Asus has introduced a pair of new “lifestyle” themed routers for the Malaysian market. Both of these have new ideas about what a router is meant to be, and are designed to blend into the decor of a modern household.
The Asus Lyra is a trio of routers that form a mesh network. These work in tandem to strengthen wireless LAN coverage and extend its range. Asus believes that having three wirelessly connected routers is much better than owning a single powerful router and extending it with repeaters.
Each Lyra router runs on a tri-band configuration, with one of the bands solely dedicated to communication between the nodes. The network is also capable of linking up to three additional Lyra routers should the situation require more coverage area.
Homes that aren’t big enough to require a mesh network of six routers can instead look into the Asus Blue Cave. So named because of the massive hole in the middle of the router.
This is a more run of the mill router, although it has also been equipped with smart home features to expand its usefulness. Applying IFTTT technology, the Blue Cave is capable of integrating with other smart home devices and controlling their behaviour. The way Asus puts this is that the router will be able to track when certain devices are in range or powered off; and will trigger the appropriate action accordingly.
Blue Cave is also capable of Amazon Alexa integration, although that is somewhat less useful in Malaysia. This integration allows the router’s functions to be controlled through Alexa; meaning that IP addresses and traffic can be blocked without having to look at the console.
Both the Lyra and Blue Cave can be controlled from an Asus app. Skipping the need to have to connect to either router through a PC web browser.
The Lyra router is being sold in sets of three for RM1999 and will be available from 1 September onwards. There is no option to buy single units of the Lyra in the event that the customer needs a different number of routers in the network. The Blue Cave is scheduled for a Q4 2017 launch and Asus has not yet revealed a local pricing.
