or office expansions where power outlets are unavailable or new AC wiring is cost prohibitive, the Orbi Pro Ceiling can be powered by Ethernet cables with PoE utilizing 4×4 MU-MIMO Wi-Fi to cover denser environments. Automatic power and channel management between satellites enable roaming, coverage, and performance, making Orbi Pro a practical option for large areas.
NETGEAR Insight Managed Smart Cloud Tri-band 4×4 Wireless Access Point (WAC540) endeavors to exceed the specifications of what’s needed for dense high-traffic environments, which require reliable high-performance Wi-Fi for mission critical business and IoT connectivity. With three separate radios (a single 2.4GHz and two 5GHZ channels), the WAC540 delivers a total of 3Gbps of throughput, plus broad coverage and commercial-grade security. Equipped to support self-managing Wi-Fi with features such as band-steering, beamforming, load balancing, airtime fairness, and advanced roaming, the WAC540 is optimized to support hundreds of Wi-Fi clients for businesses requiring maximum Wi-Fi performance and coverage.
The NETGEAR WAC124 High-performance AC2000 Wi-Fi router is a Wi-Fi solution for small business offices, cafes, and retail shops. Designed to be cost-effective, the device doesn’t require complicated installation, yet provides wide coverage with 300Mbps+1734Mbps over independent channels via external antennas. It is capable of supporting three separate and secure SSIDs over a 4×4 802.11ac Wave2 MU-MIMO Wi-Fi.
“Small and Medium Sized Businesses are spending too much time managing network devices,” said Richard Jonker, vice president of NETGEAR’s SMB product line, in a prepared statement. “With the Insight Smart Cloud Managed Platform and Ecosystem and our expanded Power-over-Ethernet switch, and wireless access point lines, NETGEAR wants to transform your office from a device management space to an environment to conduct and grow your business.”
NETGEAR Insight Cloud Management solutions support onboarding, setup, remote management, and monitoring of both the new WAC540 and the Orbi Pro Ceiling satellite as well as the entire network. New Insight core management functions include:
- Instant Wi-Fi – Using Radio Resource Management (AutoRRM+), Insight immediately optimizes all access points at the location either automatically, on demand, scheduled, or event-based for rapid Wi-Fi setup.
- RADIUS authentication on Insight Switches (Insight Premium subscription only) for security and privacy.
- Device backup and restore
- Device-level backup/restore of configuration settings for use in case of a factory reset or device RMA.
- Multiple backup versions and the ability to restore to any backed version on the device.
- Functionality for adding devices and setting them up quickly by copying and pasting a previously saved configuration.
The newly enhanced Insight Pro is designed to help channel pros add or expand their recurring services revenue quickly with little-to-no out of pocket expense. The system aims to enable VARs to augment their existing business through managed services while staying competitive with larger MSPs. Feature enhancements in the product include:
- Insight Pro Custom Reports
- Troubleshooting – client devices, client signal strength, AP usage, switch load.
- Health Trends – devices added, data consumption, client added, clients’ properties.
- Change Logs – reports with details of each change made in each organization, network location by device, identifying who made each change with a date/time stamp.
- Inventory – location specific device list for each organization with 24 to 30-day data usage filters.
- Network Location Configurations (Insight and Insight Pro) – for rapid deployment and scaling
- Wired settings include: VLAN Settings, LAGs, PoE Schedules, STP, QoS settings.
- Wireless includes: †SSID, ACLs, Associated VLANs, Security, Captive Portal and LED Controls.
- Device Backup and Restore: New capabilities include:
- Device level backup/restore of a device setting in case of a factory reset, device RMA.
- Maintain multiple backup versions and the ability to restore to any backed version on the device.
- Add additional devices and set them up in a hurry using the copy and paste feature of a saved device configuration.
All NETGEAR Insight Managed products are fully-integrated and cloud-manageable, requiring no additional hardware or VPN tunneling to connect directly to the Insight cloud and can be managed remotely.
NETGEAR Insight is available on both the web and mobile (iOS and Android) platforms.
The NETGEAR Insight management solution has several subscription plans for users: Insight Basic for the Insight app only, and Insight Premium for the Insight app, the Insight cloud web portal, as well as Insight Pro for MSPs, which adds additional management features for service providers.
