The WatchGuard AP420 is an 802.11ac Wave 2 access point with a tight wireless security. It has a ton of management options. It can be managed as a standalone AP, remotely via WatchGuard’s FireBox firewalls or in the cloud with the Wi-Fi Cloud service.
This is a Wave 2 dual-band AP that has not two, but three radios. Along with the 2.4GHz and 5GHz variety, the AP420 has a WIPS radio. It’s designed to detect unauthorized APs and quarantine them.
The AP420 only ‘plays’ with APs that are physically wired into the same network. If someone tries to sneak their own AP onto the network, the AP420 will find it. Then it will alert you to its presence. And if intrusion prevention is on, it will disable it.
A little about licensing
Choose the management method when you purchase the WatchGuard AP420. It’ll have the Basic Wi-Fi license enabling Firebox management. WIPS is enabled with cloud management and a Secure Wi-Fi license gives you this plus the Go mobile web app and network monitoring tools. The Total Wi-Fi subscription adds location-based usage analysis and the Engage app for gathering guest user demographics.
After initial setup (which is easy), the ‘Manage’ portal presents a graphical overview of wireless networks, clients, rogue APs and client traffic. APs can be placed in different locations and details are easily customized. You can add and customize additional dashboards, each with their own widgets.
Levels of control in the WatchGuard AP420 are remarkable. You can have captive portals, walled gardens, traffic shaping and quality of service for voice and video traffic. Plus, you have rules-based traffic and application firewalls. Black and white MAC address lists can be applied, as can an authorization page for onboarding BYOD devices.
The Discover portal provides a wealth of information about clients, login times and issues. The application visibility setting in your SSID profiles allows the AP325 to display traffic details on over 1,400 apps to the Discover dashboard in live graphs.
The Engage portal eliminates the need for a separate user demographics analysis solution. It works with authentication plug-ins for social media apps including Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. It then gathers information on guest users so you can create targeted marketing campaigns.
Overview
The AP420 is the fastest indoor access point from WatchGuard. It’ll give you blazing fast wireless speeds with its 4×4 802.11ac Wave 2 chipset. Multi-user MIMO technology allows many smartphones, laptops and tablets to run at the same time. So no more waiting to connect to Wi-Fi. And, with a third 2×2 MIMO radio for dedicated WIPS, you don’t have to sacrifice performance for security. The WatchGuard AP420 is great for tradeshow floors, auditoriums, meeting rooms, and shopping malls. We’d love to tell you more about the WatchGuard AP420. So, why not give us a call at 877-449-0458, or reach out at [email protected]? Thanks for reading!
WatchGuard AP420 highlights
| Max data rate (5 / 2.4 GHz) 1.7 Gbps / 800 Mbps | |
| 4×4:4 MU-MIMO Wave 2 | |
| 3rd WIPS radio for excellent security | |
| Supports PoE+ |