Vigor AP-900 Managed Dual-Band Wireless Access Point

The DrayTek Vigor AP-900 is a wireless access point which can be operated in standalone or centrally managed/monitored mode (by use of a central DrayTek management product - feature due later in 2014 as a free firmware upgrade). The AP-900 is a high specification professional access point providing reliable and flexible coverage to all manner of applications. A vast array of security and management features helps the AP-900 to improve and protect flexibility and integrity of your wireless LAN. The Vigor AP-900 is ideal for adding wireless connectivity to an existing LAN, or for expanding the range of an existing wireless LAN by using the WDS repeater features.

Simultaneous Dual-Band Operation

The Vigor AP-900 supports simultaneous operation of the common 2.4Ghz band and the new 5Ghz band. The 5Ghz band is far less congested so if your PCs or other devices support the 5Ghz band, you can use that. The Vigor AP-900 operates both bands at the same time, so your devices can use either band and each has its own bandwidth so overall wireless capacity is also increased. If you want to add 5Ghz band support to your PC/laptop (assuming it doesn't already support it), you can use the DrayTek N65 USB adaptor.

Gigabit Ethernet Ports

The AP-900 has five wired Ethernet ports (separated into two distinct separated LANs). LAN A and LAN B can be fed separately and in turn broadcast on independent and isolated SSIDs. As the ports are all Gigabit, you can be sure that the AP-900 is fed at the maximum speed in order to fully satisfy the full speed of both 2/4 and 5Ghz bands simultaneously. The four ports on LAN A are particularly of use if you are using the AP-900 as a wireless bridge as you can then connect wired PCs or devices to it. LAN Port 1 on LAN-A is also used as the PoE input if you're powering the AP-900 by PoE.

Central Management

A feature due later in 2014 (via a free firmware update), the AP-900 can be set in managed mode whereby adding a compatible DrayTek wireless controller (e.g. Vigor2860 or 2925 series router) enables you to centrally control, manage and administer multiple AP-900 devices installed around your building/campus. Management also enables efficient usage of your wireless access point through load-balancing, whereby wireless clients are distributed across several access points to reduce congestion.

Full details of the central management facilities will be here soon.

Wireless Security & VLANs

The AP-900 features multiple levels of wireless security. Encryption using WEP, WPA, WPA2 (802.11i) is available you can also use the access control list (ACL) to specify the hardware addresses of clients which are permitted to connect (by MAC hardware address). Any unauthorised hardware is refused access.

For additional user authentication, you can activate 802.1x RADIUS (Remote Authentication Dial-in User Service) which allows you to centrally manage and store user names and passwords either within the AP-900 setup itself (thus not needing any external server) on an external radius server which can permit time limited, temporary or continuous access to your clients as required.

The Vigor AP-900 supports the 802.1q VLAN protocol so that if it is connected to an 802.1q enabled LAN, it can split tagged data (whether its different subnets or intended for different users) and broadcast each on its own SSID. This means, for example, that your guest WiFi access is provided on a separate isolated SSID with no access to your company data.

Local Temperature Logging and Alarm

As your AP-900 unit(s) will be distributed around your building, it's an ideal opportunity to also gather environmental information about those locations. By the addtition of an optional USB temperature sensor, your AP-900 can report real-time local temperature information, show the previous 24 hour's chart and also set high/low alarms to alert/log if the temperature falls above or below your set levels. This facility is ideal for detecting if any part of your building is over or under-heated or if heating/cooling has been left on overnight and therefore helping to make more efficient use of your heating or cooling energy consumption, potentially saving cost.

USB Printer Port

The AP-900 has a USB interface into which you can connect a regular printer. That printer is then accessible from any wireless or wired PC which connects to the AP-900, or a PC anywhere else on the network. This is ideal to provide printer access to wireless laptops but could also be used for installing a printer elsewhere in your home/office by using a pair of AP-900s to make a bridge.

WMM - WiFi Multimedia

The AP-900 implements intelligent wireless traffic prioritization for the most efficient management of wireless traffic by using the Wi-Fi Multimedia standard (WMM). WMM defines Quality of Service (QoS) in Wi-Fi networks. It is a precursor to the upcoming IEEE 802.11e WLAN QoS standard, intended to improve timing critical applications such as audio, video and voice applications over WiFi. WMM adds prioritized capabilities to Wi-Fi networks and optimizes their performance when multiple concurrent applications, each with different latency and throughput requirements, compete for network resources.

WPS - WiFi Protected Setup

Wireless Security (encryption) is important to protect your data (privacy) but also to prevent unauthorised people from accessing your network or your Internet connection. The WPS system means that instead of having to create and enter long encryption keys, you can activate WPS registration. To activate, you press and hold the WPS button, then activate the WPS function on your PC; the two devices then automatically exchange encryption keys.

The same button on the AP-900 also serves as a physical on/off switch for the Wireless LAN if you wish to quickly disable it at any time, whilst still leaving your wired ports active.

Dual-LAN

The AP-900 can support two completely independent LANs. Each is connected via its own independent RJ45 Ethernet interface. There are Ethernet RJ45 interfaces for LAN A (4 ports) and LAN B (one port). These networks remain completely isolated from each other. Each LAN can be assigned its own separate Wireless SSID so they remain separated even on the Wireless LAN. This is the equivalent of having two completely separate access points and ideal for public and private networks in the same location or wireless LANs for two separate companies.

Having two physical LAN interfaces provides a much simpler alternative to using tagged VLANs and/or a Radius server for authentication. It is also much easier/quicker to set up (that said, the AP-900 can also support tagged VLANs and Radius).

Power-over-Ethernet

The AP-900 supports PoE (802.3af Power over Ethernet) as standard (built-in) so if the AP-900 is connected to a PoE-enabled Ethernet switch or PoE injector, you don't need any local power to the unit (power supply) - the AP9800 will