Ruckus aims new 802.11n Wi-Fi kit at mid-sized firms

Ruckus hopes the new products will drive take up of 802.11n products for mid-sized firms

Ruckus Wireless today launched two 802.11n Wi-Fi products in its ZoneFlex range aimed at helping mid-range firms take advantage of the new standard for wireless technologies.

James Calderbank, director of enterprise sales, explained that the company was not looking to serve the needs of large enterprises, where systems were often highly complex.

Instead he said that the new access point products were designed to meet the needs of medium-sized businesses by offering a combination of flexibility, simplicity and cost-effectiveness.

"The growing number of devices in enterprises that require wireless access, like laptops, smartphones, and especially iPhones, means firms need to be able to access more bandwidth to run all these various applications," he said.

"The new 802.11n standard can provide this, offering speeds of up to 300Mbit/s, but the technology is not as ubiquitous as it should be. With IT budgets still tight these products are designed to meet businesses' needs, while remaining cost-effective too."

Calderbank added that the new products also use Ruckus' smart antenna array and dynamic beam forming technology to offer improved reliability and performance, issues that have in the past hampered the adoption of 802.11n technologies.

He also argued that, while current research from Gartner shows that around 26 per cent of devices shipped last year ran 802.11n Wi-Fi technology, he believes this would increase over time as more devices were updated to run the new technology.

"As more products are shipped with 802.11n technology, we will hit a tipping point where the price differential between products with 802.11b/g and 802.11n will be so small that it will make more sense for firms to migrate to the newer standard," he said.

The ZoneFlex 7363 is priced at $599 (£428) and the 7342 at $499 (£357), about $500 cheaper than the company's previous indoor 802.11n product offering.