Ruckus Wireless announced the general availability of Ruckus Cloud Wi-Fi, a wireless local area network (WLAN) management as a service offer.
Ruckus Cloud Wi-Fi is enabled by Ruckus Cloud, an NFV-style public cloud platform that's been under development for some time – well before the acquisition by Brocade – and the company expects to roll out Ruckus Cloud support for Brocade products in future, according to Mark Davis, senior director of Global Product at Ruckus Wireless.
According to Ruckus, a number of customers have implemented Ruckus Cloud Wi-Fi prior to the market introduction, including school districts. Ruckus Cloud Wi-Fi enables distributed organizations with limited IT resources to set up, monitor and manage a multi-site WLAN of any size.
Cloud Wi-Fi features include best-in-class Wi-Fi performance, an intent-driven user interface, analytics and reporting. The Cloud Wi-Fi mobile app also allows IT managers to carry the network with them wherever they are, get notified whenever the network needs attention and make instant changes "right from their pocket," according to a press release. The cloud-scale nature of the platform also allows Cloud W-Fi customers to add access points and sites at will.
Ruckus Cloud Wi-Fi competes with offers in the cloud-managed WLAN category from large and small networking companies. According to Davis, Ruckus' focus is different because it offers:
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Superior RF performance (ability to support higher client density, thus necessitating fewer APs)
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Simplicity and intuitiveness of the interface – both GUI and mobile app
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Hassle-free scaling
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Investment protection, with the ability to reuse access points with other Ruckus architectures should the need arise
Brocade completed its acquisition of Ruckus Wireless back in May as part of a deal that was valued at around $1.2 billion. In December 2014, AT&T added Brocade, Ciena and Cisco to its Domain 2.0 initiative, which is designed to drive SDN and NFV adoption in the company's network as part of its virtualization drive.
Ruckus' OpenG technology combines coordinated shared spectrum, such as 3.5 GHz in the U.S., with neutral host-capable small cells to enable building owners to deploy cost-effective in-building cellular coverage. Ruckus plans to drive the market adoption of OpenG using its enterprise channel and service provider base.
For more:
- read the press release
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Brocade to acquire Ruckus for $1.2B in push toward 5G
Ruckus tackles in-building coverage, capacity problems with OpenG