HP announced new products and services that help small and midsized businesses (SMBs) simplify their IT infrastructure to accelerate business gains from mobile access, including the HP M220 Series Access Point.

The use of mobile devices in the workplace allows for sophisticated business and process management applications to be accessed remotely, ensuring productivity remains consistent regardless of location. However, SMBs traditionally have static and fragmented IT infrastructures, making it difficult to rapidly or efficiently respond to infrastructure demands driven by a mobile workforce and virtualized applications.

To simplify IT management for SMBs and ease the transition to a modern infrastructure, HP has expanded the HP Converged Infrastructure portfolio with new network solutions that improve employee productivity by providing secure access to business applications and data via mobile devices.

The HP M220 Series Access Point, the newest addition to the HP FlexNetwork architecture, provides increased bandwidth while simplifying network management and maintenance for growing SMB organizations.

The HP M220 streamlines wireless network management with “clustering” technology that enables SMBs to deploy and manage up to 10 network access points as a single entity, rather than a series of separate wireless devices.

Clustering technology enables IT administrators to easily deploy and configure new rich media applications as well as add wireless devices to the network without downtime.

In addition, the solution improves network security by detecting and eliminating rogue access points as well as reducing security risks caused by misconfigured access points.

The HP M220 includes a Quick Setup Wizard that leverages an easy-to-use web interface to streamline multiple access point configuration. The Quick Setup Wizard provides five deployment scenarios, allowing clients to select the best wireless network environment for their company.

“Mobility will soon be a normal part of every SMB workplace, as it moves from being used primarily for email to supporting critical business applications such as CRM and sales inventory,” said Robert Anderson, vice president, Research, Gartner, Inc. “Small and midsize businesses must align and modernize their existing IT capabilities to take advantage of the business benefits and competitive differentiation mobility brings.”