Categories and winners
This year in the RedesZone 2021 Awards we have different categories, specifically we have the categories of best router with Wi-Fi 6, best NAS server, best Wi-Fi 6 repeater, best WiFi controller in Cloud and best professional AP with WiFi 6. Such and As you can see, this year 2021 has been the year of the WiFi 6 standard, as each and every one of the leading manufacturers has launched a large number of models to meet the needs of their customers.
Best Wi-Fi 6 router of 2021: ASUS RT-AX89X
The best router you can buy right now is the ASUS RT-AX89X, this model has simultaneous dual band and AX6000 class WiFi 6. In the 2.4GHz band we can achieve a speed of up to 1148Mbps, and in the 5GHz band we can achieve a speed of up to 4.804Mbps. This model has all the technologies of WiFi 6 such as bidirectional MU-MIMO in both frequency bands, OFDMA, TWT and WiFi Agile Multiband among other technologies, it also includes WPA3-Personal security to adequately protect the wireless network.
The highlight of this model is its wired connectivity, we have a Gigabit Ethernet port for the dedicated Internet WAN, a total of 8 Gigabit Ethernet ports for the LAN, and we also have a 10GBASE-T Multigigabit port that can function as a WAN or LAN, and we also have a 10Gbps SFP + port that can work as a WAN or LAN. The firmware allows us to configure Link Aggregation in the LAN and it also has WAN Aggregation, in addition to supporting VLANs in the WAN and per port, as well as the Movistar Triple VLAN profile.
Finally, thanks to its powerful 2.2GHz Quad-Core processor and its two high-performance USB 3.0 ports, we can achieve high transfer rates in reading and writing. Without a doubt, this router is the best you can buy in this year 2021.
Best Professional NAS Server 2021: QNAP TVS-h1288X
The QNAP TVS-h1288X NAS server is currently the brand’s top-of-the-line in tower NAS. This equipment is oriented to a professional use of small and medium companies, where it is required to have a first level hardware and a very fast and complete connectivity. This model has an Intel Xeon W-1250 processor with 6 cores and 12 processing threads at a speed of 3.3GHz, it allows to install up to 128GB of DDR4 ECC RAM memory to virtualize complete operating systems thanks to Virtualization Station.
The storage capacity of this NAS server consists of a total of 8 bays to accommodate 3.5 ”hard drives, but it also supports 2.5” hard drives or SSD drives. In addition, it has a total of 4 bays to accommodate 2.5 ”hard drives or SSD drives. Internally we can install a total of 2 M.2 NVMe SSDs to use it as SSD cache acceleration and we can even configure a storage pool with all SSDs.
The connectivity of this model consists of a total of 2 10GBASE-T ports on a PCIe 3.0 x4 card, we also have a total of 4 2.5G Multigigabit ports, 3 USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports at 10Gbps type A and another two USB 3.2 Gen ports 2 at 10Gbps type C, in addition, the main processor has an integrated GPU so we have a 4K and 60Hz HDMI 1.4b port.
The operating system that incorporates this model is QuTS hero 5.0 just released, therefore, it has the ZFS file system, which is one of the most advanced that currently exists. This ZFS file system features inline compression, real-time deduplication, and allows you to configure different RAIDZ levels.
Best Professional AP of 2021: D-Link DAP-X2850 Nuclias Connect
The manufacturer D-Link, launched in the middle of this year a professional access point with the new WiFi 6 standard and compatibility with Nuclias Connect to manage it centrally. The main characteristics of this professional AP is that it incorporates simultaneous dual band with WiFi 6 and AX3600 class, in the 2.4GHz band we can achieve a speed of up to 1148Mbps and in the 5GHz band we can achieve a speed of up to 2.402Mbps. This model has a 2.5G Multigigabit PoE + port to power the access point itself and that the wired network does not have a bottleneck, in addition, we also have a Gigabit Ethernet port for the LAN, which will allow us to connect a computer or Link Aggregation with the first 2.5G PoE + port.
