Crestron starts shipping the CEN-WAP-1500 wireless access point (WAP)-- a high-output (1000mW) low-profile WAP installers can mount on walls, shelves or ceilings.

Designed to provide large wifi coverage for both residential and commercial customers, the CEN-WAP-1500 features 3x3 MIMO, concurrent dual-band (2.4 and 5GHz) technology to push data at up to 900Mbps.

Kramer announces the SID-X2N, an HDBaseT four-in-one twisted pair transmitter making part of the Digital Step-in multi-format product family.

The unit includes 4 input types-- computer graphics video, HDMI, DVI and DisplayPort, as well as unbalanced stereo audio input and output.

It works as a stand-alone unit together with an HDBaseT receiver (such as the TP-580RXR/WP-580RXR) using RS232 commands over twisted pair cable. A single twisted pair cable carries both data and control, and a local "Step-in" switching button allows users to take control of the main display.

Pakedge announces the K6x routers have reached End of Life (EOL) status, and as such will be replaced by the K60D series based on the enterprise-class K60D router.

According to the company the new kits provide increased internal networking speed and throughput with a session-count of up to 500000 simultaneous sessions-- allowing an unprecedented amount of applications to run on a network.

Preconfigured for small business and residential installations, K60D router kits offer optional Fortinet UTM, with an enhanced firewall with intrusion detection and prevention, application control, web filtering, VPN, anti-spam and antivirus directly at the gateway to ensure infected traffic does not access sensitive data on the network. The router kits also integrate with BakPak, the Pakedge cloud-integrated mobile and web app.

Extron starts shipping the XTP R HWP 201, a Decora-style wall plate receiver for XTP systems featuring a design ideal for the space constraints behind wall-mounted displays.

It features an HDMI output connector oriented upward at a 90-degree angle to minimize stress on the cable and allow low-profile flat panel display installation.

The HDCP-compliant receiver accepts signals from up to 100m distance over single shielded CATx cable, and outputs video, output, control and ethernet with HD video support, including 1080p/60 Deep Colour.

It also provides HDMI audio de-embedding with analog stereo output and volume control.

Marmitek launches a IPTV PLC 650-- a HomePlug AV2 solution claiming "serious" improvement over previous HomePlug solutions while promising best possible performance for HD video streams.

Like other HomePlug devices the IPTV PLC 650 uses existing power networks to turn wall sockets in the home into a network connection. The HomePlug AV2 upgrade allows for the best possible multimedia stream performance, while SmartLink technology increases the maximum distance between 2 adapters by up to 50%.

Parameterised Quality of Services (PQoS) distinguishes between live streams and downloads to make sure videos and games do not suffer delays due to simultaneous downloads.

The Wifi Alliance plans to add Near Field Communication (NFC) to its Certified Protected Setup program, making connection setup as easy as tapping 2 devices together.

Such "tap-to-connect" capability will allow the connection of devices to the internet or networks by simply tapping a router. Users can set both traditional networks with an access point and Wifi Direct groups.

The first devices supporting the NFC option include the Broadcom Dual-Band 802.11ac access point, the Marvell Avastar 88W8787, the Mediatek NFConnected AP and NFConnected STA, the Qualcomm Dual-Band XSPAN 2-stream 802.11n WLAN adapter and the Nexus 10 tablet.