End of Sale – AP 100X Outdoor Access Point

The APX 320X has been available since September 2020, yet the AP 100X could still be purchased for some time. Sophos has now announced the End of Sale date due to “supply shortages”. From our point of view, this is a somewhat unusual reason to discontinue a seven-year-old Access Point. In this article, we take a closer look at Sophos’ explanation and find out whether the APX 320X is truly convincing as a successor.

AP 100X – Sophos’ first outdoor Access Point

The AP 100X was introduced in August 2014 as Sophos’ first outdoor Access Point and is still compatible with UTM OS, SFOS and Central today. At the same time, it is the last survivor of the AP series. The indoor Access Points were removed from the portfolio on 31 March 2020 and are no longer available, as described in this article: End of Sale – AP series.

The reason why the AP 100X did not reach End of Sale together with the indoor Access Points was that there was no successor at that time. It was only in September 2020 that the APX 320X was launched as the new outdoor Access Point. However, the AP 100X remained on offer – for good reason, as we will explain later in this article.

For the moment, here are the key dates that define the future of the AP 100X:

• End of Sale: 1 August 2021 (while stocks last)
• Final Renewal (Sophos Central): 31 March 2022
• End of Support: 30 September 2022
• End of Life: 31 March 2023
• Successor product: APX 320X

Odd End of Sale reasoning

Sophos provides the following statement regarding the discontinuation of the AP 100X:

“Our outdoor access point AP 100X, which has been available for several years, is now affected by current supply shortages – reliable availability of individual components that meet our requirements can no longer be guaranteed. We are therefore forced to announce the End-of-Sale for the AP 100X and will only sell the model while stocks last. We are trying our best to supply as many additional access points as possible. However, the available access points may already be sold out in some regions as early as August.”

The reasoning that the AP 100X is being discontinued due to “supply shortages” sounds somewhat ironic. Without these shortages, would a seven-year-old Access Point from 2014 really still be produced? A closer look at the data for the APX 320X shows that there has indeed been a key reason to keep selling the AP 100X until now.

The major drawback of the APX 320X

At first glance, the APX 320X offers several advantages over the AP 100X:

• 40% lower price
• 802.11ac Wave 2
• Wide range of accessories

On closer inspection, however, there is a major drawback that raises some questions about Sophos’ Access Point strategy. The APX 320X is still only compatible with Central and cannot be used with the SFOS or UTM operating systems.

Anyone assuming that Sophos will soon add support for the APX 320X in SFOS or on the UTM via a software update is mistaken. In the End of Sale announcement for the AP 100X, Sophos writes:

“All plans to add support for the APX 320X in Sophos Firewall or Sophos UTM (SG) are currently suspended.”

Conclusion

With the firewall, Sophos has a product that clearly forms the heart of any network. With the switches that will be introduced at the end of the year, the portfolio in the network segment will be further expanded. Switches are an absolutely logical step.

However, if one looks at today’s networks, more and more devices are connected via Wi-Fi. In this area, Sophos is, in our view, clearly lagging behind, and it sometimes feels as if wireless were only a side project. Here are some reasons for this impression:

• The APX 320X has not received support for SFOS or UTM for more than six months. It must, however, be said that the APX 320X outdoor Access Point is not sold very frequently.
• Since the end of 2019, new notebooks and smartphones have supported Wi-Fi 6. Other vendors already offer Wi-Fi 6 Access Points.
• For months, there have been no new wireless features for Central Wireless or Sophos Firewall.

One thing is clear: many of our customers love the simplicity and integration of the Sophos wireless solution. The APX indoor Access Points are a perfect fit for Sophos Firewall and can also be managed easily behind the RED. Nevertheless, there are quite a few customers who, in view of the XGS Firewall, would have to replace all Access Points in the AP series. The new XGS firewalls only support APX Access Points. Unfortunately, Sophos Central is no longer an option for managing the AP series either, as the licenses are EoS. Running an additional firewall just for WLAN management is hardly a practical solution.

We are very curious to see how Sophos will approach the wireless topic in future and will, as always, keep you updated.