HPE Juniper Networking AP36 High-Performance Access Point
Four-radio, 802.11be (Wi-Fi 7) tri-band access point with built-in advanced location services and Juniper Mist integration

High-Performance Wi-Fi

The AP36 Series is a four-radio, 802.11be Wi-Fi 7 access point. Three data-serving radios deliver maximum data rates of 11,528 Mbps in the 6 GHz band (4x4:4), 5,764 Mbps in the 5 GHz band (4x4:4), and 688 Mbps in the 2.4 GHz band (2x2:2). A dedicated fourth tri-band scanning radio provides WIDS/WIPS, spectrum analysis, sensor and location analytics. With 802.11be Multi-Link Operation (MLO), Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA), Multi-User Multiple Input Multiple Output (MU-MIMO), and BSS Coloring technologies, the AP36 Series offers performance at unprecedented levels to support new bandwidth-hungry applications and soaring device densities.

Wi-Fi 7 Amendment

The new 802.11be amendment (Wi-Fi 7) expands the capabilities of Wi-Fi 6E, including the use of up to 1200 MHz of the 6 GHz band for higher throughput and improved application performance. New capabilities include 320 MHz channels which provides double the throughput, Multi-Link Operation (MLO) for more efficient load balancing and failover, Multi-Resource Units (Multi-RU), preamble puncturing, and 4K QAM for higher transmission rates and better user experiences. Only Wi-Fi 7 and 6E client devices can use the 6 GHz band so there is no interference due to IoT or legacy devices.

AI for AX

HPE automates and optimizes Wi-Fi 7 features with AI for AX capabilities to optimize BSS Coloring, improve data transmission scheduling within OFDMA and MU-MIMO, and assign clients to the best radio to boost the overall performance of the network.

Improved IoT Operations

The AP36 Series extends network monitoring and insights with omnidirectional BLE, Thread, Zigbee, or Matter to increase IoT capabilities with dual 802.15.4 radios for concurrent location services and electronic shelf labels (ESL).

Greater Spectral Efficiency

OFDMA improves spectral efficiency so that an increasing density of devices can be supported on the network. Density has become an issue with the rapid growth of IoT devices that often utilize smaller data packets than mobile devices and, hence, increase the burden and contention on the network. Additionally, BSS Coloring improves the coexistence of overlapping BSSs and allows spatial reuse within a given channel by reducing packet collisions.

Automatic RF Optimization

Reliable RF optimization is even more critical with the addition of 6 GHz spectrum. Radio Resource Management uses a dedicated sensor radio to automate dynamic channel and power assignments, thus avoiding Wi-Fi and external sources of interference. The Marvis AI engine continuously monitors coverage and capacity SLE metrics to learn and optimize the RF environment. A learning algorithm uses hysteresis on a 24-hour window to conduct a sitewide rebalancing for optimal channel and power assignment.

6 GHz Device Operation

The AP36-US and AP36M-US support Low Power Indoor and Standard Power (US only). The AP36-WW supports Low Power Indoor only in most regulatory domains. The AP36M-WW supports Low Power Indoor in most regulatory domains and Standard Power only in some regulatory domains (Canada).

Proactive Insight and Action

A dedicated, tri-band fourth radio collects data for Juniper Mist, which uses machine learning to analyze user experiences, correlate problems, and automatically detect their root causes. These metrics are used to monitor SLEs and provide proactive recommendations to ensure problems don’t occur (or are fixed as quickly as possible when they do).

Improved IoT Battery Efficiency

By incorporating the 802.11ax target wake time (TWT) capability and Bluetooth 6.0, AP36 Series APs help extend the battery life of IoT devices, particularly as additional ones join the network.

Dynamic Debugging

Constantly monitor services running on the AP36, sending alerts whenever a service behaves abnormally. Dynamic debugging relieves IT of having to worry about an AP going offline or any services running on it becoming unavailable.

Dynamic Packet Capture and Dynamic Spectrum Capture

The Juniper Mist platform automatically captures packets and radio frequency spectrum and streams them to the cloud when major issues are detected. AI-native dynamic packet capture and dynamic spectrum capture enable “network rewind” to identify and resolve wireless interference issues more efficiently. Both features save IT teams time and effort and eliminate the need for truck rolls with sniffers to reproduce and capture data for troubleshooting.

Effortless, Cloud-Based Setup and Updates

The AP36 automatically connects to the Mist platform’s cloud, downloads its configuration, and joins the appropriate network. Firmware updates are retrieved and installed automatically, ensuring that the network is always up to date with new features, bug fixes, and security updates.

Marvis AI Assistant

Marvis AI Assistant is a natural language processing-based assistant with a conversational interface that helps with the understanding of user intent and goals, simplifies troubleshooting, and collects network insights. Marvis AI Assistant uses AI and data science to proactively identify issues, determine the root causes and scope of impact, and gain insights into your network and user experiences. Marvis AI Assistant eliminates the need to manually hunt through endless dashboards and CLI commands.

Premium Analytics

Juniper Wireless Assurance, User Engagement, and Asset Visibility services include a base analytics capability that analyzes up to 30 days of data, which simplifies the process of extracting network insights across your enterprise. If you require dynamic insights like motion paths and other third-party data and would like the option of customized reports, the Juniper Premium Analytics service is available as an additional subscription.

High-Accuracy Indoor Location

The AP36 supports advanced location services controlled from the Mist platform’s cloud. With HPE next-generation patented vBLE technology (across the AP family), you can deploy virtual beacons in your physical environment with no need to install battery-powered physical BLE beacons, accurately detecting distance and location with 1–3-meter accuracy. This maximizes scalability and optimizes your deployment investment in location-based services. Support for Bluetooth 6.0 boosts IoT device range and battery life.

Juniper Mist Edge

Juniper APs offer a flexible data plane. Juniper Mist Edge is an on-premises appliance that runs a tunnel termination service. Traffic can be broken out locally or tunneled to Juniper Mist Edge.

Juniper Mist Edge use cases include seamless mobility in large campus environments, tunneling of guest traffic to a DMZ, IoT segmentation, and teleworker services.