HP boosts enterprise wireless to 450Mbit/s

HP is claiming to be the first vendor with 802.11n Wi-Fi access points that support 450Mbit/s radios, offering 50 per cent greater performance and doubling the number of simultaneous users, according to the firm.

Available immediately, HP's E-Series Multi Service Mobility 460 and 466 access points form part of the company's Mobile Access Solution, and achieve a boost in performance by using three spatial data streams instead of the two supported in existing 802.11n kit.

The new devices are also dual-radio, bringing their maximum throughput up to 900Mbit/s.

Additionally, HP said that as part of its Converged Infrastructure strategy, the Mobile Access Solution operates as a converged network platform for wired and wireless environments, bringing Wi-Fi and Ethernet under the control of a single management console.

"We've integrated access control into one overall solution whether it is wired or wireless, so the administrator gets a single pane of glass for both," said Jeff Schwartz, HP's worldwide product manager for mobility and wireless.

The new access points are designed to work with HP's MultiService Mobility Controller devices for centralised control, but Schwartz said that HP has opted for a hybrid approach that does not simply force all traffic through the controller, as with some enterprise Wi-Fi platforms.

"PCI compliant access traffic will always go up to the controller, but client traffic can be forwarded by the access point itself," he said, adding that this made more efficient use of network bandwidth.

The new access points have actually been shipping to key customers for a couple of months, Schwartz said, and have been well received so far. Both are priced at $999 (£615).