According to the technology industry research firm BMIT, delays in the supply chain of Wi-Fi and networking-related products in South Africa are still omnipresent. These shortages are expected to last until mid-way through 2023.
These delays have been haunting the ICT industry since the significant shipping backlogs caused by the high demand shown in the early stages of 2020 and the recent lockdown in China’s main cities. To make matters worse, inconsistencies at our local harbours and the most recent flooding in Kwazulu-Natal prolonged the delays in imported goods. Amongst the backlog, favourite industry products are unavailable or in inconsistent supply, with resellers searching every nook and cranny, hoping for some supply-chain miracle.
The ever-present Ubiquiti Unifi 6 Long Range Access Point is among the unattainable hardware products, with lead times indefinite in the near to long-term future.
What is MiRO doing differently?
At MiRO, we believe in planning and building our destiny. Fortunately, our diverse product line has allowed our customers and their businesses not to be hammered by these external factors, with many of our partners able to grow substantially over a traumatic and trepid period for all industries.
The reason for their herculean results? Diversification.
We have seen over the years how many good businesses have fallen short through failing to diversify their product lines. Companies get lured into a false sense of security, but as time goes on and their dependency increases, it is only when it is too late do they realise they should’ve acted sooner.
The shortage of Long-Range Access Points in South Africa
The Access Point (AP) shortage has deeply affected Wireless Internet Service Providers (WISPs) across South Africa, resulting in a significant loss of new customers and potential new revenue. Without reliable and affordable products to offer customers, it was inevitable for many internet and connectivity providers to close their doors or
haphazardly source new brands and distributors just to maintain business and stop the bleeding.
MiRO took the lead in assisting WISPs in finding the best and most affordable solution to this shortage problem, introducing Grandstream GWN Wi-Fi.
What is Grandstream GWN?
The Grandstream range of Wi-Fi APs is a portfolio of powerful access points offering dual-band 4×4:4 MU-MIMO with OFDMA technology. The range carries a set of sophisticated internal antennas which deliver anti-interference, stable connectivity, high throughput, and massive coverage.
The top-line products can deliver speeds up to 3.5Gbps with up to 512 concurrent connections. The embedded controller allows the service provider to manage up to 50 local GWN Access Points, while the GWN.Cloud offers unlimited AP management, and the GWN Manager offers on-premises software AP management.
Not only does it offer high-performance at a reasonably competitive price, but it is also effortless to manage. This device is ideal for busy service providers managing multiple networks and dispersed projects.
What makes Grandstream Wi-Fi so powerful? Six reasons why you should transition over to GWN Wi-Fi
o Powerful Chipset – The GWN series is built with Qualcomm’s market-leading Wi-Fi 6 chipset, which has proven to deliver higher performance and more robust reliability than the MTK Wi-Fi 6 chipset used in other Wi-Fi access points.
o Full-Scale Wi-Fi 6 – Other Wi-Fi brands use outdated Wi-Fi 4 technology on the 2.4GHz band, while the GWN range utilises Wi-Fi 6 on both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands.
o Double the 2.4GHz Throughput – The GWN7664 provides nearly double the network throughput on the 2.4GHz band (1.147Gbps) than its industry competitors (600Mbps).
o 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet Port & Higher Traffic Loads – The GWN7664 provides a 2.5Gbps network port and a 1Gbps port. Most modern APs only provide 1x 1Gbps port. This allows the GWN7664 to support a higher traffic load, while this would lead to potential bandwidth bottlenecks for other APs.
o Double the Streaming Performance – With its Qualcomm chipset, a GWN AP can support 160 million streams, double the 80 million streams supported by APs still being driven by the MTK chipset.
o It is in stock – At a MiRO branch near you.
MiRO has maintained a stable supply chain of world-class Wi-Fi products throughout the pandemic enabling thousands of connectivity providers to thrive and continue growing their businesses.
Whether you’re looking to build an enterprise network or simply upgrade a home network, MiRO has a solution for every environment. Browse through their diverse portfolio by heading over to their website, www.miro.co.za, or contact the sales team at [email protected]. Alternatively, you can call (or WhatsApp) them on 012 657 0960.
