Wireless Consulting Expertise

Ubiquiti's web-accessible UniFi Controller software can be deployed on a local PC, Mac, or Linux machine or in a private or public cloud. The UniFi platform offers an affordable, feature-rich, and highly scalable end-to-end Wi-Fi solution for organizations of any size in venues ranging from small offices and mini-branch offices to hotels, campuses and multi-site enterprises.

Progent can provide the expertise of seasoned Wi-Fi consultants who can assist you to assess the value of UniFi technology for your business and help you design, install, manage, and troubleshoot your UniFi deployment. Progent can also conduct a WiFi site survey to help you select, configure, and place UniFi APs for optimal coverage and performance.

Progent's certified network security and compliance experts can help you configure UniFi's advanced security features to implement a hardened WiFi solution. In addition, you can outsource the monitoring, management and backup/recovery of your UniFi ecosystem to Progent, using either a locally installed UniFi Controller or a remote UniFi Controller system hosted by Progent.

Components of Ubiquiti Wave 2 Wi-Fi Networks
Key components of the UniFi family of wireless networking products from Ubiquiti include an extensive line of Wave 2 Wi-Fi access points, high-performance managed switches, and security gateways for routing and firewall services. All these components can be centrally managed by Ubiquiti's free UniFi Controller software. Your network can include non-UniFi devices like switches, routers and firewalls, but UniFi Controller software only manages UniFi devices. Ubiquiti also offers a free Mobile App for Apple iOS and Android smartphones and tablets, allowing you to configure UniFi devices for initial setup without requiring you to install the UniFi Controller software.

The variety of WiFi products available within the UniFi family makes it possible to design optimal solutions for a broad range of wireless venues. Value-priced UniFi Wi-Fi appliances offer the local and remote connectivity needed for home offices or micro-branches. High-bandwidth or mesh APs deliver the bandwidth required for high-density environments like enterprise headquarters or auditoriums. APs with high-power omni-directional or uni-directional antennas provide sufficient signal strength to penetrate hotel and dormitory walls. Ruggedized UniFi APs can withstand the harsh conditions of sites like dusty warehouses, open stadiums, or outdoor work sites.

All these products can be configured, administered, tuned, secured, updated and debugged seamlessly across multiple sites via a centralized management system. Progent can help you analyze your various Wi-Fi environments to determine which UniFi devices make the best business sense and Progent can help you plan the most cost-effective way to deploy and manage them.

Ubiquiti's UniFi Series of WiFi Access Points
Ubiquiti's UniFi series of WiFi access points includes several product families intended for different usage scenarios, topologies and budgets. UniFi offers indoor and outdoor APs and the series includes desktop, wall-mountable and ceiling-mountable devices. Most UniFi APs are connected via wired Ethernet but Ubiquiti also offers multi-hop mesh APs that connect to the WLAN via Wi-Fi and require no Ethernet cabling. Newer UniFi APs are Wave 2 802.11ac devices, use Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) technology to run in simultaneous dual-band mode, can be managed with any standard web browser via UniFi Controller software running either onsite or offsite, and can be initially deployed with an iOS or Android smartphone or tablet using the UniFi Mobile App. The latest generation Unify access points support multi-user MIMO (MU-MIMO) to handle higher density environments.

Ubiquiti's UAP-AC Line of WiFi Access Points
Ubiquiti's current generation of UniFi AC Access Points, known as UAP-AC products, are dual-radio, wall-mountable Wi-Fi access points that connect via an Ethernet port and feature MIMO and 802.3af PoE to support third-party enterprise switches. The highly compact UAP-AC-Lite is an entry-level and value-priced 2x2 MIMO access point with a 10/100/1000 Ethernet port. The AP supports a 2.4 GHz radio data rate of 300 Mbps, and a 5 GHz radio rate of 867 Mbps. A low-profile in-wall version, the UAP-AC-IW, plugs directly into an Ethernet wall connection and does not include additional Ethernet ports. The UAP-AC-LR includes a long-range symmetrical-link antenna for connecting to distant clients, providing enhanced reception for smartphones. The UAP-AC-LR features 3x3 MIMO in the 2.4 GHz band and 2x2 MIMO in the 5 GHz band. The 2.4 GHz radio supports up to 450 Mbps throughput, and the 5 GHz radio supports 867 Mbps.

