Today Ekahau went public with a new device that moves them from just another industry player to leading the wireless survey tool industry.

The Ekahau Sidekick answers a lot of questions that have been plaguing those of us who regularly do wireless surveys. To understand why it is such an important move for the company, you first need to understand a few of the pain points that comes with being a wireless engineer.

• Some USB3 hubs create significant RF noise that can affect wireless survey results.
• Many 802.11ac USB adapters have very poor consistency between devices.
• Laptop batteries are often non-removable, requiring regular recharging when used for survey work.
• How reliable is a 3×3:3 USB adapter when all antennas are internal without physical separation? (Short answer, they aren’t)
• A laptop with 4-5 dongles connected to it is difficult to manage. I know many people who have snapped off a USB dongle in their career.

So, how does the Sidekick do it different?

• It is a dual 802.11ac radio system with 3×3:3 radio chains and the appropriate antennas.
• It has a very fast dual band spectrum analyzer with incredibly high resolution.
• The device has it’s own 8 hour battery, and does not draw from the laptop battery.
• Nothing to snap off and break. This thing is very rugged, and easily hangs from the hip as the engineer moves around.

So the big question is cost. The Ekahau Sidekick cost $2995US. The question of annual support was not answered during the presentation. This assumes the user already has an active license for ESS or ESS Pro.

Most importantly, by separating the hardware and drivers into a unique specialized unit, the Ekahau Sidekick can be used by those of us who use MacOS just as easily as those crazy few still using Windows. Drivers and firmware are no longer a concern.

Well done Ekahau!

You can find out more at: https://www.ekahau.com/sidekick

I received nothing to write this post. I am an active Ekahau user, and purchase licenses and support just like any other user. Hopefully, I will be able to convince my manager that he should fund one more purchase…