Ruckus Wireless is one of the pioneers of the wireless infrastructure industry and delivers innovative solutions for wireless networking in an affordable manner. Lately, the company has redefining its role in the industry of wireless networking with new technologies that increase connectivity options for enterprises and service providers at a fraction of the cost of traditional infrastructure.
Ruckus Wireless is a leading provider of Smart Wi-Fi products for both service providers and enterprises. The publicly held company based out of California provides a range of products that have been developed with its signature Smart Wi-Fi technology designed to increase the performance, reliability, and range of wireless access points and network infrastructures.
The technology also uses adaptive antenna arrays to strengthen wireless signals which can then automatically adapt to radio frequency interference. This enables the technology to choose the best signal path for each wireless connection which ensure a stronger and more reliable connection in areas that would otherwise give off a weak signal.
Smart Wi-Fi Defined
The Smart Wi-Fi technology developed by Ruckus Wireless allows service providers such as Time Warner, Bright House Networks, Sprint, China Telecom and others to offer advanced Wi-Fi performance to their clients. Additionally, enterprises including Marriott, Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, various universities, and other educational institutions, are able to integrate next generation wireless capabilities that are not possible to achieve with standard Wi-Fi infrastructures.
Prior to the increased demand for wireless access in public areas, Wi-Fi infrastructure was designed for environments with low interference. These were environments such as a coffee shop or your home network where there was very little need for advanced wireless capability due to the computers being produced at the time and the number of people connecting to the network.
For this reason, the Wi-Fi technologies used in these areas were designed to be very basic. When used in today’s environments, older Wi-Fi technologies are incapable of providing a high performance connection since the products are challenged by an increased number of people connecting to the network and interferences by other modern technologies.
Ruckus Wireless rolled out Smart Wi-Fi to meet the ever growing demands for connectivity in many public areas and work environments. The signature technology combines the power of five different components which include BeamFlex, ChannelFly, SmartMesh, Zero IT Activation, and Dynamic PSK. Here are a few reasons why these new technologies are very popular with many service providers and enterprises.
BeamFlex
BeamFlex technology involves a smart Wi-Fi antenna that utilizes control software coupled with a compact internal antenna grouping. The purpose of the technology is to rank the configurations for each antenna on a receiving device.
BeamFlex is capable of reconfiguring itself to select the highest performing antenna configuration. This helps to avoid obstructions such as buildings and other interferences that can compromise wireless performance.
The advanced technology is also capable of adjusting Wi-Fi signals to surrounding conditions which ensures reliable performance and larger ranges of connectivity. It also reduces the number of dead spots where there is no connectivity at all using high gain antennas that reject surrounding interferences.
ChannelFly
ChannelFly is a new technology by Ruckus Wireless that represents a different way to manage wireless network channels. In a conventional dual channel configuration, the technology offered by most wireless providers automatically changes between a 2.4GHz and 5GHz band whenever there is an excessive amount of interference.
Using ChannelFly technology, it is possible to provide high performance capacity in densely populated areas where channels are constantly busy. The ChannelFly technology uses assessments of authentic channel capacity to discover which channels will provide the best performance at any given time. This means the system can consistently determine the proper channel without any need for monitoring or configuration. When combined with the BeamFlex technology, you can achieve up to two times the capacity which is the maximum data speed that can be achieved within a specific link. This is ideal for environments that are prone to getting congested with network traffic.
SmartMesh
When enterprises and other organizations offer a Local Area Network, it is necessary to connect multiple wireless access points with cables. The SmartMesh technology avoids this hassle by combining high gain smart antenna groupings, high performance routing, and centralized network management. When this is combined with Smart Wi-Fi technology, the end result is the ability to plug a wireless access point into any outlet in order to provide wireless connectivity with one-click setup.
Zero-IT Activation
The patented IT-Activation technology provides a way to easily configure smartphones and tablets while simplifying the troubleshooting and network administration of wireless enabled devices.
Dynamic PSK
Dynamic Pre-Shared Keys (PSKs) are used to enhance security and provide an easy way to automatically create user encryption keys that can easily be distributed and maintained on a wireless network infrastructure. The encryption keys are generated and installed on each device following successful authentication. The keys can easily be deactivated once a student or employee leaves the organization and no longer requires access to the wireless network.
In addition to the video descriptions provided above, here is an interesting video on Ruckus Wireless antenna technology discussed at the Mobile World Conference 2014.
Let’s take a look at some of the other modern wireless technologies that have been introduced by Ruckus Wireless.
SmartCell
Ruckus Wireless SmartCell technology is designed to provide service providers and large enterprises with enhanced gateways and access points. SmartCell gateways offer 3rd Generation Partnership compatibility to enhance operability and provide scalable Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) controllers.
The SmartCell system provides a way to easily integrate all wireless components via the use of a mobile packet core and WLAN controllers that are completely scalable and compatible with 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) for maximum functionality. This eliminates issues associated with traditional wireless solutions because the access point is assimilated with lesser components designed for high-density utilization. SmartCell technology also solves the urban connectivity challenges by providing the ability to run 3G, 4G, LTE, and Wi-Fi networks simultaneously to facilitate consistent and reliable performance.
SmartCell technology is designed for installation and configuration in outdoor environments which are typically used by retail, hospitality, and restaurant businesses to accommodate their customers. The technology has a hardened enclosure to enable the components to stand up to extreme weather elements.
SmartCell technology is mountable on ceilings, walls, and poles, with a BeamFlex adaptable antenna that has a range of 120 degrees. This allows the smart antenna to automatically rank antenna configurations and reconfigure itself to the one with the highest performance.
Swipe
Earlier in September of 2014, Ruckus Wireless announced the introduction of Swipe which is an application that assists IT professionals and field technicians with the installation and configuration of ZoneFlex wireless access points. Swipe stands for Smart Wireless Provisioning Engine and is technology that allows you to install and configure wireless access points in a distributed deployment using a tablet PC or smartphone.
ZoneFlex access points are a signature technology created by Ruckus Wireless. ZoneFlex technology is designed to bridge the gap between the inferior features of typical consumer access points and costly high end infrastructures that are implemented by large enterprises.
The following video provides an overview of why the patented Zone Flex technology is significant.
Using the Swipe app, IT professionals can easily install ZoneFlex access points simply by scanning the barcode for the access point, entering the name of the access point, and then capturing a picture of the access point. Then the Swipe app can be used to select a configuration profile for that specific access point. The access point is registered among the Ruckus ZoneFlex access points deployed on a specific network and entered into a centralized management system such as the SmartCell mentioned earlier.
In terms of troubleshooting, the Swipe app allows you to search for access points according error type or access point name. The app continually updates the access point data and automatically downloads the appropriate configuration.
Conclusion
Ruckus Wireless provides some of the most advanced technologies on the market today. The most recently introduced technologies make Ruckus Wireless a company worth following as mobile connectivity evolves. Because of its high performance, reliability, and capacity, many enterprises, small to medium sized businesses, retail and hospitality venues, sports venues, and educational institutions have chosen to implement Ruckus Wireless infrastructure.