Apple introduces redesigned AirPort Extreme and Time Capsule with 802.11ac support

At its annual developers event, WWDC, in addition to all the iOS and Mac related announcements, Apple also introduced redesigned AirPort Extreme and AirPort Time Capsule base stations.

AirPort Extreme, company's pro-grade networking router, and Time Capsule, a router that includes a hard disk for backup,  feature three-stream 802.11ac Wi-Fi technology offering a maximum data transfer rate of 1.3Gbps, almost three times faster than the existing 802.11n standard. According to Apple, the new AirPort base stations include high-powered radios and a six-element beam-forming antenna array to maximise range and performance.

Apple says that it's taken a top-down approach to design with the new networking hardware, making the devices taller and putting the antennas at the top to offer better signal delivery. The devices are much more compact, measuring 6.6 inches in height and 3.85 inches in width as well as depth. The new AirPort Extreme has a 64 percent smaller footprint compared to the previous model, while the new AirPort Time Capsule has a 74 percent smaller footprint compared to its predecessor.

These devices feature six antennas - three for the 2.4GHz band and three for the 5GHz band, and are capable of broadcasting simultaneously on both frequencies. They also have a built-in power supply, a USB 2 port for connecting external devices such as hard drives, three Gigabit Ethernet LAN ports for wired connectivity and a Gigabit Ethernet WAN Port.  

Users can create and manage a high-speed Wi-Fi network easily with the AirPort Utility that's included with OS X. It's also possible to set it up through iOS devices through the AirPort Utility app.

The upgraded AirPort Time Capsules feature 2TB or 3TB hard drives, and work with the Time Machine utility in OS X for backing up multiple Macs.

It's worth pointing out that Apple also announced new MacBook Air variants that also support the 802.11ac standard,during the same event. So, Apple's new hardware will be able to benefit from the upgraded network equipment.

The 802.11ac standard also known as Gigabit Wi-Fi was developed between 2011 to 2013 and delivers a bandwidth of at least 1 gigabit per second. Improvisations over the standard using multiple streams allows networking hardware to deliver more than 1Gbps bandwidth. So file transfers, backups and video streaming is much faster on the standard. It also offers better range than existing standards.

Routers from companies like Linksys, Netgear and D-Link, among others already offer support for 802.11ac standard. Asus had unveiled the world's first notebook with 802.11ac support built-in, the Asus G75VW, last year. At this time, the HTC One and the Samsung Galaxy S4 are the only mobile phones to support the standard.

AirPort Extreme is now available for Rs.14,200, while the AirPort Time Capsule's 2TB storage variant costs for Rs. 19,900 and the 3TB storage variant costs Rs. 25,900.


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