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What Are the Benefits of a Security Gateway?

More and more companies are upgrading theirnetwork security gateways—with amazing results.


What is a Security Gateway?
A security gateway is that crucial first line of defense between the internet and your valuable business network. Its security functions are similar to those of a router, but the gateway processes traffic better and faster. Extend SD-WAN with cloud-delivered security that provides flexible, secure access for a diverse and distributed workforce. Lower operational complexity and TCO with converged networking and security.


How does it work?
As the name implies, the security gateway concerns itself primarily with securing a network. It’s the network sentry inspecting all incoming traffic to filter out malware, malicious content, and material prohibited by company policy. It can handle high-flow rate filtering and packet inspection with incredible efficiency. It allows business owners to personalize a security system just for them.  Cloud-delivered web security services provide comprehensive protection to address threats including ransomware, credential-theft, phishing, spam, and other web-borne attacks.


How is it different from a router?
A router’s primary function is to direct traffic to the proper destination within and between networks. The security gateway’s primary function is to make sure that everything coming into the network belongs there and everything else gets shut out. This means that while its function is simpler than the router, it operates with far greater complexity.


What makes the security gateway so reliable?
Some security gateways have what’s called built-in failover, which means if an ISP goes down, another port connection will kick in. Gateways also balance the traffic load by sending traffic from an overloaded port to one that isn’t.

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Wi-Fi 6 Speed Testing With A Intel 10th Gen Comet Lake Laptop

I recently upgraded to a Intel 10th Generation laptop with Wi-Fi 6 and wanted to do some performance testing. I purchased the Acer Aspire 5 A515-54-59W2 it has a quad core i5-10210U processor with a Intel AX201 chipset that supports 802.11ax via 2×2 MU-MIMO antennas over the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands. Although this chipset supports 160Mhz mode and 2.4Ghz I limited my testing to 80Mhz and 5Ghz only because this is what most businesses will want to use.

I used a EnGenius ECW230 4×4 Wi-Fi 6 Access Point for testing this AP has the latest Qualcomm chipset. I used iperf with a jperf front end with the laptop as server and a gigabit ethernet connected desktop as the client. The laptop was in the same room as the AP and about 5 feet apart.

Here are the results.

I averaged 750Mbps with spikes to 800Mbps. When I connect the same laptop via gigabit ethernet I get close to 950Mbps so a 2×2 Wi-Fi 6 connected Laptop is pretty close to achieving wired speeds. A single laptop with a 4×4 Wi-Fi 6 chipset or even a 2×2 chipset operating at 160Mhz should be easily able to max out gigabit ethernet. Thankfully multi gigabit switches are now available that can hit speeds of 2.5Gbps over standard CAT6 ethernet like the EnGenius ECS2512FP

One thing is for sure Wi-Fi 6 overs a huge speed and range boost over Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac) and the current batch of Wi-Fi 6 Access points deliver the goods. Click here to see all the currently available Wi-Fi 6 Access Points
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EnGenius release Multi-Gig Network Switches to Support Wi-Fi 6 Faster Speeds.

EnGenius has release two new Multi-Gig ethernet switches to support the ever increasing demand of Wi-Fi devices. With many Wi-Fi 6 client devices already being used networks are experiencing much more traffic than even a year ago. By upgrading your network switches to Multi-Gig you can more than double their capacity while using your existing CAT5e or CAT6 cabling. On top of that many of today’s Wi-Fi 6 access points require more power than legacy units to operate at full capacity.

The ECS2512FP supports PoE standard 802.3af/at/bt so they will work with new Wi-Fi 6 Access Points as well as legacy AP’s, Phones, IP Cameras and other devices. The ECS2512FP also has a 240W power budget to support even the most power hungry devices. This switch supports 10/100/1000/2500 Mbps on all copper ports to handle Wi-Fi 6 AP’s with many clients. The ECS2512 is the non PoE version you can use it to upgrade your switch to switch links to 2.5Gbps using existing cables or boost the speeds of workstations and servers without upgrading to expensive fiber. Both of these switches have free cloud management and a 2 year warranty.

The ECS2512FP and ECS2512 are available for purchase now click here for more information.

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Ruckus R750 4×4 Wi-Fi 6 AP Range and Speed Testing with iPhone 11 and Samsung S10

I just got in the Ruckus R750 it is the first Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) AP to be certified by the Wi-Fi alliance. I did speed and distance testing at 3 locations in my home. I put the R750 on a clean 80Mhz 5Ghz channel running off the DC power supply. I ran a iperf server on the phones and a jperf client on a PC connected to the same gigabit ethernet switch as the Access Point. Here are my results.

First I tested the iPhone11 at 5 feet in my QI charging cradle. I averaged 600Mbps with spikes to 650Mbps.

Next I tested the S10 at the same location and had almost the same results 600Mbps average with spikes to 650Mbps.

Next I tested at a location 25 feet from the access point with direct line of sight. Here the iPhone 11 was averaging 400Mbps with spikes to 475Mbps and a low of 250Mbps.

Then I tested the S10 at the same location and saw a average of 425Mbps with spikes to 450Mbps and a low of 375Mbps.

