Wireless network provider Xirrus has launched Xtreme Density 2 (XD2) Wi-Fi, a customizable 802.11ac Wave 2 Wi-Fi solution. The new Xirrus XD2 access point (AP) includes two Wave 2 radios, enabling customers to deploy a Wi-Fi network designed to keep up with the demand of their ever-changing environments. With this announcement, Xirrus is also introducing Wave 2 upgrade modules for its XR family of APs.
“The ability to transmit to multiple users at the same time, also known as multi-user MIMO, is one of the key technology advancements in 802.11ac Wave 2†Wi-Fi access points and will enable significantly higher wireless throughput,” says Matthias Machowinski, research director of enterprise networking at IHS. “By implementing a second 802.11ac radio, Xirrus’ Wave 2 solution can serve twice the number of concurrent users per access point, lending itself well to addressing wireless network growth as clients migrate to Wave 2 over time.”
The new Xirrus XD2 offers the benefits of Wave 2 including:
- Two Wave 2 radios per AP, each capable of up to 3.47 Gbps (3 times faster than Wave 1)
- Double the speed with 7 Gbps per AP
- Four-stream, multi-user MIMO (MU-MIMO) compared to three-stream MU-MIMO
- The ability to enable both radios to Wave 2 with the click of a mouse
- Bluetooth low energy (BLE) enabled for location based services
Xirrus Wave 2 solutions integrate a set of network services to optimize the user experience and ensure enterprise-grade wireless reliability, including:
- Application Control: Integrated application visibility and control directly in each AP to prioritize business-critical applications and ensure predictable performance
- TurboXpress: Software customizable radios that support all Wi-Fi modes and bands for instant adaptation to a changing Wi-Fi user base
- acXpress: Automatically segment high-speed 11ac clients from low-speed clients to optimize performance for all
“Until the XD2, all Wave 2 Wi-Fi solutions introduced to the market to date have been effectively ‘Wave 1.5’ because they do not fully support the MU-MIMO standard,” says Bruce Miller, vice president of product marketing, Xirrus. “Customers should steer clear of Wave 1.5 solutions and verify they are getting Wave 2 technology in order to deploy the fastest solution available and achieve the best return on their investment.”†
To learn more about XD2 Wi-Fi and the XR Wave 2 Upgrade Module, visit: http://www.xirrus.com/xd2/.
