Ruckus Wireless today unveiled a comprehensive product and technology roadmap, including a new category of mobile Wi-Fi gateways, aimed at helping mobile operators cleanly integrate carrier-purposed Smart Wi-Fi technology into 3G and 4G cellular infrastructures.
Wi-Fi hotspots are also a quick and cost-effective way for mobile operators to inject wireless capacity in areas of high usage. Wi-Fi is becoming embedded in virtually every mobile Internet device, among carriers.
But, the lack of integration between Wi-Fi hotspots and cellular networks is hampering operators from delivering a seamless subscriber experience, and having to maintain separate management and back-end systems increases overhead, says Ruckus.
The Ruckus Mobile Wi-Fi portfolio features a new Wireless Services Gateway, that acts as a central point of control for Smart Wi-Fi access points. Ruckus has also extended its patented BeamFlex smart antenna and Smart Mesh backhaul technologies to enable multi-access, small cell base stations.
The Ruckus Mobile Wi-Fi solution is said to offer:
- increase the reliability of unlicensed spectrum Wi-Fi services;
- add coverage and capacity at the lowest possible cost;
- integrate Wi-Fi with cellular core services over standard 3GPP interfaces;
- simplify the subscriber experience with auto-provisioning of Wi-Fi client devices;
- leverage Smart Wi-Fi to supply cost effective backhaul for future microcell services; and
- enable transparent roaming between Wi-Fi and 3G/4G networks in the future.
Ruckus says it has built the largest Wi-Fi-based mesh network in the world, with India’s Tikona. The network is comprised of 40,000 indoor and outdoor nodes, serving residential and small business customers in 29 cities in the country, said Selina Lo, Ruckus CEO and president (right).
Ruckus also outfitted Germany’s Hamburg Sports Club’s soccer arena with an 802.11n wireless LAN system, covering 57,000-plus seats and Chongqing Telecom has now deployed over 4,000 Ruckus ZoneFlex indoor and outdoor Smart Wi-Fi access points (APs) along with ZoneDirector WLAN controllers in China.
The Ruckus Mobile Wi-Fi gateway combines 3GPP WLAN access gateway (WAG) functions and advanced WLAN controller capabilities. Situated between the Wi-Fi network and the mobile core, the Ruckus WSG interfaces with core AAA systems for client authentication and policy setting.
Subscribers no longer need to sign on explicitly every time they access hotspot services. Smart Mesh management provides auto-formation, auto-optimization and auto-healing of mesh topologies allowing operators to install APs at locations where wired backhaul isn’t available. The WSG is capable of managing tens of thousands of Ruckus Smart Wi-Fi APs and hundreds of thousands of Wi-Fi clients.
Available in the second half of 2011, the Ruckus WSG can process up to 20Gbps of throughput per 2U of rack space and manage up to 10,000 Ruckus Smart Wi-Fi access points.
