WNAP320 Netgear Access Point

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WNAP320 Prosafe Netgear Access Point is an industrial wireless N access point – designed for small to medium businesses.

Highlights:

• Based on wireless N with extended coverage and speed – single 2.4GHz band
• Need a WC7520 wireless controller should you deploy in large AP devices in larger network
• Advanced enterprise security

In businesses, protecting the network against any un-authorized access is very essential. All the information of the business must be properly protected against any external or public network threats as well as against any internal threats. Protecting the network against any internet threats can be solved by providing a well-managed firewall in each of the entry point for the internet. What about accessing the network via wireless connection? Providing the wireless access to the company must be tightened with the secure connection. The wireless access point you install to the business network must have enterprise class security features such as Rogue AP detection and RADIUS support. WNAP320 Netgear access point is one of the business-class AP devices you can consider for your business networks.

What this Product Does

Netgear WNAP320 Prosafe wireless access point is powered by the recent industrial wireless 802.11n technology in single 2.4GHz band and is backward compatible with 802.11b/g standards.

PoE Supports

WNAP320 includes one gigabit port (10/100/1000) with Power over Ethernet (PoE) for high speed uplink connection to the gigabit port of the network, eliminating the bottleneck. With PoE, you can install the device in areas where power outlets are not available yet such as deployment in ceilings or walls. You can connect the gigabit Ethernet port to the Gigabit Switch which supports PoE such as Gs724tp Prosafe 24-Port 10/100/1000 Smart Poe Switch.

Manageable

For deployment of multiple WNAP320 Netgear access points in large network environment to support up to 500 users, you require a central wireless management system such as WMS5316 that supports load balancing, RF management, rogue AP detection and guest access. You can deploy up to 16 AP devices with this WMS5316. For large network, you can configure the devices as a bridge or a repeater both in point-to-point and point-to-multipoint with Wireless Distribution System (WDS).

For deployment in very large network volumes, you can integrate the WNAP320 devices with WC7520 wireless controller that support up to 150 AP devices and redundancy.

Wireless Features

WNAP320 Netgear access point can be configured in wireless distribution system (WDS) such as in point-to-point wireless bridge mode or point-to-multipoint bridge mode. The figure 1 shows a networking diagram of the wireless AP in point-to-point bridge mode where two local networks are linked together using the wireless bridges.

The figure 2 shows the networking diagram of the WNAP320 Netgear access point devices configured in point-multipoint bridges. Three networks are linked together using the wireless bridges.

You can configure the Netgear access point devices in wireless bridges, one device can be configured as the central office to connect to two office buildings in point-to-multipoint configuration.

Pro:

• Support gigabit Ethernet port fast wired connection to the network eliminating the bottleneck
• POE supports

Cons:

• For higher security network, the wireless clients are not firewalled. Clients cannot be filtered based on the security policy set.
• Doesn’t support 5GHz band for cleaner network

Netgear WNAP320 Prosafe is a business class wireless access point which can be deployed in multiple AP devices easily and manageable and is ideal for large network deployments. This device is not for home usage, too much money for simple wireless network in home.

Netgear WNDAP360 Prosafe Dual Band Wireless N AP

The Wndap360 is the latest business class wireless N access point introduced by Netgear. Unlike WNAP320 which is designed with a single band, this WNDAP360 is designed with dual band both 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands.

Table 1. Spec comparison for WNAP320 Vs WNDAP360 wireless Access Points

With your wired modem in home, you can add a wireless router for creating a wireless network. For simple networking, you can consider Medialink N150 wireless router. For better wireless network, you can consider Linksys E2500 N300 router.

See also:

• DAP-2555 Wireless N Dual Band POE Access Point
• DWL-8600AP PoE Dual Band Access Point
• TRENDnet TEW-690AP N450 Wireless Access Point
• Cisco RV 120W Wireless-N VPN Firewall and VLAN Router