Meru Networks Launches New Radio Switch Family For Enterprise WLAN
Las Vegas -- Networld + Interop 2005 -- Meru Networks today announced the launch of new wireless products built to serve the requirements of high-density data and VoIP mobility applications and to enable pervasive wireless LAN (WLAN) deployments for the enterprise.
The Meru Radio Switch family, shown this week at Networld + Interop 2005, includes the four-radio RS-4000, the eight-radio RS-8000, the twelve-radio RS-12000, and a patent-pending, built-in omni-directional antenna. The system delivers up to 648 Mbps of WLAN bandwidth utilizing 802.11 standard radios, and is capable of scaling up to 1.2 Gbps of bandwidth across its coverage zone. The Radio Switch accomplishes this by layering up to 12 channels in a single coverage area. This is possible with Meru's innovative Cellular WLAN architecture, which enables coordinated, widespread coverage with a single channel, with additional capacity added simply by layering additional channels across the same coverage zone. When deployed with a Meru Controller, multiple Radio Switches coordinate with each other to create virtual cells, blanketing large areas with up to a gigabit of wireless capacity, ideal for heavy usage and seamless roaming.
The Radio Switch family is specifically designed for enterprise customers, including universities and school districts, public institutions and government agencies, convention centers, hotels, and large branch offices, that need to support a large number of WLAN users in confined locations. It is also ideal for customers restricted to longer procurement cycles that need to select WLAN systems to meet future anticipated requirements.
"Meru's Radio Switch is ideally suited for delivering high-density, high-performance to a large number of users," said Joel Conover, principal analyst at Current Analysis. "When combined with Meru's strong VoIP mobility and quality of service capabilities, the new Radio Switch clearly differentiates Meru from the competition in a WLAN market that is crowded with numerous 'me too' offerings."
According to the company, the Meru Radio Switch delivers the following benefits:
- The industry's first WLAN system future-proofed for 802.11n. The three Radio Switch models are modular, protecting enterprise investments by allowing users to add and upgrade radios as their WLAN requirements grow and evolve. This flexibility enables upgrades to future 802.11n radios, delivering up to 1.2 Gbps in capacity per coverage area.
- A 50% reduction in enterprise WLAN total cost of ownership by sharply reducing expensive cable pulls and simplifying deployment. Before the Meru Radio Switch, adding capacity to serve high traffic WLAN zones using conventional WLAN systems required users to shrink cell sizes and add multiple access points, each configured for a different channel. This approach increases deployment costs, with expensive cable pulls per access point, support costs, and RF planning requirements. The Meru Radio Switch requires far fewer access points to deliver more than 10 times the capacity.
- A highly redundant, reliable system for high-density data and voice support. The Meru Radio Switch is the first system capable of supporting high-density environments with added capacity and 12 channels of redundancy, combined with layered single-channel implementation ideal for VoIP Mobility applications.
"Not only do enterprise customers want improved performance, better scalability and simpler, less costly deployments, but they also want to future-proof their networks to handle a multitude of voice, video and data services," said Ihab Abu-Hakima, president and CEO at Meru Networks. "The Meru Radio Switches were purpose-built to deliver all of these capabilities. By developing a scalable, wireless architecture that can meet both the current and future needs of enterprises, Meru is driving the evolution of WLANs from LAN extension tools to pervasive networks."
The Meru RS-4000, RS-8000 and RS-12000 will be available in July 2005.
Source: Meru Networks