Gateway provides in-home connections to Wi-Fi networks.
Press Release Summary:
Designed to work with any standard metro-scale Wi-Fi mesh network, MetroFlex 802.11b/g wireless access gateway provides wireless broadband connections into homes and offices. It supports WPA PSK data encryption, 802.1x authentication, and is capable of receiving signals down to -100 dBm. Featuring automatically tunable, dual polarized, high-gain antennas known as smart antenna array, product sends and receives Wi-Fi signals over best possible RF path at any given time.
Original Press Release:
Ruckus Wireless Delivers MetroFlex, the First Reliable Wi-Fi System for In-Home Connectivity to Outdoor Metro-scale Wi-Fi Network
Ruckus MetroFlex Solves a Key Problem in the Explosive Municipal Wi-Fi Market - Getting Subscribers Reliably Connected at Home
SUNNYVALE, Calif., July 31 - Ruckus Wireless, an innovator in next-generation smart Wi-Fi technology, today announced the commercial availability of MetroFlex, the first high-performance 802.11b/g wireless access gateway specifically designed to give consumers better in-home connectivity to outdoor metro-scale Wi-Fi networks -- a key problem facing service providers deploying city-wide Wi-Fi networks.
The Ruckus MetroFlex system provides reliable wireless broadband connections into homes and offices, delivering better than DSL speeds.
In addition, the company said its MetroFlex system is being deployed by several metro-scale Wi-Fi providers throughout the U.S. (see below), will be resold by Expressnets, a customer premise equipment (CPE) supplier and systems integrator, and is compliant with Tropos Networks' Metro Compatible Extensions Specification (TMCX) program. The Ruckus MetroFlex solution also significantly increases client-side performance for subscribers of any metro-scale Wi-Fi system, regardless of the mesh equipment deployed.
Designed to work with any standard metro-scale Wi-Fi mesh network, the Ruckus MetroFlex system is the most sensitive and reliable in-home Wi-Fi receiver in the world. It has demonstrated the ability in rural environments to sustain above 5 Mbps at one kilometer away from the nearest Wi-Fi node. Additionally, unique software developed by Ruckus Wireless specifically for its MetroFlex product determines the fastest Wi-Fi node with which to associate, based on the best data rates and strongest Wi-Fi signal.
"Subscriber connectivity at home is a potential Achilles heel for metro- scale Wi-Fi," said Leo Wandling, president of Expressnets. Expressnets was recently selected by the City of Mountain View (CA) as the official Metro Wi-Fi modem supplier and home subscriber integrator for its city-wide Wi-Fi network.
"The variable power and inherent lack of intelligence in traditional consumer Wi-Fi devices have created problems in connecting to outdoor Wi-Fi networks from inside building and homes. In many ways, this defeats the purpose of providing such a service. The city of Mountain View is taking the lead in providing customized Metro Wi-Fi modems that add significant reliability and predictability to these subscriber connections. These products, such as the Ruckus MetroFlex, represent a huge step forward in making metro-scale Wi-Fi a viable and practical competitive broadband business."
MetroFlex solves a potential problem for broadband providers and their subscribers who require long-range and reliable indoor connectivity to outdoor metro-scale Wi-Fi networks, and helps ensure an outstanding subscriber broadband experience. While metro Wi-Fi networks continue to grow at a rapid pace around the world, the variability of Wi-Fi client devices represents a real challenge in establishing reliable connections to these outdoor Wi-Fi nodes, often hundreds of feet away from subscriber's homes.
Conventional Wi-Fi access points and receivers are designed to send and receive Wi-Fi signals in all directions at once. However, as signals propagate out, they quickly weaken and degrade, thereby limiting the distance and speed at which users can connect. In addition, obstacles such as trees, walls and buildings, as well as other Wi-Fi networks, have the potential to diminish the indoor propagation characteristics, resulting in less than optimal wireless broadband experience, and increased customer service efforts.
"Without a good Wi-Fi receiver, it's a crapshoot for consumers trying to connect to metro-scale Wi-Fi networks from indoors," said Mitch Gonzalez, founder of Cheetah Wireless Technologies, Inc., the leading metropolitan Wi-Fi provider in Las Vegas, Nevada. "This has opened the door for a new breed of in-home metro-scale Wi-Fi products designed to solve this important customer satisfaction problem. The Ruckus MetroFlex looks to be the premiere product in this category, creating a more reliable and predictable consumer broadband experience."
Cheetah Wireless is among the first to be deploying the Ruckus MetroFlex to extend outdoor Wi-Fi signals indoors, along with Atria Networks in Ontario, Rightway Online in Corpus Christi, TX, Veraloft in Half Moon Bay, CA, U.S. Internet in Minneapolis, MN, and ILS.net in Toronto.
Pricing and Product Details
The Ruckus Metroflex is a high-powered and purpose-built wireless device used by broadband wireless providers to reliably extend outdoor Wi-Fi signals into subscriber homes. MetroFlex effectively eliminates metro-scale Wi-Fi connection problems using state-of-the-art "smart Wi-Fi" technology.
Unlike traditional consumer Wi-Fi products, Ruckus smart Wi-Fi technology sends and receives Wi-Fi transmissions farther and faster using automatically tunable high-gain antennas known as a smart antenna array. This smart antenna array sends and receives Wi-Fi signals over the best possible RF path at any given time. If the Wi-Fi environment changes, the Ruckus MetroFlex tunes itself by steering signals around problem areas or interference, thereby avoiding connection problems and poor performance. The most sensitive Wi-Fi receiver available today, the Ruckus MetroFlex is capable of receiving signals down to -100 dBm.
The Ruckus MetroFlex is equipped with a high power amplifier and dual (vertically and horizontally) polarized directional antennas that combine to deliver unprecedented range and performance. The MetroFlex supports the latest data encryption (WPA PSK), 802.1x authentication and dynamic channel selection. Automatic firmware updates allow product upgrades without any user intervention.
In downlink testing, the Ruckus MetroFlex consistently outperformed competitive products with throughput gains of up to 150 percent. In locations where other wireless CPE devices were simply unable to connect, the Ruckus MetroFlex consistently delivered reliable broadband connectivity.
Available immediately for purchase online at expressnets.com/Google_Wifi_Mv.htm, the Ruckus MetroFlex is priced at US $129.00. Visit www.ruckuswireless.com/ for more details.
About Ruckus Wireless, Inc.
Founded in June 2004 and headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, Ruckus Wireless is credited with developing the first "smart Wi-Fi" system that enables reliable transmission of digital video over standards-based in-home wireless networks. The company's patent-pending hardware and software technologies improve the performance, range and predictability of wireless networks in the home, extending all the benefits of Wi-Fi to consumers' television viewing and enabling service providers to deliver 'triple play' services of voice, video and data over one broadband connection. The company, named to the 2006 "Fast 50" by Fast Company magazine and the 2006 Red Herring 100, has raised approximately $14 million in two rounds of venture financing from top investors including Sequoia Capital, Sutter Hill Ventures, WK Technology Fund and Investor AB. Ruckus Wireless is led by Selina Lo, CEO, named in 2005 by Light Reading magazine as "Industry Statesman of the Year" and Dominic Orr, Chairman of the Board. For more information, visit the company's web site at www.ruckuswireless.com/
Media Contacts
David Callisch
Ruckus Wireless
david@ruckuswireless.com
+1-408-504-5487 mobile
Source: Ruckus Wireless
Web site: www.ruckuswireless.com/
