Ruckus Wireless Appoints New Regional Sales Manager to Drive Explosive European Wireless Business

Ex-HP and Colubris Manager to Focus on Scaling Channel Business in the UK and Ireland as Demand for More Reliable Wi-Fi Systems Burgeons

LONDON, ENGLAND - 24 May, 2010 – Ruckus Wireless, the smart mobile networking company, today announced the appointment of Bryan Hall, former mobility sales specialist at HP and sales manager at Colubris, as regional sales manager for the UK and Ireland. Hall’s appointment coincides with new changes in the Ruckus Big Dogs channel programme that provides additional incentives to a new “Top Dog” tier of elite resellers.

Ruckus Wireless is among the industry’s fastest growing pure-play Wi-Fi companies. Over the last four years, Ruckus has seen its wireless business grow over 1050 percent with a 119 percent compound annual growth rate. Europe represented one of the company’s strongest markets in 2009. Since entering the wireless LAN market in 2007, Ruckus Wireless has accredited over 1900 channel partners worldwide, of which 69 operate throughout the UK and Ireland.

Unlike other wireless suppliers, Ruckus Wireless operates a diverse global business, selling advanced Wi-Fi systems to a wide-range of enterprise and carriers customers for applications that include enterprise wireless local area networks, wireless broadband access and mobile operator infrastructure.

Hall will take responsibility for enterprise sales operations in this region with the goal of expanding the presence of Ruckus into markets such as healthcare and hospitality. An essential element of this strategy is growing the company’s existing UK channel operations and recruiting more specialist distributors and resellers. Ruckus Wireless sells into the enterprise market exclusively through a two-tier channel model that includes top distributors and channel partners in every country it serves.

Additionally, Ruckus has introduced a new deal registration programme that protects partner margin in exchange for registering opportunities. Ruckus has also created a new tier within its Big Dogs programme called ‘Top Dog’. Top Dogs are top-performing resellers that benefit from greater discounts and dedicated market development funds to help them execute co-branded marketing activities, co-sponsored events, and strategic sales initiatives.

“Unlike many other pure-play wireless companies, we’ve done the channel right with a structure, value proposition and margin model that is unique and compelling” said James Calderbank, director of enterprise sales EMEA at Ruckus Wireless. “The new deal registration programme helps us further forge stronger relationships with our network of partners. Our ongoing commitment, coupled with Bryan’s expertise, puts us in a very strong position to build our UK operations and position Ruckus as the wireless networking vendor of choice in the UK.”

Hall brings with him more than 25 years experience in the wireless industry, most recently at HP and Colubris, where he established strong and profitable channel relationships, and prior to this at companies including Proxim Wireless, Lucent Technologies and Dimension Data. At Colubris, Hall successfully closed the company’s largest UK deal worth almost £500 thousand.

“Ruckus is a different type of Wi-Fi company that is committed to the channel,” said Hall. “Our patented technologies are highly differentiated in the market, among the most cost-effective in the space and address a wide range of vertical market requirements. The combination of these factors is timed perfectly with the monstrous growth of Wi-Fi-enabled devices hitting the market and users who demand more reliable connectivity. This all amounts to huge opportunity for us and our partners.”

The Big Dogs programme continues to provide ongoing technical and sales training for Ruckus’ partners to ensure they are kept fully up to speed with the latest solutions and industry trends, and aims to support VARs and distributors with a range of lead generation activities and discount incentives.