HPE Aruba intros Wi-Fi 6 access point, stackable switch for SMBs

HPE’s Aruba networking division announced a new access point and switch that are designed to enable faster speeds, increased capacity, and strengthened security for small and medium businesses that are grappling with bandwidth-intensive cloud applications.

The Aruba Instant On AP22D is a Wi-Fi 6 access point, and the Aruba Instant On 1960 is a stackable switch with 2.5GB port capacity. Both are designed to optimize network performance for employees and customers.

The combination is ideal for SMBs with high data demands and growing traffic. The two new products work together to provide increased throughput and improved security with minimal effort, according to HPE Aruba Networking.

“SMBs are looking for high performance, easy-to-use, affordable network with cloud agility that allows them to expand their networks along with their businesses,” said Amol Mitra, vice president and general manager, HPE Aruba Networking global small and medium business in a statement. “HPE Aruba Networking simplifies network deployment and management via an intuitive mobile app that delivers a simple, smart and secure offering for SMB customers.”

The Aruba Instant On brand is designed specifically for SMBs with less than 500 employees. It consists of wireless products – indoor and outdoor Wi-Fi access points – and wire products consisting of managed and unmanaged switches. The Instant On product line can be managed via the Instant On mobile app and cloud-based web portal.

“Featuring 4 ports of 2.5GbE and 60W of PoE, the new multi-gig switch supports higher bandwidth throughput over the same Cat 5/6(a) cabling that many businesses already have, making it a cost-effective way to upgrade network capacity. Further flexibility is provided by the 8 ports of 1GbE and 30W of PoE that enable legacy or lower bandwidth-demanding hardware to be used alongside higher-speed hardware – no rip and replace required,” wrote Greg Weaver, Aruba Instant On Community Admin, in a blog post about the new hardware. “In addition to uplinking to the Aruba Instant On 1960 12-port aggregation switch, the 2 sets of dual uplink ports support 10GbE speed to connect server and storage devices with 10Base-T or SFP+ connections.”

Both products are available now from Aruba’s channel partners.