Different by Design WLAN Infrastructure that Assures Application Delivery and TollQuality Voice

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Different by DesignWLAN Infrastructure that
Assures Application Delivery andToll-Quality
Voice
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The Evolution of WLAN

• Data
• Voice
• Streaming video
• E-mail
• Browser
• Web services
• Integrated messaging
• Critical business applications
• Primary connectivity

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Guaranteed delivery of business-critical
applications is a must

• Businesses today mandate guaranteed application
  delivery
• Business-critical applications must work
  regardless of the medium over which they are
  delivered
• Applications must run as well on a wireless LAN
  as they do on a wired one
• The user experience and application performance
  must be the same

LAN WLAN
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Guaranteed application delivery doesnt happen by
chance

• WLANs must be application-aware to guarantee
  delivery
• Voice has unique QoS needs
• Streaming video needs downlink bandwidth
• Slow/fast clients need fair air time allocation
• Mobility requires instantaneous handoffs
• Traditional WLANs have unpredictable application
  delivery
• No application awareness the network doesnt
  adapt with new clients and applications
• No upstream flow control - clients independently
  decide when to transmit
• The initial deployment consumes all usable
  channels leaving no reserve capacity
• Functional for e-mail and Web browsing but not
  for mission-critical applications

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Merus WLAN platform is different by design

• Meru is the only WLAN vendor to provide
  guaranteed application delivery
• Adjusts in real-time to mission-critical data,
  voice, and streaming video applications
• Analyzes traffic in real-time, continuously
  optimizes the network for every application
• The WLAN decides when clients transmit, providing
  flow control and yielding the highest performance
  WLAN in the industry
• The result highest bandwidth, highest density,
  fastest handoffs, highest MOS scores

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Merus Value Proposition - Key Differentiators

• Air Traffic Control
• Ease of Set-up and Use
• Virtual Cell Technology
• Investment Protection

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Key differentiator Air Traffic Control

• Air Traffic Control Technology
• Manages upstream and downstream application flows
  like a switch
• Coordinates flows between Access Points and
  eliminates co-channel interference
• Provides air time fairness
• Enables high-density, mixed 802.11b/g client
  networks
• Uses standard (non-proprietary) clients
• Cellular-like Architecture

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Hubs vs. switches

• A hub shares the total bandwidth among all users
  without regard for fairness - this is how
  traditional WLANs work
• A switch provides a dedicated line at full
  bandwidth between every two devices yielding
  fairness and high throughput - this is how a Meru
  WLAN works

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Real world benefits of Air Traffic Control
Fairness
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Key differentiator Ease of Set-up and Use
Expanding a Traditional WLAN

• Traditional WLAN
• To minimize interference power levels are lower
  so cell size is smaller requires more Access
  Points, cable drops, and labor
• Recurring site surveys
• Adds/moves/ changes require channel reassignment
• Meru WLAN
• Single channel eliminates interference so full
  power can be used, larger areas covered so fewer
  devices required
• Access Points can be added to increase capacity
  as needed without a channel planning survey

Expanding a Meru WLAN
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Key differentiator Virtual Cell Technology

• Manages network access and handoffs
• Instantaneous handoffs
• Delay-free roaming
• Toll-quality voice
• Application load-balancing

Ch. 11
Ch. 6
Ch. 1
Traditional WLAN deployment
Ch. 1
Meru WLAN deployment
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Traditional WLAN Roaming and handoffs
Dropped
Delayed
Ch1
Ch6
Ch11

• Roaming client scans for the next strongest
  signal then disconnects/reconnects from Access
  Points
• Handoff takes 50-1000ms, is noticeable to
  callers, and can result in dropped calls
• Client decides when to handoff and to which
  Access Point to connecteven though it knows
  nothing about the Access Points load or capacity
• Cannot intelligently select the optimum Access
  Point its hit or miss
• Controller cannot enforce roaming direction, only
  reject clients

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Meru WLAN Roaming and handoffs
Ch1
Ch1
Ch1

• A roaming client stays on one channel, and the
  Meru Controller not the client decides when
  to switch
• Process is instantaneous (3ms), silent
  (transparent) to callers, and drop-free
• Controller knows the best Access Point for
  handoff based on application, load balance, and
  signal quality
• Unlike a client, the Controller has knowledge of
  the entire network and can make informed decisions

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Meru Toll Quality Voice Meru QoS 5X Voice Calls
Per Access Point
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Key differentiator Investment Protection

• Future-proofing
• Requires fewer Access Points, cable drops, and
  POE than traditional VoWLANs
• Forestalls the need to touch clients to add to
  802.11a or 802.11n for new applications or VoWLAN

Meru offered the best balance across usage,
security and cost. In terms of both our current
needs and our future plans to expand the network
by adding voice and additional data applications,
Merus WLAN System was the clear choice. Dan
Wittekind, Director of Information Systems,
LifeSphere
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Less equipment, simpler installations, better
coverage

• Meru Virtual Cell WLAN operates at full power
• Requires fewer Access Points, cable drops, and
  POE devices
• No channel surveys or interference issues
• Stable clients, fair consumption of bandwidth

• Traditional WLAN operates at lower power to
  minimize interference
• Requires more Access Points, more cable drops,
  and more POE devices
• More Access Points require more lengthy surveys
  and increase interference
• Dynamic power adjustments cause erratic client
  behavior, distant low-speed clients consume
  bandwidth

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A single channel architecture preserves RF
resources

• Traditional WLAN consumes RF resources
• Meru Single Channel WLAN preserves RF resources

All RF channels are consumed Access Points must
be modified or replaced for expansion and future
applications
Ch. 6
Ch. 11
Ch. 1
Virtual cells can be layered to add
capacity/bandwidth without touching existing
Access Points
Ch. 11
Ch. 6
Ch. 1
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Customers Industry Firsts

• University of Miami Medical
• Worlds largest single channel deployment
• University of Michigan
• Highest user density production deployment
• Philadelphia School District
• High density and high availability in largest
  WLAN enterprise network
• Osaka Gas
• Largest dual-mode phone FMC deployment
• Multiple customer deployments
• Zero handoff for clients as they roam from AP to
  AP

UNCC
Dade County
FEMA
DoJ
Nike
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Gartner Magic Quadrant
Merus converged voice, data, and video WLAN
platform sits at what the Gartner Group calls
"the high end of the technology spectrum"
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Sales, support, training worldwide
Meru NetworksCorporate HeadquartersSunnyvale,
California 94087Tel [phone]Fax
1-408-215-5301 www.merunetworks.com