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Ruckus Wireless Monday confirmed the addition of two new access points, including a high-end AP that marks a new "big iron" in the Ruckus portfolio and is the company's first three-stream AP.
New to Ruckus' portfolio is the ZoneFlex 7982, a dual-band three-stream 802.11n AP leveraging Ruckus' patented adaptive antenna array. Ruckus said the AP can deliver up to 9 dB of signal-to-interference and noise improvement and up to 15 dB of interference mitigation, and that the device is ideal for high-traffic locations such as airports, schools, hotels and stadiums.
The ZoneFlex 7982 can support up to 500 concurrent clients, said David Stiff, Ruckus director of product management, which is necessary for heavily trafficked areas where many users are carrying more than one wireless device.
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"In high-density areas, you have all these devices that, while not always in use, might be connecting to the AP but not doing any traffic," Stiff explained. "Having a high client count prevents passive devices from filling up your connection."
The other new AP is the entry-level compact ZoneFlex 7321, which measures 5 x 5 x 1 inches and can support up to 256 concurrent users. Like all of Ruckus' newer ZoneFlex products, it includes advanced Ruckus technology such as ChannelFly, which automatically "learns" and selects, based on the actual capacity of the channels at the time, the best RF channel for a wireless transmission to offer the highest throughput.
Both new APs are available now, with the ZoneFlex 7982 listed at $1,099 and the ZoneFlex 7321 listed at $349. Each supports 802.3af Power over Ethernet (PoE) and is deployable as a stand-alone wireless router or as part of a centrally managed WLAN system.
Combined with Ruckus' ZoneDirector, both APs also leverage Ruckus applications such as smart-mesh networking, client load-balancing, hot-spot authentication and wireless intrusion prevention.
NEXT: Ruckus Targets 'Persuasive Performance'