The UAP-AC-PRO is resistant to indirect weather and can be installed indoors or in a covered outdoor environment. The UAP-AC-PRO includes two 10/100/1000 Ethernet ports and features 3x3 MIMO in both the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands, delivering 450 Mbps for the 2.4 GHz radio and 1,300 Mbps for the 5GHz radio. The UAP-AC-PRO supports up to 200 users. A low-profile in-wall version, the UAP-AC-IW-PRO, plugs directly into an Ethernet wall connection and does not include additional Ethernet ports. The UAP-AC-EDU is designed for schools and is identical in performance to the UAP-AC-PRO but is larger, has only a single 10/100/1000 Ethernet port, is limited to indoor use, and includes a loudspeaker to support a WiFi-based public address system.

The ultra-compact and high-density UAP-nanoHD indoor access point features 4x4 MU-MIMO, delivers 300 Mbps for the 2.4 GHz radio and 1,733 Mbps for the 5GHz radio, supports 200 concurrent users, and has a single 10/100/1000 Ethernet port. The UAP-nanoHD is available in a selection of skins to fit in with various decors. The UAP-HD is designed for high-density indoor or outdoor environments. This large-footprint access point features 4x4 MU-MIMO, delivers 800 Mbps for the 2.4 GHz radio and 1,733 Mbps for the 5GHz radio, and can support more than 500 clients. The UAP-HD has two 10/100/1000 Ethernet ports.

The UAP-AC-M and UAP-AC-M-PRO are mesh access points designed for large outdoor areas, like a park, with little if any network infrastructure, or for quick set up/tear down scenarios like a music festival or street fair. Both of these mesh access points can support more than 250 concurrent clients. The UAP-AC-M features 2x2 MIMO and has versatile mounting and antenna options for indoor or outdoor use. The access point delivers 300 Mbps for the 2.4 GHz radio and 867 Mbps for the 5GHz radio. The high-performance, weather-resistant UAP-AC-M-PRO is for outdoor use, delivers 450 Mbps for the 2.4 GHz radio and 1,300 Mbps for the 5GHz radio, and includes a secondary 10/100/1000 Ethernet port.

Ubiquiti's UniFi XG AP WiFi Access Points
The UniFi XG AP is a quad-radio 802.11ac Wave 2 WiFi access point designed for very high-density venues like a large auditorium or a concert hall. The UniFi XG AP features a 4x4 MIMO 2.4 GHz client radio that supports 800 Mbps throughput plus two 4x4 MIMO 5 GHz radios that deliver 1.733 Gbps performance. The access point can support 1,500 concurrent clients. A dedicated security radio continually scans for threats such as malicious frames and rogue access points. The Spectral Security Radio also scans for the best channel for network performance. The UniFi XG AP includes a 10/100/1000 Ethernet backhaul port and a 1/10 Gbps Ethernet port for bridging, can be powered by an 802.3bt PoE compliant switch, and has a Bluetooth radio.

UniFi Managed Switches
Ubiquiti's UniFi line of managed switches range from 8-port desktop/wall-mount devices with 8 Gbps throughput to 48-port rackmount appliances that support line rates of 70 Gbps. UniFi 10G SFP+ fiber aggregation switches can deliver non-blocking throughput as high as 160 Gbps. UniFi switches have the forwarding capacity to process traffic concurrently on all ports at line rate without packet loss. UniFi switches can supply PoE power to Wi-Fi access points and other network devices, and can be centrally managed by the same UniFi Controller software as UniFi access points and security gateways.

The bare bones UniFi US-8 is a PoE powered managed switch with eight Gigabit Ethernet ports that include a PoE In port and a PoE Passthrough port. The value-priced UniFi US-8-60W managed switch includes eight Gigabit Ethernet ports and supports up to 8 Gbps non-blocking line rate. Four ports offer 802.3af PoE with a maximum of over 15W output per PoE port. The US-8-150W includes eight 10/100/1000 RJ45 Ethernet Ports, each offering 802.3af/at PoE+ or 24V passive PoE, plus two 1 Gbps SFP Ethernet ports for optical connectivity. Maximum non-blocking throughput is 10 Gbps. All of these UniFi 8-port switches can be used on a desktop (but not stacked) or mounted on a wall or standard rack. All operate quietly, without a fan.

