Customer: Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group
Challenge: Address coverage and capacity issues throughout the hotel from a dramatic increase in user devices and wireless traffic. Separate Wi-Fi from existing distributed access system.

Mandarin Oriental New York Puts Wi-Fi in the Walls

One of the world’s most prestigious hotel chains in their world, the Mandarin Oriental and it’s flagship property in New York has always been a technology trendsetter. First to deploy many advanced networking technologies such as voice over IP and distributed antenna system for both cellular an Wi-Fi, the Mandarin Oriental New York needed more. With more and more guest bringing their own wireless-only devices to the Mandarin, complaints increased due to poor performance and spotty coverage from their existing Wi-Fi run over the DAS. One top of that, as more customer services were being delivered over IP, the Mandarin needed more Ethernet connections in each room.

To solve these problems, the Mandarin New York decided to put Wi-Fi into the walls of all of their 250 guest rooms using the Ruckus Wi-Fi wall switch. This gave them additional fan out Ethernet ports and high-speed 802.11n within each room. Now, guest wireless complaints have dropped 85% and wireless traffic has quadrupled. Learn more.

Solution

Client: The Cloud / BSkyB
Challenge: Deliver consumers and businesses more reliable and higher speed Wi-Fi public access in thousands of locations (indoors and outdoors) with small form factor, high functionality Wi-Fi system

The Cloud Rains Smarter Hot Spots Throughout Europe

Recently purchased by BSkyB for their vast Wi-Fi infrastructure, the Cloud is retrofitting thousands of indoor and outdoor hotspot locations with ZoneFlex™ dual-band 802.11n access points throughout the UK in myriad retail locations such as Caffé Nero, PizzaExpress, Pret A Manger and many others, for high-speed public Wi-Fi access. One of Europe’s largest Wi-Fi operators, The Cloud offers Wi-Fi coverage across 12 European countries, in over 8,500 locations with 22,000 access points deployed in venues such as airports, hotels, and railway stations.

The Cloud is using smarter Wi-Fi that exploits patented adaptive array technology to offer more reliable and faster public access, managed wireless LAN and mobile data offload services. Throughout the City of London’s Square Mile, The Cloud is replacing hundreds of BelAir outdoor access points with the the industry’s most popular dual-band 802.11n outdoor access points, the Ruckus ZoneFlex 7762.

Solution

Ruckus ZoneFlex 7762 dual-band 802.11n outdoor access points
Ruckus ZoneFlex 7363 dual-band indoor access points
Ruckus ZoneDirector WLAN controllers
Ruckus FlexMaster remote Wi-Fi management system

Tester

Tom’s Hardware

Devices Under Test

Cisco Aironet 3502i
Airport Extreme
Aruba AP 125
Meraki M24
HP E-MSM460
Ruckus ZoneFlex 7363

Comprehensive review and comparison of leading enterprise wireless LAN systems

Technology has and continues to develop at a rapid pace, and along with this progress comes the necessity for a support network of top-grade Wi-Fi. The testing required to identify the most capable devices for providing this Wi-Fi are notoriously tricky, and many previous attempt have led to varying and inconsistent results. In the first of its kind Wireless LAN bake off, Tom’s Hardware examined how leading wireless products performed in the face of RF interference and large numbers of clients. This daunting task was undertaken and successfully completed with great precision - allowing for the declaration of a single, superior device.

Over 300 separate test runs were conducted, the variation of which spanned over a wide array of variable factors. Access Point (AP) performance was tested under heavy interference conditions, such as those that would be realistically encountered in the field. This thorough testing under extreme conditions has led to thebest indication of the quality and functionality of the product, while also providing an estimate of the number of APs required to handle an expected traffic load.

When ranked against high end Wi-Fi products from Cisco, Aruba, HP, Apple, and Meraki, the Ruckus ZoneFlex 2x2:2 midrange AP consistently grabbed the top scores, delivering the highest performance and capacity at different ranges and within different bands. The ZoneFlex 7363 also distinguished itself from the other 5 competitors by sustaining efficiency and reliability, regardless of interference. Despite being amongst the smallest and most inexpensive of the devices, the ZoneFlex 7363 performed the best across all tests. The design of Ruckus APs is one of fluid adaptability. The precision and brilliance of excellent engineering has led to the development of a superior, yet inexpensive product.

