Wireless Networking, Wireless Bridges, Wireless How-Tos and more

Mid March Ruckus Wireless announced the exciting new ZoneFlex 7300 series smart access points and we are pleased to say that they are finally instock! We just received several hundred Ruckus ZoneFlex 7363 and ZoneFlex 7363 single and dual band 802.11n access points.

For more information on the ZoneFlex 7363 and the ZoneFlex 7343 click here.

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

At Under $1 Per Megabit, the New ZoneFlex 7300 Series Delivers Never Before Seen 802.11n Price/Performance by Combining Patented Smart Antennas with Dynamic Beamforming

SUNNYVALE, CA, March 15, 2010 – 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-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 series is first 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 360o 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 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 2×2 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 is 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.

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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.

In Q4 of 2009 Motorola announced the release of the AP-7181 dual radio, dual band, 802.11n wireless mesh access point. This AP is built specifically with video surveillance in mind as it bumps up the effective throughput dramatically. Using a datarate of 300Mbps and true 3×3 mimo you can expect the AP-7181 to achieve 100 to 125 Mbps of throughput (guessimate) between nodes. This is 5x more than their previous generation mesh AP the MotoMesh Duo. Along with speed Motorola added some other very cool features that also extend the range of the mesh AP dramatically.

Motorola’s exclusive intelligent ADEPT (ADvanced Element Panel Technology) antenna system was developed specifically for the AP 7181. The ADEPT system allows the AP 7181 to achieve maximum data rates by enabling dual data stream communication via integrated dual polarization antennas. Leveraging multiple transmit and receive RF chains, dual polarized antennas and software configurable down tilt, the AP 7181 achieves excellent coverage without the self-shadowing caused by multiple dipole antennas. This is great news for operators of mesh networks because better range mean fewer APs and more importantly fewer hops between them. Less hops means the less you must rely on backhaul networks to inject throughput back into the mesh.

Management of the entire Motorola Wireless Broadband portfolio including the AP-7181 happens via the one point wireless management suite. Some features of the one point wireless suite are:

• Device discovery
• Inventory management
• Alarm/event management
• Google Maps network view
• Over-the-air upgrades
• Fault, Configuration, Administration, Performance and Security (FCAPS)

The AP-7181 is available for order today for pre order and units should be shipping in March.

Motorola is releasing their first every outdoor dual radio 802.11n mesh access point the AP-7181. With innovative antenna array design the AP-7181 will provide longer distances and better performance then standard mesh APs with simple “stick” or “dipole” antennas.

Features include:

• Full Power Dual Radio 802.11n Access Point
• Radio 1: 2.4 GHz 3×3:2 MIMO
• Radio 2: 5.4-5.8 GHz 2×2:2 MIMO
• 802.11 a/b/g/n (draft 2.0)
• 20 MHz and 40 MHz channels
• 802.11s (WiFi Mesh) ready at launch
• Meets All European DFS Standards
• ADEPT Antenna System
• System capacity of up to 300 Mbps
• WPA-2 Client and Intra-mesh Security
• Robust IP67 with NEMA 4x enclosure
• Powers Local Devices (PoE 802.3af)
• One Point Wireless Manager/Broadband Planner
• Seamless indoor/outdoor networks with AP 7131

To get a sneak peak at the AP-7181 technology click here.

t’s FAAAAAST…80-150Mbps of wireless throughput

The Ruckus ZoneFlex 7942 is the first centrally managed, multimedia Wi-Fi access point that unleashes the promise of 802.11n, delivering unparalleled throughput.

Together with the Ruckus ZoneDirector central WLAN controller, Ruckus ZoneFlex APs plug-and-play with minimum operational overhead. Ideal for hotels, schools, airports and medium-sized businesses with little or no IT staff and a limited budget, the Ruckus ZoneFlex 7942 is also perfect for hot spot operators that want to deliver business class hot spot services – such as voice over Wi-Fi, IP-based video or secure enterprise access.

802.11n carries the promise of high data rates and througput. The Ruckus ZoneFlex 7942 delivers on this promise by ensuring that the advanced techniques used in 802.11n, such as spatial multiplexing, channel bonding and frame aggregation are optimized.