Originally posted on TMCNet.com.

The current pandemic has necessitated that our Unified Communication & Collaboration platforms allow for efficient, flexible, and agile business operations, while also being cost-effective. We need one platform that meets various business communication needs, expediently and seamlessly delivering collaboration tools and a host of communications services. These features, services, and tools include desktop sharing, presence, mobility, voice and video calling, audio and video conferencing, instant messaging, video surveillance, facility access, intercoms etc. This platform can be on-premises or in our redundant data centers, managed locally or from the cloud to support an agile, cost-effective deployment and maintenance model. Communications platforms should easily integrate with third-party business and facility applications, improving business efficacy. Thus, the above referenced multi-modal communication platform plays the chief role in supporting cost-effective business communications.

Fig.A Grandstream Networks GWN7602 802.11ac 2x2:2 compact Wi-Fi access point with integrated ethernet switch

Fig.A Grandstream Networks’ GWN7630LR outdoor long-range 802.11ac Wave-2 4x4:4 Wi-Fi access point

Note: This review was originally published on TMCNet's UC Network Management website, which can be found here.

As an end user in a mobile society, for high bandwidth applications and high-client density scenarios indoors or outdoors we are ever more reliant on good Wi-Fi connectivity. We now have outdoor long-range 802.11ac Wave-2 Wi-Fi access points (APs) that are equipped with an embedded controller and that also supports centralized, scalable management system choices such as cloud hosted /cloud Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) or a premise based Virtual WLAN (vWLAN) controller. These APs are also equipped with features, networking standards and protocols such as: Multi-User Multiple Input Multiple Output (MU-MIMO) technology, band steering, multiple service set identifiers (SSIDs), dual-2.4GHz/5GHz radio bands, mesh networking, gigabit ethernet ports with PoE/PoE+,802.11ac, 802.11ac Wave 2, 802.11k, 802.11r and 802.11v, air time fairness, captive portal for custom branding experiences, client bridge function, client steering, multicast stream to unicast stream conversion, beamforming, Wi-Fi and system security features such as- digitally signed firmware for anti-hacking secure boot, randomly generated default password, unique security certificate, WEP, WPA/WPA2-PSK and WPA/WPA2 enterprise,  ports to connect external antennas, master controller failover function for  redundancy and backup etc.