The UniFi US-16-150W managed switch includes 16 RJ45 10/100/1000 Ethernet ports with support for PoE and two hot-swappable 1 Gbps SFP Ethernet ports. Non-blocking throughput is 18 Gbps and switching capacity is 36 Gbps. The UniFi US-16-150W can be placed on a desktop, mounted in a rack, or mounted on a wall. The UniFi US-24-250W and US-24-500W managed switches each include 24 RJ45 10/100/1000 Ethernet ports with PoE and two hot-swappable 1 Gbps SFP Ethernet ports. Both of these 1U-high rackmount switches are capable of delivering non-blocking throughput of 26 Gbps. Switching capacity for both is 52 Gbps.

The UniFi US-48-500W and US-48-250W managed switches each include 48 RJ45 10/100/1000 Ethernet ports with PoE, two hot-swappable 1 Gbps SFP Ethernet ports, and two hot-swappable 1/10 Gbps SFP+ ports. Both 1U-high rackmount switches can deliver non-blocking throughput of 70 Gbps and have switching capacity of 140 Gbps.

The US-16-XG10G is a 16-port aggregation switch with 12 SFP+ 10 Gbps fiber Ethernet ports and four 1/10 Gbps RJ45 Ethernet ports that provide high-speed connectivity for multiple switches in your network. The US‑16‑XG can deliver non-blocking throughput as high as 160 Gbps. Switching capacity is 320 Gbps.

UniFi Security Gateways
Ubiquiti's UniFi family of security gateways provide sophisticated routing, advanced firewall policies, site-to-site VPN tunneling, VLAN support, and QoS for VoIP and IP Video traffic. You can manage UniFi Security Gateways with the same UniFi Controller software used to manage UniFi WiFi access points and managed switches, allowing you to detect, provision, administer, tune, and update all these appliances from a single pane of class using an intuitive, web-accessible dashboard. UniFi Gateways available from Ubiquiti can handle any environment and fit any budget. Gateways range from a wall-mount device with 3 Gbps throughput capable of supporting 200 clients up to a rack-mountable unit with 80 Gbps throughput able to support up to 20,000 clients.

The UniFi USG security gateway comes in a compact form factor for wall mounting, works without a fan for quiet operation, and is equipped with a dual-core 500 MHz processor. The USG gateway includes three 10/100/1000 Ethernet ports, 512 MB of fast DDR2 RAM, and 2 GB of non-volatile solid-state storage. Layer 3 forwarding performance for large packets is 3 Gbps and client capacity is 200. The UniFi USG-PRO-4 is a 1U rackmount security gateway featuring a Dual-Core 1 GHz CPU with hardware acceleration for packet processing. The device has 2 GB DDR3 RAM and 4 GB of onboard flash storage. Networking interfaces include two 10/100/1000 RJ45 Ethernet ports and two 1 Gbps RJ45/SFP combination WAN ports. The device can support up to 2,000 clients and delivers 4 Gbps performance.

The high-end UniFi XG is a 1U rackmount security gateway with a 16 cores, each running at 1.8 GHz. For memory and storage, the UniFi XG has 16 GB of DDR4 RAM, 8 MB of onboard NOR Flash, and 4 GB of onboard eMMC NAND Flash. Networking interfaces include eight 10 Gbps SFP+ ports and one Gigabit RJ45 Ethernet port. The UniFi XG features a hot-swappable power supply, and an optional AC/DC PSU module can be installed in the PSU 2 Module Bay. The UniFi XG also includes a built-In color touchscreen display. The gateway offers up to 80 Gbps line rate, 50 Gbps routing capability with Deep Packet Inspection (DPI), real-time Intrusion Protection capability at over 1 Gbps throughput, and can support up to 20,000 clients.

UniFi Controller Management Software
UniFi wireless access points, switches, and security gateways from Ubiquiti can all be centrally managed across multiple sites via Ubiquiti's free UniFi Controller software. You can install UniFi Controller software on a local or remote PC, Mac, or Linux computer or host the software in a private or public cloud. You can access the management tools from any standard web browser or you can download the UniFi Mobile App and manage your UniFi devices from your iOS or Android smartphone or tablet. If you have a multi-vendor network with Ubiquiti UniFi WiFi access points but third-party switches and firewalls, you can still use the UniFi Controller to centralize the management of your UniFi APs.

