Linksys has announced it will include clustering, at no additional cost, across its entire portfolio of wireless access points (APs) for small businesses. Clustering enables easy management of core AP functionality without the cost and complexity of cloud-based controllers or hardware wireless LAN controllers. This reduces the costs and complexity of managing multiple wireless access points. Originally limited to the Linksys Pro Series Access Point, the clustering feature is now available on all Linksys business wireless-ac access points. Existing Linksys business wireless-ac access point customers can download the firmware upgrade today at no additional cost.

The Linksys clustering feature is designed for small businesses that need a simple, affordable solution to manage multiple access points efficiently. A cluster provides a single point of administration for up to 16 APs and lets administrators view, deploy, configure and secure the wireless network as a single entity rather than a series of separate wireless devices. When an administrator makes a change on one access point, it will automatically push the change to the other access points in the cluster.

Linksys Wireless Access Point Clustering provides a number of key enhancements around simplified management, including:

• Automatic Synchronized Configuration. Configuration changes are shared and pushed to all APs automatically.
• Single View of Access Point Status. A single view of the APs in a cluster from a single screen enables the administrator to get a snapshot of the status of all the APs.
• Dynamic Channel Management. Monitors the congestion on each wireless channel and periodically adjusts AP channels to the optimal channel.
• Consolidated View of Wireless User Sessions. One consolidated view of all clients enables the administrator to monitor the health of all wireless connections at a glance.

 Current WLAN management solutions do not cater to small businesses and are built for the needs of large enterprises that require either a costly hardware controller or a cloud-based management solution saddled with a recurring fee. Existing small business solutions force IT Administrators to choose between deploying costly WLAN controllers, or manually configuring individual access points, a process which is inefficient and prone to errors.

"Our customer focus guides product development, helping to ensure that we continue to deliver quality products purpose-built for small businesses,” said Tobie van Schalkwyk, channel manager for Linksys in South Africa. “WLAN controllers are expensive and over-engineered with unnecessary functionality that small businesses don’t need.  The Linksys portfolio of APs provides the right feature set that small businesses need to run a productive business environment at an affordable price point.”

In addition to clustering, Linksys added captive portal across its entire wireless AP product line. This is a fully customizable landing page for businesses to welcome visitors and provide wireless access in a branded environment that is separated from the core business network in order to maintain security for critical business assets.

Van Schalkwyk continued, “We’re committed to delivering value to small businesses and continuing to invest and improve our existing products in order to solve important unmet customer needs, and adding clustering and captive portal across our entire AP line delivers on that promise.”

Availability
The clustering feature is available today on all Linksys Business Wireless-AC Dual Band Access Points. Small Businesses and their reseller/managed solution provider partners can download the firmware for Wireless-AC Access Points at

• LAPAC1750  http://www.linksys.com/us/support-article?articleNum=148454
• LAPAC1200 http://www.linksys.com/us/support-article?articleNum=148529
• LAPAC1750PRO ships with the Clustering feature.

Clustering is planned to be available on Linksys Business Wireless-N Access Points later this autumn.