Client: Campbell Union School District
Challenge: Stable, fast, and easy to deploy, configure, and maintain Wi-Fi network across 12 sites hosting 13 schools, 7,700 students, 800 employees, and over 5000 devices

Campbell Union School District Receives a Gold Star for Creating an A+ Wireless LAN Environment for Faculty, Students, and Guests

Campbell Union School District (Campbell USD), located in the heart of Silicon Valley, was experiencing wireless LAN growing pains. As laptops, iPads, and iPod touches began flooding their school district, their WLAN infrastructure consisting of consumer APs and routers was sorely lacking the stability, performance, and coverage that Campbell USD so desperately needed. Their inability to centrally manage their APs, easily configure guest access, and remotely troubleshoot connectivity issues was adding to the IT staff’s woes.

Web connectivity, central management, and guess access administration were all hot topics. In particular, teachers needed access to their web-based student information system, PowerSchool, in order to take attendance, grade, and post assignments. High user and device density was another critical issue, making band steering and airtime fairness critical components. As with most public schools, finding and acquiring a budget-friendly solution was also a necessity; thus the solution had to have an affordable entrée with a viable long-term total cost of ownership. With a small staff and only a few weeks to deploy, the installation and configuration needed to be fast and simple.

After considering Cisco, Aruba, and Xirrus, Campbell USD selected the Ruckus ZoneFlex system and is deploying 100 ZoneFlex 7962s managed by a ZoneDirector 3000 series wireless LAN controller. They ended up deploying 50% less APs than what was recommended by the competitors. Learn more about how Campbell USD transformed their Wi-Fi experience.

Solution

ZoneFlex 7962 dual-band indoor 802.11n Smart Wi-Fi APs
ZoneDirector 3050 Smart WLAN controller

Client: Baruch College
Challenge: Standardize on and deploy a campus-wide wireless LAN system to support 17,000 students and staff within over one million square feet of dense Manhattan buildings at the lowest possible cost and with the highest possible performance.

Baruch College Showcases How Better Wireless Can Advance the State of Higher Education

One of the largest City of New York (CUNY) state colleges, Baruch College in Manhattan was stuck. Located deep in the heart of Manhattan, Baruch College was having Wi-Fi performance, reliability and coverage problems with their legacy system. With over 17,000 students and staff and one million square feet to cover, Baruch went through a year-long evaluation process to upgrade its legacy network, inviting in the top industry wireless LAN vendors to demonstrate their wares. Even students were included in the evaluation process, hearing the different vendor pitches and promises.

At the top of Baruch’s list of requirements, signal coverage and reliable client connectivity were paramount. Wireless was no longer a nice to have for the school but rather a strategic imperative to attract and retain students within a highly-competitive higher education market. And Baruch wasn’t simply looking for vanilla Wi-Fi. They wanted a Wi-Fi system designed to support streaming multimedia, voice and other latency-sensitive applications. High user density was another critical issue to solve. And the network had to be cost-effective, simple to deploy yet feature-rich in delivering advanced capabilities such as band steering, user thresholds and airtime fairness. A tall order for any wireless LAN supplier.

After extensive, evaluation of Cisco, Aruba, HP, Meru, Meraki and other, Baruch selected the Ruckus ZoneFlex system and is deploying 350 ZoneFlex 7962s managed by a ZoneDirector 3000 series wireless LAN controller. Learn more about Baruch’s Wi-Fi journey and experiences.

Solution

350 ZoneFlex 7962 dual-band 802.11n wireless access points
Multiple ZoneDirector 3000 smart wireless LAN controllers

Client: Pacific Seafood
Challenge: Reliable, fast, and scalable indoor and outdoor Wi-Fi network for 30 sites and 3000 coworkers.

