Ubiquiti News
Ubiquiti has filled out its UniFi Industrial line-up, adding rugged DIN rail switches and the company’s first industrial-grade access point to sit alongside the UniFi Industrial Gateway released earlier this year. The result is a hardened set of switching, wireless and routing hardware aimed at plant rooms, pump stations, workshops and other sites where standard office gear tends to have a short life.
The pitch is straightforward: the same UniFi controller experience, extended to equipment that can cope with heat, dust, vibration and awkward mounting positions. Everything in the family is managed from the same platform that already covers access and aggregation switching, WiFi, routing, cameras and door access.
Ubiquiti has not published model numbers, throughput figures, pricing or Australian availability for the new hardware, so at this stage the announcement is about capability rather than a shopping list.
The switches are built around an extruded aluminium enclosure with a diecast metal back, run completely fanless, and are rated for a wide operating temperature range. That combination matters in sealed cabinets and unconditioned spaces where a fan is a failure point and a vent is a dust intake.
The multi-orientation mounting is a genuinely practical touch. Anyone who has tried to land a switch in a crowded control cabinet knows that the difference between left and rear mounting can decide whether the cabling routes cleanly or ends up strained across a door hinge.
Each switch takes dual DC power inputs, so an installer can feed it from two separate supplies and keep the link alive if one fails. There is also an integrated alarm relay that can be wired out to external monitoring, flagging a power supply problem to whatever SCADA or building system is already watching the site.
That relay is the detail that separates this from a toughened version of a normal switch. Industrial sites usually already have an alarm scheme in place, and a network device that can participate in it is far easier to justify than one that only reports inside its own dashboard.
U7 Industrial is Ubiquiti’s first industrial-grade UniFi access point, housed in a diecast metal enclosure with IP67 environmental protection. It ships with a high-gain directional antenna for focused coverage, and included external omni antennas when a 360-degree pattern suits the site better. Third-party antennas are also supported.
The more interesting inclusion is a custom RF isolator supplied in the box. It uses adjustable panels to shape where the signal goes and to reject neighbouring transmitters — open the panels for a wider pattern, close them in for more range. Ubiquiti specifically calls out the case of several APs sharing a single pole, which is a familiar headache on yards, carparks and container terminals.
For most home and small office users, this one is not for you. A fanless DIN rail switch with dual DC inputs is a poor fit for a comms cupboard that already has mains power and a standard rack, and the existing UniFi gear covers that job better and more cheaply.
For integrators, it is a more significant release. Until now, specifying UniFi on a site with a control cabinet meant either a DIN rail adaptor bracket and a hopeful attitude to temperature, or a second vendor for the industrial segment with its own management tool. Being able to hold one platform across the office network, the cameras, the door entry and the plant floor removes a real friction point in tenders and in handover documentation.
SMB IT teams in manufacturing, agriculture, logistics and water utilities are the obvious middle ground. The alarm relay and dual DC inputs are the features worth pricing in, because they let the network sit inside the site’s existing fault-reporting regime rather than beside it.
We would treat the U7 Industrial RF isolator as the standout item here. Directional control on cluttered pole mounts is something installers usually solve with brackets and guesswork, and a purpose-built, adjustable solution in the box is a sensible piece of engineering. We will share Australian pricing and availability for the UniFi Industrial range once Ubiquiti confirms it.
Read the full announcement at blog.ui.com.
UniFi Industrial is Ubiquiti's hardened product line for demanding environments, now covering a gateway, DIN rail switches and the U7 Industrial access point. The hardware uses rugged metal enclosures, fanless operation and wide temperature ratings. All of it is managed through the standard UniFi platform alongside regular switching, WiFi, routing, cameras and door access.
The UniFi Industrial DIN rail switches use an extruded aluminium enclosure with a diecast metal back, run completely fanless and support a wide operating temperature range. They take dual DC power inputs for redundancy and include an integrated alarm relay for external monitoring. They can also be DIN mounted from the left, right or rear to suit tight cabinets.
Ubiquiti states that the UniFi Industrial DIN rail switches come in multiple configurations with optional PoE and 2.5 GbE support. Exact port counts, PoE budgets and model numbers have not been published in the announcement. Anyone specifying a site should wait for the full datasheets before committing to a power budget.
The RF isolator is a custom-designed accessory included with the U7 Industrial access point. It uses adjustable panels to direct the WiFi signal and reject interference from neighbouring transmitters, which is useful where several access points share a single pole. Opening the panels widens coverage, while closing them inward increases range.
U7 Industrial has a diecast metal enclosure with IP67-rated environmental protection, and Ubiquiti describes it as built for challenging indoor and outdoor deployments. It ships with a high-gain directional antenna and included external omni antennas for 360-degree coverage, and it also supports third-party antennas. Specific mounting and environmental limits have not been detailed.
Ubiquiti has not announced Australian availability dates or local pricing for the UniFi Industrial DIN rail switches or the U7 Industrial access point. Australian release timing for Ubiquiti hardware often trails the initial announcement. Watch for distributor listings once the products reach general availability.
For most homes and small offices, UniFi Industrial is overkill, because features such as dual DC power inputs, alarm relays and DIN rail mounting are aimed at control cabinets and plant environments. Standard UniFi switches and access points are a better fit for a normal comms cupboard. UniFi Industrial makes more sense for manufacturing, agriculture, logistics and utility sites.
BUZY Networks stocks the full Ubiquiti range with a 2-year Advanced Replacement Warranty.
