Ruckus launches new Wi-Fi products for businesses, housing complexes

Computerworld - Ruckus Wireless today announced new Wi-Fi technology products that can be used to provide wireless services to businesses, housing complexes and schools.

The products, which include including two outdoor mesh access points, a backhaul antenna system, and a customer premise gateway, combined are called Wireless Broadband Access (WBA) and rely on unlicensed Wi-Fi spectrum using the 802.11g and faster 802.11n specification, Ruckus officials said. The products will be available to enterprises through third parties as well.

Fewer access points (APs) are required with the technology, with greater reliability of connections through "beam forming" technology, which helps reduce costs, said David Callisch, director of marketing at Ruckus. Beam forming is basically the ability to focus a radio beam for a more reliable connection, avoiding obstacles.

Regarding relative wireless costs, Callisch said one square kilometer of area could cost $500,000 to equip using WiMax gear, but would cost $100,000 with WBA.

He said one carrier in Mumbai is able to serve 3,000 homes with 15 Wi-Fi APs from Ruckus, down from 200 APs with conventional technology. The worst case of Wi-Fi throughput using an 802.11n Ruckus AP would provide 150 Mbit/sec. throughput at a distance comparable to three footballs fields, Callisch said.

The new Ruckus products are available now. The point-to-point bridge (a type of antenna), called the ZoneFlex 7731 and used for backhaul connections, is priced at $2,398 per pair, the company said. Two APs, called the ZF2741 for 802.11g, and ZF7762 for 802.11n, sell for $899 and $1,999 respectively. A customer premise wireless gateway, to extend Wi-Fi signals indoors, sells for $159.

Management software used in wireless zones is sold in rack units starting at $1,200 and systems management software for central network operations centers starts at $5,000.

Callisch said the end-to-end collection of Ruckus products could offer wireless Internet connectivity to entire communities of businesses and homes with improvements on older Metro Wi-Fi technology, a wireless access approach that has fallen out of favor in some cities largely due to funding issues.

"This is sort of Metro Wi-Fi 2.0 technology, with an actual business model," Callisch said in an interview.

Ruckus cited several service providers already rolling out the technology, including WiNet Broadband, a network operator serving Malaysia, which plans to roll out the WBA technology to service 250,000 customers by the end of 2010.

In the U.S., Triad Telecom is rolling out Ruckus gear and has several installations already deployed that are "working well," said Don Annas, president of Triad, based in Greensboro, N.C., in an e-mail. Triad offers voice over IP services to mid-sized and large businesses nationwide, and is also a wireless ISP for smaller businesses that have about 300 users.