Pacific Seafood Lands a Big Wi-Fi Win within High Interference Warehouse Environments

Pacific Seafood is one of the nation’s most successful independently-owned seafood company with 3,000 workers spanning 30 remote sites.They rely on Wi-Fi to support every piece of the company’s operations including a diverse set of business, applications, users, and devices. Dense radio frequency (RF) interference was saturating their pre-existing Wi-Fi set up, immobilizing their warehouse operations. They needed an immutable Wi-Fi system that covered both indoors and out, that could be deployed quickly, and be centrally managed from multiple locations.

Pacific Seafood trusts Ruckus’ long-range point-to-point connections, which perform and behave with the high speed and reliability of a wired network, without feeling the hit of a reoccurring monthly DSL or fixed-line costs. Deploying 40% less APs that recommended by the competition, Pacific Seafood reeling in the CAPX and OPEX along with super fast and ultra dependable wireless connectivity Learn more.

Solution

ZoneFlex 7962 dual-band indoor 802.11n Smart Wi-Fi APs
ZoneFlex 7762 dual-band outdoor 802.11n Smart Wi-FI APs
ZoneFlex 7731 point-to-point 802.11n Smart Wi-Fi bridge
ZoneDirector 1000 Smart WLAN controllers

Customer: St. Vrain School District
Challenge: Build large-scale Wi-Fi network to support large numbers of concurrent user in 12 remote sites

Massive School District Makes Big Move to 802.11n to Combat Barrage of New Devices and the Need for an Untethered Teaching and Learning

Covering some 411 square miles throughout northern Colorado, St. Vrain School District just needed better wireless. Student and teachers were bringing to school their own Wi-Fi-enabled devices and wanted access to a variety of applications from Google Docs to Moodle, student information systems or learning management. With 45 schools, a limited budget and a handful of IT staff, St. Vrain began evaluating the industry’s best and brightest WLAN companies.

Their issues were simple. They wanted rock solid client connectivity, insane performance, and coverage everywhere. Beyond that they needed a WLAN system that we both easy to deploy and manage and gave them the capabilities to support IP-based multimedia in the future. Watch and read about their experience, how they tested and what they deployed.

Solution

700+ Ruckus ZoneFlex 7962 dual-band 802.11n indoor access points
34+ Ruckus ZoneDirector 1000 series WLAN controllers
2 Ruckus ZoneDirector 3100 series WLAN controllers
1 Ruckus FlexMaster remote Wi-Fi management system

Customer: Sundance Film Institute
Challenge: Build large-scale Wi-Fi network to support large numbers of concurrent user in 12 remote sites

Sundance Tackles Public Wi-Fi within High Density Environments

One of the most popular film festivals in the world, Sundance was faced with a real problem: providing high-speed broadband access to tens of thousands of patrons converging on Park City Utah throughout numerous remote locations. Moviegoers, now armed with powerful handheld devices that support both cellular and Wi-Fi technology, have come to expect fast and reliable connectivity. Having a robust and centrally managed Wi-Fi network would be ideal to offload data traffic from the crumbling 3G cellular network. But time, money and IT staff were limited. Sundance needed a simple yet industrial-strength Wi-Fi system that could be deployed indoors and out while centrally managed from a single location.

Sundance turned to the Ruckus ZoneFlex system because of its ability to cope with tons of simultaneous users, mitigate interference and automatically optimize the RF spectrum. Deploying dozens of APs in 12 difference venues locations, Sundance is able to easily configure, managed and monitor the entire network from its data center in Salt Lake City.

Solution

25 Ruckus ZoneFlex 7962 dual-band 802.11n indoor access points
25 Ruckus ZoneFlex 7762 dual-band 802.11n outdoor access points
1 ZoneDirector 3100 smart WLAN controller
1 FlexMaster remote Wi-Fi management system

Customer: Hamburger Sport Verein (HSV) soccer team
Challenge: ImTech Arena needed state-of-the-art Wi-Fi network for data offloading, reliable guest access and Internet access for the press to DT’s T-Mobile’s hotspot service.

Hamburger Sport Verein delivers a wireless utility that enhances guest experience and operation of the Imtech Arena

Imtech Arena stadium of Hamburg, Germany is a massive, five-level, state-of-the-art municipal sports and entertainment facility with more than 57,000 seats, owned and operated by the Hamburger Sport Verein (HSV) soccer team.

