Affordable networking without an IT department: Huawei eKit at a glance

Normally my channel is about smartphones and wearables. But I am self-employed, so at Huawei’s booth in Barcelona I took a look at a solution for small and medium-sized businesses, such as tax offices and medical practices: Huawei’s eKit solution. Even if the word networking makes your toenails curl, it is anything but complicated.

The starting point in small businesses

In many small offices, there is still an old home router somewhere, plus a few access points scattered around. Everything has grown historically rather than been planned. As a self-employed person, you don’t have time to deal with networking. At some point, a network you built yourself hits its limits.

Smart office with eKit

Huawei brings its 30 years of experience with network solutions for large companies to small offices and practices. eKit solves several tasks for startup offices, small businesses and retail spaces: Wi-Fi coverage and connecting workstations, smartphones, laptops, tablets and meeting rooms. The entire network is set up and managed through the simple, self-explanatory interface of the eKit app, a plug-and-play solution. You don’t need an IT department of your own for it. If an external IT admin looks after you, they connect to your network via QR code and manage it remotely through the app.

• AR180 WiFi router: It is a Wi-Fi router and at the same time the control center of the network. According to the video description, you can set it up yourself in just seven minutes.
• Access points such as the AP362E: They are an equally simple solution for several offices and meeting rooms.
• IdeaHub B3: For collaboration in meetings. Cloud meetings are organized with AI-supported audio and video functions. Laptops, smartphones and tablets are connected via WiFi 6 and share content with almost no latency. On the interactive whiteboard, you write as on paper, and the handwriting is converted into text in a fraction of a second. In 2026, analog flip charts belong in the past.

For small and medium-sized businesses and startups, I think this is a perfect and simple all-in-one solution for Wi-Fi and network coverage as well as for smart meetings.

Smart education

This makes sense for schools and universities too, but the challenges are different: a whole campus with different buildings, lecture halls, student housing, outdoor areas and maybe their own server rooms. With various routers, access points and interactive whiteboards, Huawei offers professional solutions for this.

I’m from the time when chalk was used on a blackboard. With sloppy handwriting, that was no fun, and with one swipe of the sponge, everything was gone. No trace of interactivity between teachers and pupils. Interactive education looks different: the teacher writes on the IdeaHub Board 3 Pro as on paper. The handwriting is converted into text, the pupils see it on their tablets, can interact and take an active part. Up to 40 devices can be paired.

The board has further features:

• Multi-window function: several apps side by side
• 4K display with optical blue light protection for long use
• completely anti-glare, easy to read even in direct sunlight
• three different sizes
• five USB Type-A ports

The IdeaHub Board 3 Pro comes without a camera because it is meant for education and the focus is on interaction between pupils and teachers. For business meetings, where you might want to include outside participants, there is the IdeaHub S3 with an integrated dual-lens 4K camera and HD audio.

Verdict

The eKit solution massively reduces the complexity of networks for small and medium-sized businesses and makes a secure, professional network simple and affordable. In education, it is an interesting solution for interactive teaching. I will test the AR180 WiFi router myself soon and see whether setting it up is really that easy.