Linksys® today announced the first Pro Series Wi-Fi access point with the launch of the Wireless-AC Dual Band Access Point (LAPAC1750PRO). The new Pro Series access point offers advanced features to equip Small and Medium Businesses (SMB) with more management capabilities and better performance at an affordable price point. The new model supports cluster management to simplify management of multiple access points from one single interface and a fully customisable captive portal for businesses to welcome visitors in a branded environment.

"We are introducing the Pro Series to our Wi-Fi access point lineup so SMBs can take advantage of Enterprise grade features at price points they can afford," said Steven Lin, director of Linksys business products. "Small businesses usually have to choose between an over-engineered enterprise access point or a consumer grade Wi-Fi product to run their office network.  These choices can provide too much or too little of what a small business needs.  Our Pro Series Access Point provides the balance of advanced features and affordability that small businesses need to run a productive business environment."

Branded Hotspot
The implemented Captive Portal feature enables secure guest Wi-Fi access that is fully customisable to the company's needs. The hotspot welcome page can be fully branded in company livery, company logo and background image for a more professional look and feel.

Redundancy and Increased Throughput
The new Linksys Pro Series access point includes two Gigabit Ethernet ports - one especially built for link aggregation which helps to combine multiple network connections to help increase throughput and provide redundancy in case one of the connections fail.

Simplified Management
The Linksys Pro Series Wireless-AC Dual Band Access Point supports AP clustering to simplify management of multiple access points in a network. A cluster provides a single point of administration for up to 16 access points and lets administrators view, deploy, configure, and secure the wireless network as a single entity rather than a series of separate wireless devices.

Next-Generation Wi-Fi Connectivity
The Linksys Business Wireless-AC Dual Band Access Point supports the latest 802.11ac technology, which provides a performance increase of up to three times* that available on 802.11n. Enhancements such as wider 80 MHz channels provide greater data bandwidth while operating in the less-crowded 5 GHz band space. With this increase in Wi-Fi freedom, wireless clients can experience faster speeds while maximizing their performance in coverage and range.

Advanced Security over Wireless
The Linksys Business Wireless-AC Dual Band Access Points protect and secure a wireless network with business-class security features including Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA/WPA2), 802.1X Supplicant Authentication (which verifies that your AP is trusted on your network and can restrict rogue APs from gaining access), MAC-based ACL, Rouge AP Detection, SSID-to-VLAN Mapping, and Wireless Scheduler.

Features of the new Wireless-AC Dual Band Access Point (LAPAC1750PRO) include:

2nd Gigabit Ethernet port for link aggregation = 2Gbps backbone
VLAN Mapping and 802.11 Supplicant
Wi-Fi Spectrum analysis & RF optimisation
Simplified management with AP Clustering
3x3 802.11ac Dual Band technology with data rates up to 1750Mbps
Support as Powered Device with 802.3at (PoE+)
Client Quality of Service (QoS)
WDS Bridge and Workgroup Bridge Support
Bandwidth Utilisation
Support for up to 16 different SSID's
Dual Image Support
Designed for ceiling or wall mounting
Industrial-strength Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA, WPA2) security and data encryption
Set-up and management through the Web Interface or Simple Network Management Protocol
IPv6 support
Limited Lifetime Warranty