ABI Research Report Cites Meru Networks Technology As Best Architecture For 'Voice Over Wi-Fi'

'Virtual Cell', Zero-Handoff Approach Eliminates Call Latency Associated with Roaming
 

SUNNYVALE, Calif., Jan. 31, 2008 - Meru Networks' wireless network architecture offers a marked advantage over competitors in its ability to efficiently handle enterprise voice calls without disruption or loss of quality, according to a new report from ABI Research, based in Oyster Bay, NY.

The report, "The Voice Over Wi-Fi Ecosystem," identified Meru's virtual cell, zero-handoff architecture as the approach best adapted for preserving call quality, especially for "roaming" enterprise wireless users.
Stan Schatt, vice president and networking research director at ABI and author of the report, said, "A major challenge for enterprise wireless equipment vendors is engineering their networks to ensure the fastest possible 'handoff' of voice calls between wireless access points as busy employees move around the workplace. Meru's virtual cell architecture gives it a significant advantage because, with all access points operating on a single channel, no handoffs are required. This eliminates the problem of latency, or delay, typically associated with roaming."

Steve Troyer, Meru's vice president of product management, said, "Where traditional wireless networks often have to increase the density of access points and undergo other contortions to support voice, Meru technology was designed from the ground up with voice, video and data in mind. Enterprises that start out deploying our networks for data use can easily add robust voice capability with no architecture changes."

Meru's unique Air Traffic Control? architecture enables toll-quality voice on the wireless LAN, providing assured service quality and traffic classification in converged voice, video and data networks. Architected to handle large-scale enterprise networks, the system is used in one of the world's largest VoWLAN deployments, Osaka Gas of Japan, which uses more than 6,000 dual-mode cellular-Wi-Fi phones. Meru technology supports a wide variety of voice over Wi-Fi client devices, including Vocera, Avaya, Polycom/Spectralink, Ascom, Cisco and Nokia phones.

Unlike legacy enterprise wireless networks, which use a "micro cell" approach, Meru's virtual cell architecture works by selecting a single channel for use by all access points enterprise-wide, and layering additional channels as more capacity is required. This approach eliminates the costly channel planning and co-channel interference that plague legacy networks. Meru technology also features call admission control, which prevents quality-degrading call overloads by moving new calls to alternate virtual cells; and location- and application-aware quality of service, which allows assignment of priorities to voice traffic according to enterprise policy.

For more information on the "The Voice Over Wi-Fi Ecosystem" report, contact ABI Research at 516-624-2500 or visit www.abiresearch.com.

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.