Ruckus Wireless Expands And Enhances Small Business Offering

Company Introduces Entry-level, Enterprise-class 802.11ac Access Point;
“Unleashed” Goes Outdoors with New Controller-less Access Points

Ruckus Wireless, today announced a new, entry-level 802.11ac access point along with the expansion and enhancement of its family of Ruckus Unleashed™ access points. The new products and capabilities make it even easier for small businesses to deploy high-performance Wi-Fi that meets their cost, ease-of-deployment and coverage needs. Three new products expand the range of high-performance Wi-Fi options available to small businesses:

Ruckus ZoneFlex™ R310 is an entry-level, enterprise-class 802.11ac access point that features a wide range of Ruckus performance-enhancing features. The Ruckus R310 has a sleek, low-profile form factor and delivers superior dual-band  performance for organizations that rely on Wi-Fi to run their  business.

• Ruckus ZoneFlex R310 Unleashed is a controller-less version of the R310. Unleashed eliminates the need for separate controllers and access point licenses, significantly reducing upfront costs. A simple web interface featuring a step-by-step set-up guide enables non-IT users to configure Wi-Fi in just 60 seconds and deploy in minutes.

• Ruckus ZoneFlex T300 Series Unleashed are controller-less versions of Ruckus’ existing T300 access points, which provide dual-band 802.11ac access for outdoor deployments. The T300 series features a lightweight, low-profile design for easy installation, and will now allow small businesses to add outdoor connectivity to a controller-less Wi-Fi environment.

In conjunction with the new access points, Ruckus Unleashed has added new features to simplify management of controller-less Wi-Fi networks. Specifically, Ruckus is introducing its patented SmartMesh™ technology to Unleashed. With SmartMesh, small businesses no longer have to run Ethernet wiring to all indoor and outdoor access points, saving both money and time. Ruckus Unleashed also now supports SNMP protocols to easily manage and monitor network elements.

Unlike the stripped-down products for small business offered by competitors, the portfolio of Unleashed access points for small business delivers industry-leading Wi-Fi performance based on Ruckus’ patented BeamFlex™ adaptive antenna technology and ChannelFly™ capacity-based channel selection. BeamFlex and ChannelFly work together to provide stronger Wi-Fi signals over longer ranges, while adapting automatically to environmental changes. This yields more stable connections, higher data rates and more concurrent users per access point.

“Small and mid-size organizations increasingly rely on Wi-Fi to engage customers, deliver services and run their businesses,” said Kash Shaikh, vice president of marketing and business development at Ruckus. “Our new products help level the playing field for small businesses, local retailers, coffee shops and restaurants, so they can deliver a high-quality Wi-Fi experience indoors and outdoors – with a much lower total cost of ownership.”

Today’s news builds on the October 2015 launch of Ruckus Unleashed, a controller-less Wi-Fi architecture that reduces ownership costs and delivers up to 50 percent higher Wi-Fi performance1 for small and mid-size business environments. Ruckus Unleashed can manage up to 25 access points as part of a single-site network. Businesses can easily plug and play more Wi-Fi access points as their needs grow – and if multiple sites are needed, Ruckus offers an easy migration path to controller-based Wi-Fi, using the same access points.

Ruckus Unleashed will now be available with three indoor access points – ZoneFlex R310 ($495); ZoneFlex R500 ($645); and ZoneFlex R600 ($795) – and one family of outdoor access points (ZoneFlex T300, T300E, T301N, and T301S). ZoneFlex R310 is available now. The Unleashed versions of ZoneFlex R310 and T300 series will be available in March 2016. All of these access points are also available as part of a controller-based network managed by Ruckus’ ZoneDirector™ and SmartZone™ controllers. These controller platforms include user access controls, guest networking functions, advanced Wi-Fi security and traffic management.

“Wi-Fi connectivity has become an absolute requirement for customers and employees of small businesses,” said Nolan Greene, IDC research analyst, network infrastructure. “Business owners are often challenged to provide reliable, business-grade networks within a limited budget. Solutions like Ruckus’ new access points provide small and medium business owners with more options – covering the range of needs from indoor to outdoor, controller-based to controller-less, and cost-conscious to performance-driven.”

Ruckus ZoneFlex and Ruckus Unleashed access points are available through Ruckus’ global distribution network.

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