This model can be managed standalone through its full firmware, but the most normal thing in a professional environment is to manage it centrally using Nuclias Connect. We must remember that Nuclias Connect is software that we can install on our Windows computer or directly in a Docker container for Linux operating systems, we also have the possibility of buying a D-Link DNH-100 controller to have dedicated hardware and control up to 100 professional APs.
The Nuclias Connect driver will allow us a large number of configuration options, such as creating multiple SSIDs, configuring the VLANs in detail, configuring the QoS of the equipment for all APs, and even creating several sites and WiFi networks, all controlled by Nuclias. We must remember that D-Link also has a controller in the Cloud called Nuclias Cloud, in RedesZone we have explained its characteristics and also the differences between Nuclias Connect and Nuclias Cloud.
Best Cloud Wi-Fi Controller of 2021: EnGenius Cloud
EnGenius Cloud is currently the best WiFi controller in the Cloud that we can acquire, the cloud management platform allows us to control a large number of professional WiFi access points and also manageable switches, therefore, we will have a unified management of switches and professional APs, ideal for managing the network efficiently. The strengths of this solution are its ease of incorporating new equipment, just by adding the serial number of the model, in addition, the administration is really very advanced, since we have many configuration options for integrators and network professionals. EnGenius Cloud has unique features such as the possibility of configuring a RADIUS server in the cloud to use WPA-Enterprise in the access points, generally the manufacturers of this type of Cloud controllers allow the RADIUS configuration but externally, it is not all in the cloud like EnGenius.
Another very positive aspect that we must indicate is that it is free forever, we will only have to buy the equipment (AP or switch), register it and we will have free support forever. However, in recent months EnGenius is launching new features and functionalities that will initially be available to paid users that will soon be launched, but today all advanced functionalities are completely free.
Best WiFi repeater 6 year 2021: AVM FRITZ! Repeater 6000
The German manufacturer AVM has recently launched in Spain the AVM FRITZ! Repeater 6000 model, the best WiFi repeater with Mesh that you can buy today. This model has simultaneous triple band with WiFi 6 and AX6000 class. In the 2.4GHz band we can achieve a speed of up to 1148Mbps, and in each of the two 5GHz bands we can achieve a speed of up to 2.402Mbps in each of the frequency bands. This WiFi-level model has it all, it has WiFi roaming, band-steering, perfect integration with FRITZ! Box routers and we also have guest WiFi, wireless programmer and much more. A feature that we value a lot is security, the AVM FRITZ! Repeater 6000 has WPA2 / WPA3-Personal security, so we will have added security to our wireless network.
At the wired level, we have a 2.5G Multigigabit port to avoid having any bottleneck in the LAN network, and we also have a Gigabit Ethernet port for the LAN. The firmware allows us to configure it in universal WiFi repeater mode or in WiFi access point mode, so we will have ample possibilities to configure this equipment in your home. Something that has caught our attention is the real performance that it is capable of providing, in addition, thanks to the FRITZ! OS operating system we have a large number of configuration options.
As you have seen, in this edition of the 2021 RedesZone Awards it has been shown that WiFi 6 is here to stay, in fact, in a few months we will begin to see new equipment with the WiFi 6E standard that will use the 6GHz band to provide us with great speed and coverage. Special mention to the QNAP TVS-h1288X, a very high performance NAS server with many expandability and the QuTS hero 5.0 operating system with all the new features of the Linux kernel and the ZFS file system.
Other ADSLZone Awards 2021
Our colleagues from ADSLZone have already published all the awarded in the ADSLZone Awards 2021, you will be able to see the best Smart TV, video games and photography and video and much more, in addition, we also have the Movilzona 2021 awards where you can see all the smartphones and tablets of the year, in addition, we will have different categories where you can see the best high-end, mid-range and entry-level equipment, among many other categories.
We remind you that the awards ceremony is currently being held at the Four Seasons Hotel in Madrid, where the main executives of all the companies will be present to receive the awards.
