Ruckus
Wireless announced that it will integrate support for the emerging IEEE 802.11u
protocol within its Smart Wi-Fi system within the next 12 months, and said it
has successfully completed its first demonstration of the Wi-Fi Alliance’s
Hotspot 2.0 specification with a major U.S. operator.
Widely viewed
as a significant evolutionary milestone for Wi-Fi as a technology, 802.11u and
Hotspot 2.0 address these problems by simplifying the use and integration of
Wi-Fi within mobile cellular networks.
A common set
of standards created by the Wi-Fi Alliance, Hotspot 2.0 uses 802.11u as a
fundamental building block to effectively automate the network discovery,
registration, and access steps a Wi-Fi user must manually take today when
connecting to a given hotspot.
“With
the help of Hotspot 2.0 and 802.11u, the Wi-Fi industry is turning a
corner,” said Steve Martin, vice president of engineering for Ruckus Wireless.
“No
longer is Wi-Fi regarded as the ugly stepchild within the mobile network
operator community. The realization that Wi-Fi is a complete complement to
cellular mobile networks in addressing critical capacity issues is quickly
becoming a reality,” Martin added.
With 802.11u
and Hotspot 2.0, users automatically connect and authenticate to the best
available Wi-Fi network without having to fiddle with tedious configuration
settings on their devices providing an experience comparable to how cellphones
work when users roam to a new location with the phone automatically determining,
connecting to, and authenticating with the best cellular network.
Hotspot 2.0
offers the future possibility of a range of benefits for operators looking to
optimize their mobile network infrastructure. Offloading IP traffic that
doesn’t need to traverse cellular core networks and improving the end-user
experience on Wi-Fi hotspots and Service advertisement and monetization are
these benefits.
Ruckus is
participating in the effort within the Wi-Fi Alliance to develop a
certification program for Hotspot 2.0 and will be participating in the Wireless
Broadband Alliance-sponsored initial operator trials for its Next Generation
Hotspot (NGH) interoperability initiative.
Ruckus Wireless recently announced the launch
of new products and technology in India to address critical scalability and
reliability issues faced by enterprise.
The company
introduced its newest ZoneDirector 5000 Wi-Fi controller and a collection of
advanced features in a new version of its ZoneFlex Smart/OS software. The new
ZoneDirector 5000 (ZD5000) Wi-Fi controller delivers reliable and secure
high-speed wireless access for up to 20,000 clients distributed across multiple
locations.
