Wire and Wireless Co., Ltd. Selects Ruckus Wireless For High-Speed Wi-Fi “Hot Zones” Throughout Japan

Location-based “Only Now, Only Here and Only You” Wi-Fi Services Are Among the Innovations Offered to Japanese Broadband Users

TOKYO, JAPAN and SUNNYVALE, CA – June 15, 2009 – Ruckus Wireless™ today announced that it has been selected by Wire and Wireless Co. Ltd., a Tokyo-based provider of public wireless services, to supply Smart Wi-Fi systems for its new area-specific Wi-Fi “Hot Zone” service called Wi2300. Ruckus Wireless is partnering with Mitsui Electronics Inc. to deliver Smart Wi-Fi products and technology to Wire and Wireless for its Hot Zone project.

Wi2 300 is one of the first ultra high-speed Wi-Fi services available in Japan that uses new 802.11n technology capable of delivering 300 Mbps or more of broadband capacity. Unprecedented reliability to support multimedia content is enabled through the use of patented Ruckus Wireless Smart Wi-Fi technology.

With plans to deploy tens of thousands of Wi-Fi access points within Tokyo by 2014, Wire and Wireless has initially deployed Ruckus Smart Wi-Fi access points and its own location-based service platform, the Wi2 Engine, throughout the famous Marunouchi area of Tokyo. This includes the Marunouchi, Shin-Marunouchi and Oazo buildings. In and around these locations, users are provided area-focused content over the Wi2 service.

According to recent data from the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD), Japan has the fastest broadband speeds and the lowest cost per megabit per second of all countries surveyed. Japan also enjoys costs per megabit more than four times lower than that of the U.S.

Jun Shibuta, president & CEO of Mitsui Electronics Inc, one of the leading electronics products and engineering companies, said, "The advances made by Ruckus Wireless in the area of signal reliability and simplified wireless LAN usability are simply remarkable. We believe these advances will fundamentally change the market for wireless broadband services by making it more economical to deploy high-speed and reliable access networks that can support next generation applications. We are pleased to work with Ruckus on the Wi2 project and believe the combination of Ruckus beamforming technology and Mitsui's wide ranging customer base has created a truly powerful partnership."

Unique “Only Now, Only Here, Only You” Services from Wire and Wireless

Wi2 offers unique location-linked “only now, only here, only you” services that utilize user position and attribute information to deliver users rich content and customized services based on where they are at any given moment. For instance, the Wi2 service lets customers use their iPhone to view floor layouts and access tenant shop lists in the buildings where they are located, obtain real-time coupons, and access lost child help and other high-value services while on the go.

Wi2 also automates the user login and authentication process allowing Japanese customers to use its Wi2 Connect feature to seamlessly connect to over 6,700 hotspots around Japan in locations such as JR stations, airports, fast food restaurants, cafes and hotels. And Wi2’s mobile router service combines the use of HSDPA and Wi-Fi to offer wireless access in mobile vehicles such as taxis and buses as well as in enterprise locations where broadband is not available.

Wi2 Hot Zone services have affordable price plans: one-time plan and monthly plan. The one-time plan is priced at ¥800 for one-time use of up to 24 hours after first log-in. The Wi-Fi service on limousine buses, which Wi2 just started on June 1st, is free of charge until the end of July. For details, visit http://www.wi2.co.jp/en.

“The explosion of new 3G+Wi-Fi capable devices has drastically changed the Japanese mobile market,” said Naoto Komatsu, senior expert for mobile solutions development at Wire and Wireless Co. Ltd. “Yesterday’s wireless broadband access models are being replaced by a new approach that leverages smarter and more economical Wi-Fi technology to lower costs, improve coverage, increase performance and ensure the highest levels of reliability to demanding users.”

Komatsu noted that recent advances in Wi-Fi technology are ideal for augmenting traditional wide area broadband wireless infrastructures. By offloading data traffic onto higher speed and more reliable Wi-Fi networks, operators can now create more efficient Wi-Fi Hot Zones. Wi-Fi Hot Zones exploit advances in Smart Wi-Fi technology to deliver seamless and super high-speed IP connectivity to roaming users within a specific area or group of buildings at a fraction of the cost of conventional broadband wireless technology.

“Data traffic is exploding so fast that operators have now taken a much more strategic view of Wi-Fi as a way to complement their existing broadband wireless strategies,” said Selina Lo, president and CEO of Ruckus Wireless.“With talk of there being nearly a billion Wi-Fi endpoints by 2012, it’s becoming a wireless land grab for operators. Smart Wi-Fi is now front and center with carriers as the most economical way to quickly stake their ground.”

The Transformation of Hotspots and Need for Smarter Wi-Fi

Armed with more powerful handheld devices, users are demanding more from broadband and hotspot operators. Streaming multimedia content, location-based services, ultra high-speed connectivity and more interactive and customized content are all defining the next phase of mobile data connectivity.

Industry experts expect the broadband wireless market will quickly expand due to the significant penetration of Wi-Fi terminals and the introduction of WiMax and 3G/4G/LTE commercial services. These wireless broadband technologies are costly and time-consuming to deploy and often have problems penetrating into buildings and indoor environments. Wi-Fi represents the perfect access complement to emerging wireless broadband access technologies due to its high performance, low cost and a pervasive installed base of end points. However, conventional Wi-Fi technology still suffers from range and reliability issues. With Ruckus Smart Wi-Fi, these problems are being solved.

Smart Wi-Fi Turns Wi-Fi from a Toy into a Tool for Hotspot Operators

Ruckus Wireless is credited with innovating Wi-Fi breakthroughs that automatically form and constantly direct Wi-Fi signals over the best paths at any given time. This enables unprecedented levels of reliability and a two- to four-fold increase in signal range. “When it comes to performance, operators don’t care about theoretical maximums, they care about service quality,” said Lo. “This has been our focus as a company from day one.”

Ideal for next-generation hot spots and hot zones, the Ruckus ZoneFlex 7962 is the newest dual-band 802.11n system and the first to support dynamic beamforming, a new technique to increase Wi-Fi reliability and range.

The Ruckus ZoneFlex 7962 provides support for legacy 802.11a/b/g clients as well as native 802.11n clients. Broadband operators can deploy the ZoneFlex 7962 as a standalone access point, remotely managing tens of thousands of individual ZoneFlex 7962s over any IP network using the Ruckus FlexMaster management system, or, for larger public venues such as airports, hotels, libraries, convention centers, etc., the Ruckus ZoneFlex 7962 can be deployed with the ZoneDirector Smart wireless LAN controller as part of a centrally managed WLAN system – also remotely managed by the FlexMaster system.