Ruckus Wireless Sets New 802.11n Price/Performance Benchmark with the World's Most Affordable Enterprise-Class Access Point

SUNNYVALE, Calif., March 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Ruckus Wireless™, the smart mobile internetworking company, today announced that it has broken the price/performance barrier for 802.11n wireless networking with the introduction of the new ZoneFlex™ 7300 series of midrange access points.

The first sub-$500 enterprise-class 802.11n access point, the ZoneFlex 7300 series includes both single-band (7343) and dual band (7363) products, priced at US $499 and $599 respectively. With maximum 802.11n capacity of 300Mbps (single band) or 600Mbps (dual band), the ZoneFlex 7300 has been measured to deliver unparalleled throughput of 210Mbps at short ranges (10 to 20 feet) and over 120 Mbps at longer ranges (60 to 100 feet) within a typical, walled office environment – making it the industry's lowest cost, highest performing line of 802.11n access points.

One of the first companies to deploy the new ZoneFlex 7300 series is Louisville, Colorado-based, Rock Bottom Restaurants, a leading casual dining chain. In 2010, Rock Bottom is standardizing on Ruckus Smart Wi-Fi across 105 of its restaurants across the United States (see separate release).

The ZoneFlex 7300 is the first series of Wi-Fi access points in their class to uniquely integrate patented smart antenna array and dynamic beamforming technology that delivers unmatched reliability and performance at near and far distances.

For solution developers and system integrators, the 7300 series can be custom ordered with an add-on USB port for value-added applications such as machine-to-machine (m2m) communications or WAN link backup using a 3G/4G/EVDO dongle.

"Enterprises and service providers around the world are trying to deal with a tsunami of Wi-Fi-enabled mobile internet devices in the hands of a growing user population that expects fast and reliable connectivity everywhere, all the time," said Selina Lo, president and CEO of Ruckus Wireless. "802.11n is expected to be the answer, but high prices and inconsistent performance have hampered mass adoption. Ruckus Wireless is breaking down these barriers once and for all."

Available immediately, the ZoneFlex 7300 Series is ideally suited for:

• Branch offices that need high-speed, low cost, and remotely-controlled Wi-Fi services;
• Schools that want to easily migrate to higher capacity wireless infrastructures at the lowest total cost of ownership;
• Hotels and public venues that must offer "complaint-less" guest Wi-Fi access that is simple to implement and operate;
• Retail outlets where cost, aesthetics and reliability are key concerns; and
• Remote controlled hotspots that deliver capacity and coverage despite interference from other APs in close proximity.

Low-End Price, High-End Performance

In over-the-air, wireless performance testing against high-end competitive 802.11n products from Aruba (AP125) and Cisco Systems (1250) that were twice the price, the new ZoneFlex 7363 consistently delivered up to 40% better throughput at close and long ranges.

More importantly, in performance testing where the client laptops were rotated 360 degrees to emulate mobile client devices from a variety of directions and orientations, the ZoneFlex 7300 delivered a dramatic 2x to 4x improvement in throughput over the high-end Aruba 125 and Cisco 1250.

Unlike any other 802.11n access points, Ruckus ZoneFlex access points integrate BeamFlex™, a patented software-controlled multi-antenna array that forms and directs Wi-Fi signals over the best performing signal paths in real time, on a per packet basis. As RF environments change, Ruckus ZoneFlex APs are able to automatically select better signal paths to increase performance and minimize packet loss, thereby ensuring good, consistent user experience. In contrast, access points with omni-directional antennas have difficulty coping with obstacles and interference and must resort to dropping their data rate. This degrades performance for all users sharing an access point.

"We've always expected to see 802.11n prices drop as chips mature and the commoditization curve takes over, just as it did with previous standards," said Craig Mathias, principal at Farpoint Group, a leading wireless consulting firm. "But what we didn't expect was the level of innovation beyond the chip that adds dramatic improvements in performance, range and reliability from smart antenna systems like those innovated by Ruckus Wireless. Looking ahead, we expect the real value in 802.11n systems to come from technology like this that helps control and optimize the physical layer where all the real problems arise."

Product Details

The ZoneFlex 7300 series is packaged in a lightweight (.0875 lbs/397 grams), compact and ultra-slim design measuring just 7"x7"x1".  Moreover, the Ruckus ZoneFlex 7300 packs a unique collection of powerful capabilities not found in any other 802.11n access points. These include:

• Integrated smart antenna array enabling 4dBi of antenna gain for extended coverage;
• Automatic interference avoidance of -10dB;
• Support for dynamic beamforming to minimize lowering of data rates and packet loss, ensuring consistent performance;
• Secure L2TP tunneling;
• State-of-the-art WPA2, AES encryption and 802.1X support;
• Patented IP multicast-to-unicast conversion for high quality real time video streaming;
• Flexible deployment in remotely managed standalone or controller-based configuration;
• Smart mesh networking for cable-less deployment, lowering deployment costs;
• Advanced Smart/OS features (when used with the Ruckus ZoneDirector controller) such as dynamic pre-shared keys and guest networking;
• Advanced QoS with automatic traffic classification and per-user rate limiting;
• Support for eight BSSIDs per radio;
• Single and dual radio 2x2 11n designs with up to 300Mbps per radio;
• Standard 802.3af power; and
• Wall, ceiling or desktop mounting.

Completely manageable as a standalone access point through an easy-to-use, web-based graphical user interface, the ZoneFlex 7300 also works in concert with the Ruckus ZoneDirector controller and FlexMaster remote Wi-Fi management platform. ZoneFlex 7300 access points mesh seamlessly with other indoor and outdoor Ruckus 802.11n products. With BeamFlex mesh backbone links are inherently more resilient, longer range and more bandwidth efficient than other mesh access points in the market.

About Ruckus Wireless, Inc.

Headquartered in Silicon Valley, Ruckus Wireless is supplier of advanced wireless systems for the mobile Internetworking market. The company markets and manufactures a wide range of indoor and outdoor "Smart Wi-Fi" products for mobile operators, broadband service providers and corporate enterprises around the world. Ranked as the top telecom company in the 2009 Inc. Magazine 500 list and named a World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer, Ruckus Wireless has realized dramatic growth. Since 2006, revenue and shipments have grown by over 1000 percent. Ruckus invented, and has patented, innovative state-of-the-art wireless technology that steers signals around obstacles and interference. This unique capability extends signal range and ensures consistent reliable distribution of delay-sensitive multimedia content and services over standard 802.11 Wi-Fi. The company has shipped over 2 million Smart Wi-Fi systems around the world and has raised $51 million in funding from premier investors such as Sequoia Capital, Focus Ventures, Sutter Hill, Motorola, T-Ventures, Telus Ventures and Firelake Capital. The company is led by Ms. Selina Lo, president and chief executive officer. For more information, visit Ruckus Wireless at http://www.ruckuswireless.com.

SOURCE Ruckus Wireless

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