Mitsui Ventures NEWS

NEWS 2008

[12/01/2008]

Ruckus Wireless Positioned as Up and Comer
in Gartner's New Wireless LAN Magic Quadrant Report


Captures Solid First Time Position
in the Definitive State-of-the-Industry
Wireless Report Only One Year after
Shipping Its First Smart Wireless LAN System

SUNNYVALE, CA, December 1, 2008—Ruckus Wireless™ made its first appearance as an up and comer in the wireless LAN (WLAN) market, catapulting into the latest Gartner Magic Quadrant Report for Wireless LANs, 2008, only one year after shipping its ZoneFlex™ Smart WLAN system.

Since its first shipment, the ZoneFlex business has seen average quarterly growth of over 100 percent. To date, the company has shipped over one million Smart Wi-Fi access points and Smart WLAN controllers to carriers and enterprises around the world.

This growth reflects increasing demand for more valuable WLAN systems that deliver a comprehensive set of essential capabilities at a fraction of the cost of existing solutions. As economic conditions tighten, companies are looking for more affordable WLAN systems that provide a faster return on investment while reducing ongoing operating costs.

The Ruckus ZoneFlex Smart WLAN system was “purposed designed” to deliver reliable, consistent, and extensive Wi-Fi coverage and secure mobility for data, voice and video applications, while being easier to deploy and manage than existing WLAN solutions.

Already recognized as a pioneer in smart antenna and dynamic RF routing technologies, the Ruckus ZoneFlex has won many customers among enterprises and carriers with its Smart Mesh Networking and FlexMaster remote management capabilities that make deploying and managing the advanced Wi-Fi system simple.

The Gartner report attributes Ruckus Wireless’ quick rise within the WLAN market to:

  • Offering unique antenna design that enables highly focused beam forming which provides coverage and signal distribution advantages,
  • Being a price point leader when bid against the bigger vendors for larger campus-wide networks, particularly if they have unique coverage requirements.

Unmatched growth and success within the carrier market demonstrated the company’s ability to execute as well as its advancing position as an industry visionary. The Gartner WLAN Magic Quadrant report notes that “numerous global service providers, high volume, long-term contracts, will provide significant revenue while Ruckus builds [its growing] enterprise business.”

“To gain this status in such as short period of time reflects our ingenuity to innovate along with our ability to execute,” said Selina Lo, president and CEO of Ruckus Wireless. “Wi-Fi is better positioned, more than ever, to take advantage of the mobile digital lifestyle that is pervading homes, workplaces and everywhere in between. However to achieve this position, Wi-Fi must grow up and transform to be Ethernet-reliable, Ethernet-simple, and Ethernet-cheap. And that is what ZoneFlex is all about.”

“Ruckus Wireless is breathing new life into the wireless LAN market with highly differentiated technology that offers unparalleled value for money,” said Tom Gobeille, president and CEO of Network Computing Architects, a leading technology solutions provider based in Bellevue, WA. “There’s pent up demand in the channel for a robust but easy-to-use Wi-Fi solution to sell to mid-market enterprises. Gartner Group is now reporting what we’ve all seen for the past year.”

Gobeille noted that stronger interest in Wi-Fi is being driven by 802.11n solutions that combine predictable performance and reliability. “Ruckus has managed to address the top concerns of cost, reliability and ease-of-use as it relates to this next generation of Wi-Fi technology,” he concluded.

The Gartner Magic Quadrant, a proprietary research tool developed by Gartner Inc., a US based research and advisory firm, provides an unbiased qualitative analysis of a “markets’ direction, maturity, and participants.” Gartner, Inc.'s Magic Quadrant positions vendors in a particular market segment based on their ability to execute and completeness of vision.

About the Magic Quadrant

The Magic Quadrant is copyrighted 2008 by Gartner, Inc. and is reused with permission. The Magic Quadrant is a graphical representation of a marketplace at and for a specific time period. It depicts Gartner's analysis of how certain vendors measure against criteria for that marketplace, as defined by Gartner. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in the Magic Quadrant, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors placed in the "Leaders" quadrant. The Magic Quadrant is intended solely as a research tool, and is not meant to be a specific guide to action. Gartner disclaims all warranties, express or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

For more information:

David Callisch
Ruckus Wireless
david@ruckuswireless.com
Mobile: +1-408-504-5487