UniFi Wi-Fi Access Point Management
The UniFi Controller platform has a rich feature set for streamlining the management of Wi-Fi networks of any size. The software makes it easy to provision thousands of UniFi access points, manage network traffic, analyze client behavior patterns, and troubleshoot problems.

Highlight features of the UniFi Controller for WiFi access point management include:

• An intuitive dashboard that helps you visualize critical information about each segment of your network
• In-depth analytics and customizable reporting to help you understand network traffic so you can identify and resolve bottlenecks
• RF maps to help you model and analyze your various RF environments so you can select, place, configure and debug your WiFi access points for optimal coverage and performance
• Built-in guest portal and hotspot support with features like integrated billing using major credit cards, voucher-based authentication, custom branding, rate and usage limits, and support for your own external portal servers
• Centralized management for multi-site, distributed, and multi-tenancy deployments with separate configuration, RF maps, stats, hotspots, and admin privileges for each site
• For large WiFi environments, you can define any number of wireless LAN groups and assign each group to specific access point radios

UniFi Switch Management
The UniFi Controller allows you to configure and upgrade any UniFi managed switch and monitor the status of all UniFi switches. Configuration options supported by the UniFi Controller for UniFi managed switches include:

• Copy a selected configuration to multiple switches
• Set PoE mode per port (auto sensing, 24V passive PoE, disable)
• Set operation mode per port (switching, mirroring, or aggregate)
• Mark a port as isolated
• Specify the VLAN ID used for the management IP address of the switch
• Enable jumbo frame
• Enable 802.3x Ethernet Flow Control on all ports
• Set network for DHCP or static IP
• Specify storm control per port for excessive unicast, multicast, and/or broadcast traffic
• Configure spanning tree to prevent switching loops and allow redundant switch interconnections
• Enable 802.1x control to use a RADIUS server for user authentication on the switch's port

• Connection speed and duplex mode
• TX/RX data rates
• PoE status
• Network/VLAN setting

• Adopt or remove a Security Gateway for management by the UniFi Controller
• Restart a gateway
• Upgrade a gateway with the latest firmware from Ubiquiti or from any specified site with custom firmware
• Display details of a Security Gateway including device name or MAC address, model, firmware version, Uptime, and the temperature of critical gateway components
• Locate a Security Gateway on a network topology map
• Display the volume and speed of uploads and downloads
• Run latency and throughput tests and track historic results
• Enable Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) to track which applications and IP addresses are using the most bandwidth
• Display processor and memory utilization
• Configure the alias, WAN settings, port forwarding, Dynamic DNS, and custom upgrade entries
• Set up load balancing, failover, and HTB rate limiting
• Configure the Security Gateway as a remote access VPN server to connect mobile VPN clients
• Add DHCP servers and configure DHCP relay settings
• Use a VLAN ID

How Progent Can Help You with Ubiquiti UniFi WiFi APs and Wireless LAN Technology
Progent's wireless networking consultants can provide remote and on-premises expertise to assist organizations of all sizes to plan, configure, manage, tune or troubleshoot Wi-Fi networks that incorporate Ubiquiti UniFi access points. Progent's experts can provide as-needed help to guide you through challenging technical problems or Progent can provide comprehensive project management or co-management services to ensure that vital Wi-Fi initiatives are completed on time and within budget. Progent can help you integrate Ubiquiti UniFi WiFi APs with other UniFi wireless infrastructure devices or with third-party network appliances. Progent's also offers wireless site surveys to help you with the optimal selection, placement and configuration of UniFi wireless access points to provide the coverage, throughput and capacity required to handle all your wireless venues.

Progent's certified information security and compliance experts can help you implement policies that are consistent across your wired and wireless clients and that meet industry standards and government regulations. Progent's disaster recovery consultants can help you design fault-tolerant and rapidly recoverable Wi-Fi environments that utilize the high-availability features built into Ubiquiti UniFi access points and other wireless infrastructure products.

To learn more about Progent's wireless consulting services, see Progent's Wireless Network Consulting and Troubleshooting Support.

Contact Progent for Consulting Support for Ubiquiti UniFi WiFi Solutions
To get in touch with Progent about planning, deploying, managing or troubleshooting Ubiquiti UniFi environments, phone 1-800-993-9400 or visit Contact Progent.