Telecom Lead America: Ruckus Wireless has launched
three-stream (ZoneFlex 7982) and affordable dual-stream (ZoneFlex 7321) 802.11n
Smart Wi-Fi access points for carriers and enterprises.
The Ruckus ZoneFlex 7982 and ZoneFlex 7321 enhance the
high and low ends of the Wi-Fi market.
The new ZoneFlex 7982 and 7321 Smart Wi-Fi access points
are developed for enterprises and telecom operators which face similar
pressures from new users armed with wireless-only mobile devices, accessing a
richer mix of multimedia traffic.
Within enterprise environments, the majority of Wi-Fi use
is inside buildings during working hours. For operators, network analysis has
shown that the majority of mobile data usage, close to 80 percent, is indoor
and nomadic, rather than truly mobile.
The ZoneFlex 7982 and ZoneFlex 7321 integrate a
collection of technologies. These capabilities increase signal gain, mitigate
RF interference and allow ZoneFlex AP to adapt to the changing nature of Wi-Fi
signals from connected mobile devices.
Ruckus claims the ZoneFlex 7982 is the only three-stream
802.11n access point to combine dynamic polarization diversity with adaptive
antenna arrays and transmit beamforming technologies to give customers up to a
4x improvement in Wi-Fi performance, signal gain and reception.
The ZoneFlex 7321 is suited for emerging markets and
single AP deployments – not only where the demand for mobile Internet services
is also rising but where tighter economic constraints on network investments
dictate a balance toward lower cost over sheer performance.
“This is driving a complete shift in how we approach
Wi-Fi. Up to now, providing ubiquitous coverage was the primary issue.
But now the problems are user density, reliability and overall system
capacity,” said Joe McBreen, CIO of St. Vrain Valley School District,
a 47-school district with 27,000 students, which recently replaced a network of
Cisco APs with more than 1,000 ZoneFlex 802.11n APs.
The ZoneFlex 7982 is the only dual-band, three-stream
802.11n access point equipped with a patented, dual-polarized adaptive antenna
array. This delivers up to 9dB of signal-to-interference and noise (SINR)
improvement and up to 15dB of interference mitigation.
The ZoneFlex 7982 is ideal for high-traffic locations
such as hotspots, airports, stadiums, schools, hotels and public venues. The
ZoneFlex 7982 is based on the Atheros three-stream high-performance chipset and
capable of supporting up to 500 concurrent clients. It is offering a 2x to 4x
increase in performance and range, and a 4dB improvement in receive sensitivity
over alternative access points.
Moreover, the ZoneFlex 7982 is able to capture the full
signal of mobile devices even as they vary their orientation. This gives
carriers and enterprises the benefit of stable connectivity at higher speeds
delivered to mobile and devices at greater distances – particularly important
for tablets and smartphones that tend to remain in constant motion.