HSV and partner Deutsche Telekom (DT) began looking for a solution that could provide reliable and adaptive meshing 802.11n Wi-Fi access to DT’s T-Mobile’s Hotspot service for press and special guests.

“We found it extremely challenging to find a single wireless supplier that could support all the features and capabilities we needed within a system that was easy to use and cost effective,” said Steffen Becker, HSV’s IT manager. DT and HSV chose Ruckus ZoneFlex 802.11n system for both indoor and outdoor Wi-Fi coverage.

Solution

7 ZoneFlex 7762 dual-band 802.11n outdoor Smart Wi-Fi APs
21 ZoneFlex 7962 Smart Wi-Fi indoor APs
Redundant ZoneDirector 1050 Smart wireless LAN controllers

Customer: Georgia World Congress Center Authority
Challenge: Provide high-capacity 802.11n for streaming video and voice communications for mobile staff and guests, and add Wi-Fi capacity on demand.

Georgia World Congress Center Authority delivers “carrier class” service with Smarter Wi-Fi

Georgia World Congress Center Authority (GWCC) is one of the largest public conference facilities in the United States, operated by the state of Georgia. The GWCC includes the 3.9 million square foot convention center, the 71,250 seat Georgia Dome, and the 21-acre Centennial Olympic Park. Given the size of the facility and the number of visitors and exhibitors, coverage in the seven-level convention center and hundreds of simultaneous roaming users requesting higher speed 802.11n Wi-Fi for streaming videos and inter-staff communications were the most important issues to providing excellent guest service. They struggled with their Enterasys HiPath a/b/g access points (APs) and controllers.

GWCC chose Ruckus Wireless because they could easily add Wi-Fi capability on demand with Smart Mesh networking, and the combination of beamforming, bandsteering and airtime fairness automatically directed Wi-Fi signals around obstacles and interference and dealt with high-capacity situations. Ruckus Wireless was able to provide GWCC with the best wireless solution centered on its ground-breaking Smart Wi-Fi technologies.

Solution

90 Ruckus ZoneFlex 7962 dual-band outdoor Smart Wi-Fi APs
Redundant ZoneDirector 3100 Smart wireless LAN controllers

Customer: Satilla Regional Medical Center
Challenge: Install an affordable, user-friendly, and reliable wireless solution for 300 Wi-Fi devices, despite an unfriendly RF environment.

Satilla Regional Medical Center Gets Right Prescription for Healthy Wi-Fi

Satilla Regional Medical Center needed a wireless network that would be reliable and easy to maintain for more than 300 Wi-Fi enabled devices over 37,000 square feet. While Satilla was shifting to wireless methods of patient management, it struggled with the existing incompetent and ill-performing Cisco wireless LAN system. Additionally, “RF-unfriendly” building materials, microwaves, lab equipment and cordless phones wreaked havoc on stable wireless signals throughout the complex facility.

Satilla needed a cost-effective wireless system that addressed these reliability issues more intelligently within an interference-prone environment. Ruckus Wireless answered their call with its ZoneFlex system with dynamic beamforming and adaptive capabilities.

Solution

65 ZoneFlex 7962 dual-band indoor 802.11n access points
Redundant ZoneDirector 3100 controllers

Customer: Douglas County School District
Challenge: Find a reliable, mobile, wireless solution to implement state-mandated MAP testing for every school in the district.

Wi-Fi makes mobile electronic testing a snap … IP voice and video too!

With 12 K-12 schools all needing an easy way for students to take the electronic Measured Achievement Progress (MAP) tests, the IT department came up with an idea – Wi-Fi. The students can just connect to an access point (AP) right from their classroom, log in and go, problem solved. How much trouble can a little end-user desktop support be?

Problem is, once you start testing, you need to finish. Unstable client connectivity, spotty coverage and erratic performance was upsetting the students, irritating the instructors and making the IT staff crazy. Additionally, the centrally managed system they originally bought into didn’t allow them to do the things they needed. Using the Wi-Fi network for anything else was out of the question.

