Interop: Aruba Unveils Lifetime Warranty On APs

Aruba Networks this week began offering a lifetime warranty for all new shipments of some of the most widely used indoor access points in its arsenal.

At Interop Las Vegas 2009, the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based wireless vendor said the lifetime warranty will cover all new shipments on or after May 21 of the AP-120, AP-70, AP-60 and RAP-5 families of indoor Wi-Fi access points.

According to Mike Tennefoss, Aruba's head of strategic marketing, the company had been examining a lifetime warranty for a while. Until now, those families of access points, which range from 802.11 a/b/g to 802.11n, were covered by a one-year warranty.

Tennefoss added that the lifetime warranty illustrates that Aruba is confident in its access points while also giving customers peace of mind as they face tight operating budgets.

Warranty coverage remains in place for as long as the product is properly managed by the original owner, Tennefoss said, and for up to five years from an end-of-sale announcement.

For the channel, the warranty is a key differentiator that will help partners address objections and competitive issues, said Julia McConaughy, Aruba's director of channel marketing and development.

On the competitive side, Hewlett-Packard's ProCurve Networking by HP offers a lifetime warranty on its wireless gear, which the company brought aboard with the acquisition of Colubris last year.

The warranty will also give channel partners a new sales tool to engage new customers and clients.

"It's really a matter of making Aruba easier to sell, especially to new clients," McConaughy said.

Covered under the new warranty are the AP-120 Series, a single and dual-radio 802.11n (or 802.11 a/b/g upgradeable over-the-network to Draft 2.0 802.11n) indoor access points that offer 3x3 MIMO operation from a single 802.3af PoE link; the AP-70, a dual-radio 802.11 a/b/g indoor access point with integrated flat-panel antennas, external antenna connectors and a USB port; the AP-60 Series of single and dual-radio 802.11 a/b/g access points with compact packaging and either low-profile internal or external antennas; and the RAP-5 Series, which is part of Aruba's Virtual Branch Office solution and includes five high-speed Ethernet ports, a USB port for a broadband 3G cellular modem, hardware acceleration encryption and an optional 802.11n Wi-Fi radio with integrated antennas.

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