Access Points and Switches – UniFi ❤️

We are now making it official, although we have already switched for various reasons months ago. Our technicians only implement new projects with Access Points or Switches from UniFi.

Ecosystem: Integration and Management

With UniFi, management is very flexible. The central administration of UniFi products is done via a user-friendly interface that is accessible both in the browser and via a mobile app. The UniFi controller can be flexibly hosted in the cloud, purchased as a hardware device, or installed on a Linux or Windows computer. This makes the system extremely adaptable and easily scalable, which offers a significant advantage, especially for larger projects with multiple Access Points.

Price-Performance Ratio

In projects, the price-performance ratio plays a decisive role. Customers are looking for products that are technologically up-to-date – currently Wi-Fi 7 – and at the same time offer a good price-performance ratio. We believe both requirements are met in the UniFi portfolio.

In addition, the portfolio is beautifully clear.

On December 3, 2024, UniFi expanded its portfolio with powerful Enterprise Access Points. These new models support the Wi-Fi 7 standard, offering higher speeds and improved efficiency for enterprise networks.

The Enterprise 7 offers 10-stream Wi-Fi 7 performance with a 10 GbE uplink and a redundant GbE port for high availability.

The Enterprise 7 Campus is characterized by its robust IP67-certified construction and PRISM™ technology for active RF filtering, which reduces adjacent interference by a factor of 1,000.

The Enterprise 7 Audience features 12 spatial streams and an integrated antenna array with adjustable beam widths, ideal for high-density environments such as events and stadiums.

We appreciate that we can find a product for all requirements from one manufacturer. More about the new Enterprise Access Points in this video.

Development and Features

UniFi regularly releases updates and enhancements for its products – and that without additional license costs. This shows that Access Points and Switches are not a byproduct at Ubiquiti, but a central part of their offering.

OEM - Access Points

OEM products (Original Equipment Manufacturer) are hardware produced by one manufacturer and resold by another company under its own brand name or integrated into its own products.

Unfortunately, this approach has a disadvantage that you can never provide the latest technology here, because creating the software and integrating it into the ecosystem takes a lot of time.

This delay has led many of our customers to no longer want to wait and choose other solutions. With UniFi, we know that we are relying on a manufacturer who is at the pulse of time with its products and can deliver technologically current products.

End-of-Life Strategy

UniFi shows a very customer-friendly strategy. Even older Access Points and Switches that were sold seven or eight years ago continue to receive updates and can be used. This means that customers are not forced to constantly invest in new hardware as long as the existing infrastructure fulfills its purpose.

UniFi Switches

Another important area that we would like to highlight are the switches. Especially for scenarios where comprehensive management of the entire network is necessary, core switches are of crucial importance.

UniFi offers a broad product portfolio, including powerful core and aggregation switches that can also be used in larger environments. The top models are the Enterprise Switches:

UniFi - Etherlighting

UniFi offers innovative solutions for network management, such as the Etherlighting feature, which simplifies the management of a network rack.

With Etherlighting, you can search for a device in the UniFi app or via the web interface, for example, the lobby phone, and the corresponding LED on the switch lights up. This allows you to immediately identify the associated cable. All cameras can also be easily identified in this way, or devices in a VLAN can be displayed.

Etherlighting also allows you to assign colors to device types, link states, VLANs or PoE ports. This makes it easier to get an overview of the network.

UniFi - Augmented Reality

The AR function (Augmented Reality) of UniFi shows details via QR code in an AR view on your smartphone. This allows you to visually capture the network status and port assignment in the room. This makes management simple and intuitive.

UniFi revolutionizes network management through innovative and visual solutions that make complex structures easy to understand.

But see for yourself:

Experience and Projects

We have many years of experience with UniFi products, which have been successfully in use with some of our customers for over eight years. Our experience has shown that UniFi is the best choice when it comes to price, functionality, stability, flexibility, and performance. We have carried out installations ranging from simple setups with one switch and one access point to larger customer data centers where UniFi switches are used.

Our latest project includes over 350 Access Points and 90 Switches, all operated with UniFi, controlled by a cloud controller hosted in Azure – and the infrastructure runs absolutely smoothly.

Support

UniFi was often perceived as a product for home use in the past. Over ten years ago, I personally shared this opinion. But the product has developed incredibly during this time and now offers solutions for enterprise requirements. There are now enterprise products for very high demands, including 100 Gigabit switches and access points with 2x 10 Gigabit interfaces – i.e., high-end devices that can meet all requirements.

Another prejudice that still exists in many minds is that UniFi does not offer support. For a long time, it was actually the case that in case of problems, you mainly had to help yourself via forums or the community. But since this year, i.e., 2024, UniFi offers comprehensive 7x24 support specifically for businesses. This means that the lack of manufacturer support is no longer a reason not to use UniFi. This support ensures reliable assistance even in critical situations. Further information can be found here: https://ui.com/site-support

UniFi is our future

As mentioned in the introduction, UniFi Access Points and Switches are our first choice for new products. The combination of an excellent price-performance ratio, a mature management platform, a reliable End-of-Life policy, and the continuous development of the products has convinced us. UniFi offers our customers a more stable and economically sensible solution.

Our experience shows that our UniFi projects run smoothly and continuously, and customers are satisfied with them – both in terms of performance and device management.

Firewall

UniFi also offers firewalls, and of course, we have looked at them more closely.

For professional business use, we do not currently consider UniFi Firewalls to be sufficient. If you want to know more about this, there is a video that shows the current functions and application possibilities of UniFi Firewalls:

Conclusion

UniFi products have proven to be stable and technologically advanced in all these scenarios. UniFi’s portfolio is diverse and offers the right solution for every need, whether for small budgets or demanding enterprise environments. The combination of modern technology, scalable management, and reliable support has convinced us that UniFi is the better choice in all cases.

Do we get money from UniFi for this post? No. We sell UniFi products and earn from them when we use them in projects where we take care of the network and supply the necessary hardware. However, we do not yet sell UniFi products in the shop. Who knows what the future holds? 😊 For stable, scalable and economically sensible WLAN solutions, we currently see UniFi as the better choice.

FAQ