Solution

65 ZoneFlex 7962 dual-band 802.11n Smart Wi-Fi access points
14 ZoneDirector 1000 series Smart WLAN controllers
FlexMaster remote Wi-Fi service management system

Study how DCSD solved its Wi-Fi problems and then some.

Customer: Kimpton Hotel Palomar Philadelphia
Challenge: Extend VOD services to guest room TVs wirelessly

How Much is it Worth to NOT Run a Cable to Every Guest Room? (Hint: a lot)

When Kimpton Hotels and Restaurants buys a property and makes its renovation plans, two-years before guests will be checking in, the design teams are already laying out the rooms and planning the technology that will help keep incredibly loyal and happy Kimpton customers – well, loyal and happy.

So, when late-stage design changes meant moving TVs, the designers had two choices, pull out the checkbook and pull more wire, or use the existing 802.11n dual band Wi-Fi spec’d for data and use it for Video On Demand services as well.

Solution

91 ZoneFlex 7962 Access Points (2.4Ghz for data | 5Ghz for VOD)
98 MediaFlex 7111 Adapters (Hidden behind the TVs)
One ZoneFlex Controller

"Check in" to this hotel’s operational High-Def wireless VOD service.

Client: ZoneFlex Smart Wireless LAN System
Challenge: Design a simple yet secure and robust wireless LAN system that is ultra-easy to use, extends signal range and avoids interference and obstacles at the lowest possible total cost of ownership

The Making of a Smarter Wireless LAN System

Centralized wireless LAN have been done. The problem is that are too complex and costly for the "Unfortunate 50,000" enterprises who don’t have hordes of IT staff and IT budget. What’s more conventional wireless LAN systems do nothing to automatically adaptive to real-time environmental changes that wreak havoc on Wi-Fi performance. Better range and reliability are essential for enterprises looking to provide a wireless system for more than merely surfing the Internet. Enter a smarter wireless LANs from Ruckus Wireless.

Our ZoneFlex Smart Wireless LAN system is the only one on the market today to combined smart antenna technology, smart wireless mesh networking, and advanced quality of service mechanisms with a single, centralized and scalable platform. The result is a new class of smarter wireless LAN system that deploys in half the time, at half the cost and three times the performance of any other comparable solution.

Solution

ZoneFlex 7942 802.11n Smart Mesh outdoor APs
ZoneFlex 7942 802.11n Smart Mesh indoor APs
ZoneFlex 2942 802.11g Smart Mesh outdoor APs
ZoneFlex 2942 802.11g Smart Mesh indoor APs
ZoneDirector 1100 Line of Smart WLAN controllers supporting from 6 to 50 APs
ZoneDirector 3000 Line of Smart WLAN controllers supporting up to 250 APs

Learn how our ZoneFlex Smart WLAN system can help save you time and money.

Client: Airmedia
Challenge: With more than 2,000 digital TV screens in over 50 airports throughout China, Airmedia needed a more flexible, high performance and reliable way to transmit high definition advertising to these displays - their business depended on it.

Making 802.11n Wi-Fi Really Fly for Digital Signage.

Based in Beijing, Airmedia operates the largest digital media network in China. With more than 2,000 digital TV screens in over 50 airports throughout China, Airmedia needed a more flexible, high performance and reliable way to transmit high definition advertising to these displays - their business depended on it. At these airports, cabling installation is extremely costly and inflexible. And cable drops required the approval of airport authorities. In many locations, cable drops to the display screens just wasn’t possible. In addition, sending someone to swap out DVDs on each terminal was inefficient and costly. Conventional Wi-Fi was tried but due to the harsh RF environment, these products failed miserably to provide long-range and reliable connections that could support real-time streaming media. Airmedia also wanted to minimize the number of APs needed in order to reduce capital costs and operational time and expense to deploy their system.

Then Airmedia found Ruckus.

Solution

ZoneFlex 7942 802.11n Smart Wi-Fi access points throughout the airports with each AP supporting four HD digital signs
Redundant ZoneDirector Smart WLAN Controllers in every airport to provide local management.

See what Airmedia did to fix these problems and then some.

Case Study