HPE Aruba is ready for the WiFi 7 era, launching new access points that offer up to thirty percent more wireless data traffic capacity.

Wifi 7 is slowly approaching. HPE Aruba introduces new 730 Series access points designed to prepare enterprise networks for future networking standards. The access points offer an “AI-ready edge” solution and a “secure user experience for IoT connectivity and AI training and inference.” This means your bingo card for IT hypes is completely filled in one sentence.

Capacity is one of the spearheads of the new APs. HPE Aruba claims to offer thirty percent more capacity than competing solutions. The APs rely on it Ultra Tri-BandTechnology to make full use of the 5GHz and 6GHz bands and eliminate wastage between bands. UTB filtering eliminates channel interference on adjacent channels, which should result in more stable and faster connections.

Tailored for IoT

IoT support is integrated in several ways. The APs provide support for Bluetooth and Zigbee protocols, but also reduce the overlay of vendor-specific IoT networks to communicate directly with third-party services. SDRAM and flash memory have also been significantly expanded to optimize data transfers for real-time responses. By supporting a new location standard, location-based services are accurate to within one meter.

Of course, a reference to AI should not be missing from the announcement. An AI-driven, dynamic power saving mode helps reduce energy consumption and costs for businesses. APs are managed through the Aruba Networking Central dashboard.

The 730 series will be available from July. Access points can be purchased as part of individual SaaS subscriptions or through HPE Greenlake, which includes Aruba Networking Central.

Wifi 7: Is it worth it now?

Today, the benefits of WiFi 7 are even more limited as there are only a handful of devices on the market that support the standard. Now that the standard has been officially certified, the WiFi 7 offering could grow quickly, making it worth it for companies to start thinking about future-proofing their network. It will still be a few years before the new standard is ubiquitous: you will certainly be fine with Wifi 6 and Wifi 6E for a while.