ASUS today announced Lyra, a whole-home Wi-Fi system that uses advanced mesh-networking technology to banish wireless dead spots and deliver superfast, ultrareliable and secure coverage to every corner of the home.
Netgear and other brand mesh network products
Lyra is designed to make Wi-Fi simple again. The system consists of up to five intelligent hubs employing smart antennas and powerful tri-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi to create a single, self-organizing Wi-Fi network that delivers smooth, seamless Wi-Fi to every device, throughout the home. Lyra enables seamless, uninterrupted roaming between rooms and floors, automatically connecting devices to the best available signal with no need for user intervention.
The advanced mesh-networking architecture in Lyra uses a dedicated extra 5GHz frequency band to establish an inter-hub data backbone that is completely isolated from device connections. This leaves one 5GHz and one 2.4GHz frequency band completely free for device connections, with better multi-device performance and less complexity than alternative solutions. The easily expandable Lyra system is ideal for almost any size or shape of dwelling.
With its stylish yet unobtrusive circular design, unprecedented ease of installation, ASUS AiProtection commercial-grade security, and the intuitive ASUS Lyra mobile app for easy setup and control, Lyra is the perfect family-friendly solution for today’s bandwidth-hungry, multi-device households.
Making Wi-Fi simple again
Modern households often contain a large and diverse collection of wireless devices, including traditional PCs and laptops, smartphones, games consoles and, increasingly, IoT and smart-home devices. The number of connected devices is expected to grow significantly over the new few years.
In these increasingly congested Wi-Fi environments, obstacles such as doors, walls and windows can interfere with radio signals to create unpredictable Wi-Fi “dead spots”, especially in large or multi-story dwellings.
Combining a router with low-cost Wi-Fi repeaters can extend coverage, but repeaters often use older single- or dual-band Wi-Fi standards. They can also introduce unnecessary complexity by creating multiple Wi-Fi network names.
Lyra overcomes all these problems by using powerful tri-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi and multiple interconnected hubs — one primary hub connected to the internet, and several satellite hubs. All Lyra hubs are identical: any hub can be used as the primary hub, making installation even easier.
The tri-band Wi-Fi has two 5GHz frequency bands and one 2.4GHz band, and one of the 5GHz bands is reserved exclusively for data communication between the hubs. This inter-hub connection forms a high-speed internet backbone, with devices connecting separately to the hubs via the remaining 5GHz or 2.4GHz bands, an arrangement that ensures the maximum amount of bandwidth is available for devices.
Lyra also creates a home-wide network — covering up to 6000 square feet — with a single network name (SSID), and automatically connects devices to the hub with the best signal as they move around the home, so users can enjoy seamless connectivity wherever they are in the house.
Smart antennas for smarter Wi-Fi
ASUS Lyra creates a self-organizing 5GHz mesh network using smart antennas to connect the hubs and provide the robust and stable internet backbone.
Each Lyra hub contains six Wi-Fi antennas: four smart antennas and two standard antennas. There is also one Bluetooth® antenna that is used during initial setup via the Lyra app. When a hub is relocated or added to the Lyra network, it automatically searches for signals from the other hubs, determines the direction of the best hub, and selects the best two smart antennas to use. This ingenious system allows Lyra to adapt to its environment, ensuring optimum Wi-Fi performance in any type of dwelling.
Once the data backbone is established, the remaining four Wi-Fi antennas are used purely for device connections.
ASUS AiProtection: Commercial-grade security that’s free for life
ASUS Lyra incorporates ASUS AiProtection, a commercial-grade network security system powered by Trend Micro™ Smart Home Network. The built-in AiProtection software is completely free for the life of Lyra, with free updates and no subscription fees.
The online threat landscape is evolving rapidly, with home networks exposed to increasingly sophisticated attacks. The rise of ‘dumb’ IoT devices such as IP webcams or smart-home devices with no built-in security protection is a particular concern, as these can act as vulnerable gateways to the home network. With AiProtection, all connected devices are protected, even if they have no antivirus capability of their own.
ASUS AiProtection works transparently inside Lyra to protect the entire network, using a commercial-grade intrusion prevention system (IPS) with a sophisticated deep packet inspection (DPI) engine that analyzes the contents of all data packets entering or leaving the home network, and blocks malicious or suspicious packets, regardless of the device they originated from.
AiProtection blocks common internet-based attacks before they reach the network, and if an infected device is detected on the network, AiProtection instantly blocks it to prevent it sending any personal information to malicious servers.
Automatic regular and rapid-reaction AiProtection updates ensure that users always have the very latest protection.
Easy setup and control with the ASUS Lyra app
ASUS Lyra is designed to be incredibly simple to install and operate via the ASUS Lyra mobile app. This app connects to Lyra via Bluetooth to help users with initial setup or when adding extra hubs, and allows full control of network settings.
The Lyra app also includes Family Overview, a powerful feature that enables easy management of each user’s devices, internet usage allowances and app permissions. This information is presented in a clear graphical format that makes it easy to monitor family members’ data usage and app history, and adjust individual settings as needed.
AVAILABILITY & PRICING
ASUS Lyra will be officially launched in Singapore on the 1st July 2017.
| Price | $659 SGD |
| Warranty | 3 Years |
| Lyra launch promotion on Hachi.Tech | Promotion date: 1st July 2017
Launch promotion price: $599 SGD and free Bang & Olufsen Beoplay P2 Speaker (Worth $259) |
| Where to buy | Hachi.Tech and Challenger Bugis Junction
*ASUS Lyra will be available in other channels by early July.
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