Next I tested at a location 50 feet away with 3 walls in between the AP and IPhone11. Here I saw a average of 120Mbps with spikes to 135Mbps and a low of 20Mbps.

Then I tested the S10 at this location I saw a average of 45Mbps with spikes to 60Mbps and a low of 25Mbps.

Lastly I did one more test the R750 should be capable of full 4×4 operation over standard 802.3at PoE+ so I ran one more test powered this way. I manually selected Power Consumption Mode 802.3at+ PoE for the R750 from the zonedirector restarted the AP and then verified via the CLI. Running in PoE mode I saw about the same numbers as I did running off the DC power supply averaging 625Mbps with spikes to 650Mbps.

In summery the Ruckus R750 is a great mainstream 4×4 Wi-Fi 6 Access Point that can hit high speeds even at distance. The R750 is the first Wi-Fi 6 AP to be certified by Wi-Fi Alliance as Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6 . These would be great for hotels, schools, managed care facilities and the enterprise. The R750 will fit into your current network it can be run off a standard 802.3at PoE+ gigabit switch. It also has a 2.5Gbps ethernet option for high client dense situations where you have deployed multi gig switches like the ICX7150-C10ZP-2X10GR. We have more information on the R750 here.

Please contact me if you have any questions about the Ruckus R750 keenanj@keenansystems.com 860 748 4110

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EnGenius Cloud Managed Wi-Fi System Demo Video

If you are currently using Cloud managed Access Points and are sick of paying the cloud license fees then EnGenius cloud managed Wi-Fi is for you. These are business class Access Points and Switches with great capacity and features. Don’t pay another year of renewals on old hardware that just works ok when you can get the latest Wi-Fi 6 Access Points now.

I made a short video demonstrating some of the features of the EnGenius Cloud managed Wi-Fi system.

For the latest in Wi-Fi 6 check out the ECW230 here this is a 4×4 Wi-Fi 6 AP it can be powered by a 802.3at PoE switch like the ECS1112FP here.  We have does extensive testing and the advantages or Wi-Fi 6 are clear see my blog posts here.  These would be great for hotels, schools, and any high density public venu.

EnGenius did a stress test on the Wi-Fi 6 AP’s and cloud controller at 2020 new years eve party in Taiwan with over 20,000 visitors click here to see the video.

For a great general purpose cloud managed AP see the ECW120 here it can be powered by any 802.3af PoE switch like the cloud managed ECS1008P here.  We have used these in restaurants and hotels with great success.

Click here to see all the EnGenius Cloud managed AP’s and switches.

Please use this form to contact me. You can also email keenanj@keenansystems.com or call me at 860 748 4110

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What does the spectrum analyzer plot of a Wi-Fi 6 connection look like?

I wanted to see what the channel spectrum looks like for a Wi-Fi 6 connection. So I used my Ekahau sidekick spectrum analyzer to look at a connection between a iPhone 11 pro and a Ruckus 8×8 11ax R730 and here is what I saw.

I ran iPerf to fully load the channel you can see the R730 is on channel 149 @ 80Mhz channel width.

There is no indicator on the iPhone 11 to show a Wi-Fi 6 connection like there is on a Samsung Galaxy S10. However if we look at the client list on the Ruckus Zonedirector we see it is connected at 11ax.

Next I captured a video of the iPhone 11 Pro and Samsung Galaxy S10 both running iPerf servers against different wired clients. You can see the OFDMA Resource Units in action

Lastly I ran the same test again with a 20Mhz channel here is that video zoomed in.

For more information on the Ekahau Sidekick click here

For more information on the Ruckus R730 click here

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Exactly How Fast is the Wi-Fi 6 in the iPhone 11?

With the release of the iPhone 11 it will quickly push the installed base of Wi-Fi 6 clients over 180 million by 2020. We know that the iPhone 11 pro and max have a 2×2 MU-MIMO 802.11ax Wi-Fi chipset. So how fast is it exactly?

To figure this out I started with 2 of the best Wi-Fi 6 Access Points currently on the market the EnGenius EWS377AP and the Ruckus R730. I took the iPhone out of it’s case connected to power and held horizontal at about 5 feet from the AP for the fastest speeds. I used a IPerf server on a iPhone 11 pro and a JPerf client on gigabit wired desktop and here are the results.

First I tested with the EnGenius EWS377AP it is a 4×4 MU-MIMO Wi-Fi 6 AP. I averaged 800Mbps with spikes as high as 845Mbps.

Next I tested against the Ruckus R730 it is a 8×8 MU-MIMO Wi-Fi 6 AP. I averaged 750Mbps with spikes over 800Mbps.

So how does this compare to the iPhone 10 with a Wi-Fi 5 chipset? You can see my testing here it averaged around 600Mbps so we are getting a solid 200Mbps gain with the iPhone 11! This is similar to what I saw with the Samsung Galaxy S10.

Short range speed is one advantage of Wi-Fi 6 but another one of the real benefits is increased speed at distance see my testing here.

For more information on the Wi-Fi 6 AP’s I used during this testing go here