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Meru’s AP832 Features a Dual Radio 802.11ac Design Delivering up to
3X the Performance of 802.11n Access Points
DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES–(Marketwired – Oct 20, 2013) – GITEX 2013 — Meru Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: MERU) today launched the Meru AP832, the market’s fastest 802.11ac access point, to the Middle East. The AP832 delivers as much as 3X the performance of 802.11n access points.
Meru’s 802.11ac speed is attributable to the Virtual Cell, a single-channel option provided by the MobileFLEX architecture and its support for the use of 80 MHz channels as outlined in the IEEE 802.11ac draft specification. Competitors’ wireless architectures largely restrict support for 40 MHz channels due to limited channel availability, reducing data rates to approximately half of the 1.3 Gbps-per-radio the specification allows. Meru customers also report that 802.11n devices run up to 30 percent faster on the AP832 than on 802.11n access points.
The Meru 802.11ac solution is extremely power-efficient, enabling the use of three spatial streams over two 802.11ac radios on standard 802.3af power. This eliminates the need for customers to upgrade their entire Ethernet switching infrastructure, as currently required by many Meru competitors when deploying their 802.11ac solutions.
“Ubiquitous and instantaneous access to information resources is essential to ensuring the best possible learning experience for our students and is essential to our future,” said David W. Johnson, head of technology services and support (TSS) at the University of Houston. “The adoption of Wi-Fi devices on the University of Houston campus has been explosive. Students are likely to carry two or three Wi-Fi enabled devices at any given time and all-encompassing Wi-Fi use in the classroom will soon be the norm. The promise of IEEE 802.11ac to serve up media rich content in highly dense environments makes it a top priority and is driving UH to get out ahead of the curve. We feel that we need to be working with 802.11ac today, learning what it can do and how to leverage it to increase access, improve service and security, and reduce our costs by enabling a shift from wired to wireless infrastructure.”
“Bellarmine is committed to staying on the leading edge of technology adoption to ensure that our students have the best possible learning experience,” said Chris Carey, tech director at Bellarmine College Preparatory in San Jose, Calif. “We’re currently in the midst of launching a one-to-one iPad initiative for the 2013-2014 school year and are working closely with Meru to ensure that our WLAN solution exhibits the perfect blend of density, performance and control. Meru’s .11ac solutions will play a critical role in helping us advance our technology leadership position and support future education technology initiatives.”
802.11ac adoption is driven by the quickly-growing number of mobile devices, the BYOD trend and high-bandwidth applications such as HD video, video conferencing and cloud-based services and storage. Consumer devices such as smart phones and tablets supporting 802.11ac are available now.
“With the advent of the new 802.11ac standard, WLAN infrastructures are expected to see early adopter deployments in the enterprise this year, largely focused on addressing the need to support rapid growth and density of BYOD devices. This is coupled with the transition of video, collaboration and cloud applications towards becoming relatively ubiquitous in highly-productive mobile enterprises,” said Rohit Mehra, vice president, network infrastructure, IDC. “Meru’s new AP832 access points feature a two-radio and three spatial stream design that can tap the full potential of 802.11ac with high bandwidth and capacity to meet the challenges of high density environments and multi-media rich applications.”
NEW 802.11ac AP832 Access Point – The Meru Advantage
Building on the Meru MobileFLEX architecture, the AP832 features an industry-leading design with two dual-band 802.11ac-supporting radios capable of simultaneously transmitting on the 5 GHz band. This allows users to overlay 802.11ac APs on 802.11n networks to solve capacity problems in high density environments. The AP832 also enables the use of three spatial streams with only standard 802.3af power over Ethernet (PoE), helping customers avoid forklift upgrades to their switching infrastructures as required by many competitors. The AP832 access point enables customers to address the challenges created by high-density client environments and increased client diversity by leveraging the full potential of 802.11ac. It is also backwards-compatible to support 802.11n clients in both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands.
Meru AP832 access points are designed to fit into existing Meru AP332 (802.11n) mounting brackets, enabling quick and easy plug-and-play upgrades. Currently shipping Meru controllers can be upgraded to support 802.11ac using Meru System Director 6.0 software.
“Meru’s virtual cell and single-channel capabilities, part of the MobileFLEX architecture, give the Meru solution measurable advantages over 802.11ac products from other vendors in the market, all of which require multiple channels to avoid co-channel interference and are therefore limited in their ability to achieve full 1.3 Gbps 802.11ac data rates,” said Manish Rai, vice president of marketing at Meru. “The flexibility and scalability of the Meru architecture ensures that our customers get the full benefit of the 802.11ac specification.”
The Meru AP832 is shipping now and has a list price of USD $1,295.
For more information about Meru 802.11ac Wi-Fi, please visit: www.merunetworks.com/gigabitwifi.
For Meru videos on 802.11ac, please visit us on YouTube: bit.ly/10XkHOn.
About Meru Networks
Meru Networks (NASDAQ: MERU) is a market leader in the development of mobile access and virtualized Wi-Fi solutions. Meru’s MobileFLEX wireless architecture addresses the ever-growing need for higher bandwidth and higher client densities. The Meru Identity Manager solution greatly simplifies secure device on-boarding and the company’s unique Context-aware Application Layers enable dedicated channel assignments for specific applications, devices and usage scenarios. Meru customers include Fortune 500 businesses as well as leaders in education, healthcare and hospitality. Founded in 2002, Meru is headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif., with operations in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia Pacific and Japan. Visit www.merunetworks.com or call (408) 215-5300 for more information.
©2013 Meru Networks, Inc. Meru and Meru Networks are registered trademarks and the Meru logo is a trademark of Meru Networks, Inc. in the United States. All other trademarks mentioned in this document are the property of their respective owners.
Contact Information
Press Contact
Wilson Craig
Director of Public Relations
Meru Networks
+1 408 516 6182
wcraig@merunetworks.com