EnGenius is moving beyond the high-power wireless routers, APs and bridges that have been its bread and butter. Along with new wireless routers, the company unveiled powerline products and media bridges and talked about upcoming cloud services, IP cameras and managed and unmanaged switches.
Wireless
EnGenius’ flagship consumer products are the new Wireless AC Cloud Home Entertainment Pods that are slated to start shipping this quarter. Three models come in AC1750, AC1200 and AC750 flavors. The latter combination of 2.4 and 5 GHz radios is the first we’ve seen, hence the updated handy-dandy draft 802.11ac router type decoder table below.
| Designation | 2.4 GHz N Radio Maximum Link Rate (Mbps) |
5 GHz AC Radio Maximum Link Rate (Mbps) |
|---|---|---|
| AC1750 | 450 | 1300 |
| AC1600 | 300 | 1300 |
| AC1300 | 450 | 866/867 |
| AC1200 | 300 | 866/867 |
| AC750 | 300 | 433 |
| AC580 | 150 | 433 |
Table 1: Draft 802.11ac router type decoder
The new "pod" routers have "Quantum-Beam" antenna arrays, Gigabit WAN (1) and LAN (4) ports and one USB 2.0 port for storage and printer sharing. The new family of Wireless AC Home Entertainment Pods includes:
- ESR1750C 450 + 1299 Mbps AC Cloud Pod (Dual-Band Router with Gigabit and USB Ports) – $199.99 MSRP
- ESR1200C 300 + 866 Mbps AC Cloud Pod (Dual-Band Router with Gigabit and USB Ports) – $169.99 MSRP
- ESR750C 300 + 433 Mbps AC Cloud Pod (Dual-Band Router with Gigabit and USB Ports) – $119.99 MSRP
EnGenius AC Cloud Pod Router
To mate with the new Pod routers is the ERB1300 Wireless AC Media Pod supporting maximum link rates of 300 Mbps in 2.4 GHz and 1300 Mbps in 5 GHz. The Media Pod can operate as either a media bridge or WDS-enabled access point and includes a built-in four-port Gigabit switch. It will list for $179.99 when it starts shipping this quarter.
To upgrade USB-equipped gear to draft 11ac, EnGenius is offering 1X1 and 2X2 USB adapters in the form of the EUB1200AC and EUB600AC. The quick details are:
- EUB1200AC Dual-Band 300/866 Mbps AC Wireless USB Adapter (Available late Q1 2013) – $89.99 MSRP
- EUB600AC Dual-Band 150/433 Mbps AC Wireless USB Adapter (Available late Q1 2013) – $69.99 MSRP
If draft ac isn’t on your radar screen yet or you want to spend less, EnGenius announced that its Xtra Range Wireless-N Work & Play Routers will be available in "late Q1". These will come in EnGenius’ familiar biz-class indoor AP format and all have Gigabit Ethernet WAN and LAN ports and at least one USB port for storage sharing.
This group includes:
- ESR900 450 + 450 Mbps Dual-Band Router with Gigabit and USB ports – $119.99 MSRP
- ESR600 300 + 300 Mbps Dual-Band Router with Gigabit and USB ports – $99.99 MSRP
- ESR350 300 Mbps Wireless-N Router with Gigabit and USB ports – $59.99 MSRP
Powerline
To broaden its networking portfolio, EnGenius is launching a family of HomePlug AV 500 powerline adapters and kits that will be out sometime in Q1.
EnGenius EPK3005 Powerline 500G Home Entertainment Wireless N300 Bridge Kit
The individual devices are:
- EPL500 Powerline 500 Adapter with one 10/100 Ethernet port
- EPL550G Powerline 500 Adapter with Gigabit
- EPA3520 Powerline Wireless N300 AP with a Wireless-N access point and one 10/100 Ethernet port
- ETA3005 Powerline 500 5-Port Wireless N300 Media Bridge with 300 Mbps Wireless-N access point (2.4GHz) and a five-port Gigabit Ethernet switch.
The powerline adapters will be sold in the following kits:
- EPK500 Powerline 500 Kit – Includes two EPL500 Powerline 500 Adapters (MSRP: $79.99)
- EPK550G Powerline 500 Kit with Gigabit – Includes two EPL550G Powerline 500 Adapters with Gigabit (MSRP: $89.99)
- EPK3520 Powerline 500 Wireless N300 Access Point Kit – Includes one EPL500 Powerline 500 Adapter and one EPA3520 Powerline Wireless N300 AP (MSRP: $109.99)
- EPK3005 Powerline 500G Home Entertainment Wireless N300 Bridge Kit – Includes EPL550G Powerline 500 Adapter and one ETA3005 Powerline 500 5-Port Wireless N300 Media Bridge (MSRP:$139.99)
New Lines
To compete against companies with much broader product porfolios, EnGenius is launching new product lines and services. Its Cloud Services for Business will offer remote management and monitoring for its business class wireless indoor and outdoor access points but also for a new line of managed switch products (below).
Cloud Services for Home will enable consumers to remotely monitor and manage devices in their home networks via web browser of mobile apps. Planned features include remote monitoring websites visited and real-time blocking of home network intruders. Users will also be able to remotely access media files stored on USB drives connected to EnGenius’ Home Entertainment or Media Pods.
Both services are planned to be launched this quarter.
To further round out its offerings, the company is working on a line of IP Surveillance Cameras to be launched in Q2 and families of managed and unmanaged switches that will start shipping Q1.