MERU MAKES HEADWAY IN HEALTHCARE MARKET WITH WIRELESS LAN SOLUTION

Announces 25 Major Deployments, Partner Momentum and Customer Satisfaction
 

Sunnyvale, CA – December 7, 2006
Meru Networks, the global innovation leader in wireless infrastructure for the All-Wireless Enterprise, today announced significant momentum in the healthcare industry, with more than 25 leading healthcare facilities across the nation having now deployed its Wireless LAN System. Using Meru's solution, healthcare organizations are providing improved patient care, safety and service while realizing significant cost savings. St. John's Hospital in Springfield, Ill., for example, was able to save over two million dollars per year with Meru's solution.

St. John's Hospital initially installed Meru's WLAN System on its first four floors to provide mobile VoIP connectivity using a redundant controller for maximum service availability. St. John's realized improved security and simplified trouble shooting, as well as a fast return on its initial investment. The experience led to an extension of the network throughout the entire hospital.

Meru's Wireless LAN System delivers the industry's highest quality voice and data services over a single WLAN infrastructure, allowing caregivers and staff to connect wirelessly from anywhere within their facilities, without concern over dropped signals or inconsistent coverage that plagues older 3rd generation wireless systems. Meru's Air Traffic Control technology guarantees wireless data, toll quality voice and streaming video application delivery to clinicians using a single, secure, unified wireless network.

"The way Meru's system is designed makes a lot of sense for us. We no longer have to worry about channel planning and individual access points because the system as a whole works as a virtual cell," said Gretchen Niehaus, manager of IT/Telecom, St. John's Hospital. "We are able to quickly make configuration changes and affect many access points and even a controller. With only two network engineers, the ability to make changes so easily is really beneficial to us."

Another healthcare facility benefiting from Meru's technology is LifeSphere, a nationally recognized leader in the care and support of older adults based in Cincinnati, Ohio. LifeSphere deployed Meru's WLAN System to deliver critical healthcare applications to its staff. Using a combination of Meru's WLAN System and wireless PDAs and tablets, LifeSphere provides it staff with mobile, electronic charting capabilities to improve efficiencies and clinical documentation over paper charting, enabling caregivers to spend more time on patient care and streamlining operations.

"Overall Meru offered the best balance across usage, security and cost," said Dan Wittekind, director of information technology for LifeSphere. "LifeSphere evaluated numerous solutions, but determined that Meru's WLAN System was the only one that satisfied our need for seamless coverage with roaming free of disruption, as well as the ability to scale without the need to upgrade software or hardware."

To support the needs of its growing healthcare customer base, Meru is partnering with industry leaders such as international solution provider Ascom to deliver wireless voice and data solutions that are seamlessly integrated with clinical, management, financial and technical systems.
"Quick response improves workflows and communication within and especially between departments, such as the radiology and laboratory departments," said Tom McKearney, vice president marketing and business development, Ascom. "Our combined solution helps hospitals reduce overall operational costs and increase quality assurance. In addition, better process efficiency reduces time losses which provide hospital staff more opportunities to improve the quality of care on a day-to-day basis."

"Healthcare organizations are looking to wireless communications because of the potential they offer for improved efficiency, operating cost savings and a higher standard of patient care," said Michael Tennefoss, vice president of marketing, Meru Networks. "Meru's guaranteed application delivery blurs the distinction between application performance on wired and wireless networks, allowing healthcare organizations to obtain the mobility and life-cycle cost benefits of a wireless network and the performance of a wired one."

About Meru Networks
Meru Networks is the global leader in wireless infrastructure solutions that enable the All-Wireless Enterprise. Its industry leading innovations deliver pervasive, wireless service fidelity for business-critical applications to major Fortune 500 enterprises, universities, healthcare organizations and local, state and federal government agencies. Meru's award-winning Air Traffic Control technology brings the benefits of the cellular world to the wireless LAN environment, and its WLAN System is the only solution on the market that delivers predictable bandwidth and over-the-air Quality of Service with the reliability, scalability, and security necessary to deliver 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 (408) 215-5300.