Contact Information: Editorial Contact: Patty Oien Breakaway Communications for Meru (415) 358-2482 Email Contact
Meru Networks Announces Immensely Scalable WLAN Traffic Distribution System to Cost-Effectively Support Increased Bandwidth Needs of Upgrading to 802.11n
Gives Network Administrators Maximum Flexibility Independent of Network Topology
| Source: Meru Networks
SUNNYVALE, CA -- (MARKET WIRE) -- April 30, 2007 -- Meru Networks, the leader in standards-based
workplace mobility
infrastructure for wireless voice (VoIP), data and video, today
announced an overlay traffic distribution system that enables enterprises
to effectively support the significant increase in network loading
associated with 802.11n adoption. Meru's new 3-Tier Traffic Distribution
System (3TDS) dramatically reduces the total cost of ownership (TCO)
for 802.11n by enabling enterprises to exploit the full capacity of 802.11n
without having to make expensive upgrades to their existing wired Ethernet
switching backbone.
An 802.11n access point (AP) provides upward of six times higher throughput
than an 802.11a/b/g AP, placing significant demands on centralized wireless
controllers as well as the wired switching infrastructure between these
controllers and the APs.
3TDS, a flexible and immensely scalable system that is independent of
underlying network backbone topology, will be available later this year as
a software option to the Meru System Director operating system. 3TDS
separates the control traffic from the data traffic between the controller
and the APs, providing a single point of management and control, with
scalable points for data distribution.
Approaches recommended by other industry vendors for dealing with the
increase in over-the-air throughput are very costly and create tradeoffs
that weaken the case for migration to 802.11n. For example, centralizing
all traffic in a single large controller requires costly upgrades to the
underlying switch network and controller platform. Similarly, bridging
traffic between APs, while eliminating the need to upgrade the controller,
requires creating VLANs for each AP and brings with it the operational
challenges associated with the older generation of stand-alone APs.
The Meru 3TDS is an overlay architecture that does not require any change
to the existing wired backbone, and has three components: controllers,
distribution points (DPs) and APs. Controllers continue to centrally manage
APs in addition to DPs, but DPs now perform the data-forwarding functions
of aggregating traffic from APs. As more data throughput is needed,
enterprise can add DPs at any appropriate aggregation point in the overall
switched network with minimal cost and effort. Each DP, which is capable of
handling many gigabits of throughput, may be stacked in a single chassis,
or distributed across the network -- to best fit with the wired network
architecture of the enterprise. Additionally, DPs are centrally managed by
controllers to further eliminate the cost of managing DPs individually.
All Meru controllers, including the new MC5000 (see "Meru Networks
Unveils New 802.11n Offerings" press release issued today), may act as
combined controllers and DPs, or they may operate exclusively as DPs when
the system is configured to separate the data traffic and control traffic
for higher scale.
"The Meru 3TDS represents the industry's most flexible and cost-effective
approach for addressing the 802.11n capacity dilemma," said Vaduvur
Bharghavan, CTO and founder of Meru Networks. "As wireless increasingly
becomes the primary network, our 3-tier distribution system provides
enterprises with a very flexible and scalable approach for handling the
growth in number of wireless clients and the increasing need for bandwidth.
About Meru Networks
Meru Networks is the global
leader in wireless mobility
infrastructure solutions that enable the All-Wireless Enterprise for
Fortune 500 educational, healthcare, enterprise and government markets. Its
industry-leading innovations deliver pervasive, robust wireless service for
business-critical applications. Meru's award-winning Air Traffic Control
technology brings the benefits of the cellular world to the WLAN
environment, and it offers the only solution on the market that delivers
the reliability, scalability, and security necessary for converged voice
and data services over a single WLAN infrastructure. Founded in 2002, Meru
is based in Sunnyvale, California. For more information on Meru Networks
and its products, visit www.merunetworks.com or call +1-408-215-5300.