Ruckus' ZoneFlex Tops New Independent Tests of Seven Leading Enterprise Wireless LAN Systems by Jones-Petrick and Associates

(Business News & Technology News, 23 Jan 2008)

Ruckus Wireless' ZoneFlex Smart WLAN system outperformed seven leading enterprise wireless LAN (WLAN) systems in an independent test report published by Jones-Petrick and Associates (JPA), one of the industry's most respected experts in wireless networking.

The WLAN testing, conducted over a two-month period, benchmarked the latest generation of enterprise WLAN systems within a real-world office environment. The tests measured single client throughput, multiple (20) client throughput and voice quality performance with multiple (19) Voice-over-Wi-Fi (VoFI) clients and background data traffic at varying distances, levels of obstruction and interference.

In every test, the Ruckus ZoneFlex consistently delivered significantly higher throughput at the greatest distances and in the most challenging locations, with and without interference. Additionally, in the VoFI tests, ZoneFlex demonstrated the highest and most consistent voice quality, measured by mean opinion score (MOS) and R-Value—two standard performance metrics for evaluating VoIP technologies—across all the test locations, making it the only WLAN system able to continuously deliver "toll quality" voice traffic.

The wireless testing was performed by Al Petrick, the Vice Chairman of the IEEE 802.11 working group and co-author of the book IEEE 802.11 Handbook, A Designer's Companion, and a principal of Jones-Petrick.

"The innovations in centralized wireless LAN systems have enabled enterprises to deploy, manage and secure their WLANs to mobilize the workforce and reduce overhead costs associated with constant wiring and re-wiring," said Petrick. "However, when it comes to delivering reliable, predictable performance for users everywhere, our testing shows that systems with inherent, RF-optimized APs outshine those that rely only on WLAN controllers for RF management."

He added that with Wi-Fi now becoming users' preferred connectivity method, enterprises are looking for systems that can deliver wired-like performance, particularly in hard-to-reach locations and for delay-sensitive applications like voice and video. "Based on our testing, we determined that the performance benefits offered by the Ruckus ZoneFlex system make it the suitable solution for the mid-size enterprise," Petrick concluded.

As the centralized WLAN model becomes accepted as the de-facto standard for enterprise WLANs, the focus will turn to fixing the neglected RF issues that negatively affect performance and stability. The historical approach of throwing more APs and controllers into the network to address range and performance limitations increases WLAN cost and complexity, in addition to being ineffective in combating RF interference.

Test Details and Results
JPA conducted a variety of wireless LAN tests in a single-story, 18,000-square-foot office complex in Fremont, California, using the latest equipment from seven leading enterprise WLAN vendors and standardized test tools such as Ixia's IxChariot and IPerf.

For each device under test, JPA tabulated TCP throughput results for both single client and multiple clients in different locations throughout the test facility, with and without interference. JPA also captured the MOS and R-Values in a VoFI test with multiple dispersed VoFI clients and varying AP locations. The tests performed were:

1) TCP downlink performance on a single client in six different locations with four client rotations per location, with and without interference introduced
2) Aggregate TCP downlink performance on 20 dispersed clients and six AP locations at varying distances, with and without interference introduced
3) Voice quality of 19 VoFI clients and 1 client PC generating background data traffic

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