Cisco unveils Wi-Fi boost for smartphones and tablets

Cisco has unveiled the latest edition to its wireless access point range, designed to help IT departments meet the growing demand for high-quality internet access on a raft of devices.

The firm announced the Aironet 3600 Series AP at its annual Cisco Live event in London, claiming it can meet the challenge of connecting the huge numbers of tablets, smartphones and laptops being used by workers.

Cisco said the device was able to solve this challenge as it is fitted with a fourth antenna that enables the device to provide three spatial streams on the 802.11n standard. This provides a 30 per cent improvement in speed performance, the firm claimed.

Adding a fourth antenna and using Cisco's ClientLink 2.0 beam-forming technology removes many of the issues the growth in wireless devices can cause, said Sujai Hajela, general manager for the firm's wireless networking business unit.

"The client radios in smartphones are not as powerful as in laptops, for example, and this can mean a frustrating experience for staff if certain devices will not connect when others will. But the 3600 can compensate for this," he said.

"With the beam-forming technology it proactively monitors and provisions spectrum on the network by optimising the connection for that device without requiring any help from the client itself."

He added that the 3600 is also the firm's first unit to support the 802.11r fast roaming standard that allows devices to switch between multiple access points instantly, offering an improved experience when deployed over large campus and metro areas.

"This means you can move around and have a seamless transition without glitches, so you don't suffer any loss of service, which is increasingly vital as services like voice and video as used on devices while moving around," Hajela explained.

The device is available now, with the external antenna version, the 3600e, costing around £1,060, and the internal antenna device costing around £1,000 based on US pricing.