AirTight Networks Launches First-to-Market 802.11ac Access Point with 'IoT-ready' Wireless Intrusion Prevention System

C-65 Wi-Fi Access Point/Sensor Makes the 802.11ac Protocol Transition Easy and Affordable as Connected Devices Proliferate

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AirTight Networks

Sep 04, 2014, 08:10 ET

Mountain View, Calif., Sept. 4, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- AirTight Networks, a global leader in cloud-managed Wi-Fi, announced today the launch of the AirTight C-65, an 802.11ac Wi-Fi access point (AP) / sensor that eliminates current and emerging wireless security threats and removes the tradeoffs in functionality often associated with upgrading to 802.11ac.

IoT-ready 802.11ac technology

The C-65 AP is uniquely ready for the Internet of Things (IoT), and not just as it exists today. IDC predicts that 28 billion connected devices will exist by 2020 – how will network professionals cope? AirTight is helping them prepare by scaling up network monitoring capabilities on its 802.11ac platform. It now has the ability to monitor 2000 active wireless devices per AP/sensor, which is critical as industries of all kinds move into realms of wider connectivity.

Equally important is the capacity of AirTight's cloud management system to scale to hundreds of thousands of devices being monitored across multiple geographies and customers. This scalability is coupled with AirTight's patented 802.11ac wireless intrusion prevention (WIPS) technology, which allows for fully-automated 24X7 protection, with zero false positive / false negative operation, requiring no IT involvement for mitigation of wireless threats or compliance reporting.

"Awareness around IoT continues to grow rapidly, even though full IoT reality is expected to come to fruition over the next several years. Still, with new network infrastructure getting deployed today having an expected lifespan of five to seven years, it is reasonable to expect it will be able to handle the increased demands of IoT-related apps and traditional network access concurrently," said Nolan Greene, Research Analyst with IDC's Network Infrastructure group. "AirTight's 802.11ac Wi-Fi and WIPS platform has the potential to meet forthcoming IoT challenges not just to address the explosion of IoT endpoints and applications, but also corresponding threats. This makes AirTight a viable contender for enterprises evaluating IoT-capable cloud Wi-Fi solutions."

High-value, no compromises

"At Citrix, we've come to expect high value coupled with a lower cost of total ownership from our key vendors," said Laz Corrales, Director, Global Security Organization at Citrix. "I am very pleased with the cloud services from AirTight Networks, and the many features provided such as guest access, user analytics and compliance reporting. The addition of 802.11ac to AirTight's product portfolio provides us with a clear path to high performance Wi-Fi technology as our network continues to grow."

The AirTight C-65 has dual concurrent 5 GHz and 2.4 GHz band radios supporting 802.11a/n/ac, 802.11 b/g/n, two spatial streams, and data rates of up to 866 Mbps and 300 Mbps, respectively. The device operates on AC power or can be powered using the prevalent IEEE 802.3af PoE standard without any loss of 802.11ac performance unlike some 802.11ac products, which require expensive infrastructure upgrades to PoE+ (802.3at) for full functionality.

Unique all-in pricing with flexible purchasing options; MSP-ready

Unique in the industry, the C-65 and AirTight Cloud have no feature based licensing – WIPS, mesh, guest Wi-Fi, social login, and visitor analytics applications are all built-in with no additional fees.

The C-65 AP is offered at one of the most competitive price points for a dual-radio, dual-stream 802.11ac AP, with an additional (and exclusive to AirTight Networks) full OpEx pricing option, in which hardware is included in the annual operating cost.

The flexible purchasing options are especially attractive to mid-market enterprise customers, where the trend is to expense the IT investment rather than to treat is a capital expenditure. This also creates new opportunities for AirTight's channel partners as they look to transition to managed service provider models and to build recurring revenues.

Built for the distributed enterprise, reduces network management complexity

C-65 is part of AirTight's controller-less architecture with a hierarchical management console, capable of managing thousands of geographically distributed APs and thus ideal for large distributed deployments. The AirTight Cloud delivers real-time network alerts, troubleshooting, bug fixes, enhancements and diagnostics over the web, meaning no manual software updates to download or missing security patches to worry about.

"The proliferation of Wi-Fi-enabled devices entering your airspace make Wi-Fi network management and monitoring significantly more complex," said David King, chairman and CEO of AirTight Networks. "We are proud to be the first to offer combined 802.11ac Wi-Fi and WIPS technology, with no compromises on security, simplicity and scalability."

Pricing and availability

The C-65 is available on September 15, 2014 at the US list price of $495, with cloud subscriptions that can be purchased in 1-year, 3-year and 5-year increments. The two-stream C-65 AP is a new addition to AirTight's 802.11ac product family, which also includes the three-stream C-75 AP and wall jack W-68 AP.

All AirTight Networks products provide an all-in-one enterprise cloud software approach with Wi-Fi access, security, engagement and analytics included in a single license.

US list prices:

C-65 AP – $495.00
1-year cloud subscription –$180.00
3-year cloud subscription – $360.00
5-year cloud subscription – $540.00

About AirTight Networks

AirTight Networks is the global leader in secure cloud Wi-Fi solutions. The company's award-winning family of products and cloud services combines a true carrier-class multitenant cloud architecture with breakthroughs in Wi-Fi location, user analytics, social engagement, manageability, ease of deployment, and cost effectiveness, as well as AirTight's longtime top-rated WIPS technology. AirTight's global customer base includes leading enterprises in the government, financial, technology/telecom, manufacturing, health care, retail, and hospitality sectors. For more information, please visit us at: www.airtightnetworks.com, or follow us @AirTight.

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SOURCE AirTight Networks