Ruckus Wireless is taking aim at the enterprise WiFi market, competing head to head with the likes of Cisco, Aruba and Meru with the introduction of SmartMesh--a WiFi meshing technology that the company says enables enterprises to deploy WiFi networks in half the time and half the cost to get three times the performance of typical WLANs.
Ruckus, most known for its WiFi platform that delivers IPTV, has been playing in the mid-market enterprise market for some time with a self configurable WiFi product designed for enterprises that lack extensive IT staffs. Now the company is moving up to compete with bigger WiFi enterprise players with a new class of WLANs that self-organize, self-optimize and self-heal, eliminating the costly cabling to every WiFi access point and complex RF planning, according to the company. Ruckus' SmartMesh technology includes the company's in-house developed smart antenna technology.
"During these economic times, systems like ours become more palatable and enterprises are becoming more willing to use them even though they haven't heard of us," said David Callisch, vice president of marketing with Ruckus.
Ruckus says the cost of a typical 500-user WLAN using the industry's most popular enterprise 802.11g WLAN systems is approximately $35,000. Ruckus' SmartMesh solution with 802.11n technology is under $15,000, says the company.
Lodgian, one of the largest independent owners and operators of full-service hotels in the United States, is among the first companies to deploy the Ruckus SmartMesh and 802.11n solutions.
For more about Ruckus' new SmartMesh technology:
- read this release