Press Releases
Ruckus Wireless to Unplug the Republican National Debate With New Smart Wi-Fi Technology
New Smart Wi-Fi System to be Used to Create a High-Density Hot Spot Giving Users Reliable, Carrier-Grade Wireless Connectivity
SUNNYVALE, CA, November 26, 2007 – Ruckus Wireless today announced that it has been selected by one of the nation's largest multi-service operators (MSO), to provide "Smart Wi-Fi" equipment for the upcoming Republican national debate on Wednesday, November 28, 2007 in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Smart Wi-Fi is a new approach to Wi-Fi that leverages technical breakthroughs to effectively double the range and increase the reliability of Wi-Fi signals using highly-optimized antennas and quality of service mechanisms. This results in higher and more consistent performance over conventional access points that are unable to adapt in real time to Wi-Fi problems such as interference. These impressive range and performance gains are achieved through the automatic selection of the best path for each Wi-Fi "beam" or signal – constantly steering these signals around interference as they occur.
"Carriers and MSOs understand the value that new Smart Wi-Fi technology brings to building business-class hotspots that deliver predictable performance and reliable connectivity to users now carrying a wide range of Wi-Fi-enabled devices," said Selina Lo, president and CEO of Ruckus Wireless. "It's expected that over 150 million Wi-Fi-enabled mobile devices will be shipped by 2009. This raises the bar everywhere for Wi-Fi to live up to the expectation of becoming the reliable medium everyone needs it to be."
The debate, to be hosted by CNN with questions coming from YouTube users, will be held at the 2000-plus seat Mahaffey Theater in St. Petersburg. Select attendees and media will be provided Wi-Fi access to file stories, upload photographs, post BLOG entries and use the network for a variety of Web-based applications.
Ruckus is deploying the new centrally-managed Ruckus ZoneFlex wireless LAN system that takes advantage of Smart Wi-Fi technology.
The event will feature several high-density Ruckus ZoneFlex 2942 access points to support approximately 500-plus attendees and media. The Ruckus ZoneFlex wireless LAN is being used to cover a number of areas within the Mahaffey Theater such as the ballroom, the Bay front room, the atrium and the conference center. The Ruckus ZoneFlex access points are being managed by a Ruckus ZoneDirector 1025 allowing centralized control and management of users and access points. A redundant Ruckus ZoneDirector is available for automatic failover.
"This is an important event that really requires a carrier-class Wi-Fi system that can do more than just provide convenient connectivity," said Eric Stresen-Reuter, technical director at Ruckus Wireless and the consulting engineer on the GOP Wi-Fi project. "When it comes to Wi-Fi, users have become much more sophisticated and want to move Wi-Fi beyond a technology of convenience to a ubiquitous utility that they can count on."
Stresen-Reuter noted that because this is a one-time event, a key criterion for the Wi-Fi system was simplicity. "They needed a centrally-managed Wi-Fi system that is robust but also easy to use, quick to deploy and mindless to manage. And they found exactly what they were looking for," Stresen-Reuter concluded.
Providing ubiquitous Wi-Fi coverage using a few number of access points while delivering a carrier-class Wi-Fi experience was another key in the selection of the Ruckus ZoneFlex system for the GOP debate. Through the use of high-gain, directional antennas, the Ruckus ZoneFlex system can cover a greater physical area using fewer access points than competitive solutions. While providing better coverage, the Ruckus ZoneFlex system delivers unprecedented signal quality and real-time adaptations to interference problems that consistently lower the real throughput that users experience.