This week connectivity specialists Aruba have announced a new series of campus-based access points that support WiFi 6E and operate on the 6GHz band. These new 630 Series APs (pictured in header) represent support for the largest expansion of WiFi in nearly two decades, Aruba explains, with it being opened up in April 2020 by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Stateside for unlicensed use.

According to the Wi-Fi Alliance, since opening up access to 6GHz band, 39 more countries have accessed it via WiFi 6E.

At the time of writing, South Africa is not listed, which is why Aruba bringing these solutions to the fore is of interest, as it means business campuses and tertiary institutions in SA can potentially get access to the recently opened band.

“With connectivity demands growing exponentially, Wi-Fi 6E can take advantage of up to seven, superwide 160 MHz channels and uncongested bandwidth in the 6 GHz band to deliver unprecedented multi-gigabit and low latency connectivity,” notes Kevin Robinson, SVP of Marketing at Wi-Fi Alliance.

“Wi-Fi 6E will spur enhanced innovations and exciting new services. Wi-Fi Alliance is pleased to see longtime member Aruba bringing Wi-Fi 6E solutions to market that will help organizations better support critical activities like videoconferencing, telemedicine, and distance learning,” he adds.

In fact, there is significant growth expected on this band in the coming year, with Wi-Fi 6E adoption predicted on over 350 million devices in 2022 supporting 6GHz.

“With Aruba’s new Wi-Fi 6E offerings, organizations can take advantage of the increased capacity, wider channels in 6 GHz, and significantly reduced signal interference with 3.9 Gbps maximum aggregate throughput to support high bandwidth, low latency services and applications such as high definition video, next-generation unified communications, augmented reality/virtual reality (AR/VR), IoT, and cloud. Additionally, with a new ultra tri-band filtering capability, which minimizes interference between the 5 GHz and 6 GHz bands, organizations can truly maximize use of the new spectrum,” the company adds in a press release sent to Hypertext.

The new Aruba 630 Series APs are expected to be made available in the third quarter of this year. To see the APs’ performance in action, check out the Aruba speed test video below.