Aruba Intros Wall-Mountable AP for Use in Dorm Rooms

  • By Dian Schaffhauser
  • 01/17/12

Aruba Networks has introduced a new indoor 802.11n access point intended for wall mounting in college dorm rooms and smaller classrooms, as well as other multi-tenant environments. The AP-93H mounts to an Ethernet wall outlet within the room and uses the existing cabling system to provide secure wired and WiFi network access at data rates up to 300 Mbps.

The company said the AP is capable of servicing multiple devices in two to three rooms. It includes four Ethernet ports and provides the option of passing through an additional Ethernet port to address increased density of devices--both wired and wireless--in use by students and simplify device management. The AP has one 2x2 MIMO dual-band 2.4 GHz/5 GHz radio with internal antennas and features built-in spectrum analysis to troubleshoot radio frequency conflicts. Power can be delivered by Power-over-Ethernet or a 12-volt DC power supply.

At least one institution is sold on the AP. "We will use the AP-93H for most if not all of our future residential deployments," said Ben Price, director of residential information systems for the University of California, Santa Barbara. "Like all of our Aruba access points, the AP-93H will securely connect a wide range of wired and wireless devices simultaneously, can be installed in minutes, and has the intelligence to prioritize traffic based on a user's identity, device, application, and location."

Pricing on the Aruba 93H starts at $495. Additional details can be found on Aruba's site.

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

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