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Xirrus Introduces Advanced RF Performance Manager (RPM) for 802.11N NetworksTHOUSAND OAKS, Calif. --(Business Wire)-- Xirrus, Inc., the Wi-Fi "Power-Play" that delivers the most wireless coverage, bandwidth, and throughput in the industry, announced today its advanced RF Performance Manager (RPM) for optimizing the bandwidth usage and station performance of 802.11n Wi-Fi networks. Leveraging the multiple integrated access point (multi-radio) design of the Xirrus Wi-Fi Array with up to 24 radios per device, RPM manages the allocation of wireless bandwidth to wireless stations across multiple RF channels. The result maximizes overall network performance with the flexibility and capacity traditional Access Points with 1 or 2 radios cannot match. Today's wireless infrastructure is faced with ever increasing numbers and variations of Wi-Fi enabled clients, whether in the form of notebooks, netbooks, smart phones, IP phones, printers, projectors, cameras, RFID tags, etc. The advent of higher speed 802.11n Wi-Fi and its increased use of the 5GHz spectrum adds to the number of variables today's wireless networks must accommodate. Backwards compatibility with older clients is crucial, however their operation in a Wi-Fi network can significantly hinder the performance of faster clients. As an example, 802.11b Wi-Fi stations communicate more than 10 times slower than 802.11n stations. When both 802.11b and 802.11n stations share the same radio, the communication of the 802.11b stations take over 10 times the amount of air-time to send the equivalent amount of data, significantly reducing the bandwidth available to the faster clients and the overall capacity of the channel. The Xirrus Wi-Fi Array is ideal for efficiently deploying high-speed 802.11n networks while maintaining coexistence with older 802.11a/b/g clients because of its multi-radio design that integrates 4, 8, 12, 16 and soon 24 radios per device. With each radio operating on a different channel, RPM selects the ideal radio for each station. High speed stations are grouped together on radios with other high speed stations, while lower speed stations are combined with other lower speed stations. This ensures optimal performance for high speed 802.11n stations without compromise. RPM for the Xirrus Wi-Fi Array includes a number of features for managing the RF and traffic performance in a Wi-Fi environment (see below). New in the ArrayOS 4.0.6 release is advanced station load balancing that intelligently assigns stations to radios based on 4 criteria: Band - 5GHz is favored over 2.4GHz if the station supports it. This is increasingly important for 802.11n given 8X as many channels (and thus bandwidth) are available in the 5GHz band. Station Mode - Wi-Fi mode of the station (802.11n, 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g) is considered with stations of like type steered to the same radio. Radio Load - Stations are steered to radios with the least station load. Signal Strength - Wireless signal strength is considered to ensure the station is connected to the appropriate radio based on strength of the link. "The analogy for RPM is a multi-lane freeway. The more lanes on the freeway, the more cars can travel on the road and the faster all cars can go - this is the benefit the Wi-Fi Array brings with its multi-radio design. The fast lane on a freeway allows some cars to go faster in congested conditions, however it only takes one slow car in the fast lane to slow everyone down. RPM puts the fast cars together in the same lanes which allows them to move at full speed unhindered by slower cars. This also frees up the rest of the lanes for other cars to move as fast as they were designed to. Everyone gets on the road, and the overall speed for everyone is optimized," said Dirk Gates, founder and CEO of Xirrus. The complete feature set of the RPM (RF Performance Manager) package includes: Station Load, Mode, and Band Balancing Automatic Cell Sizing Automatic Channel Allocation Sharp (News - Alert) Cell technology Wireless Data Rate Optimization Wireless Traffic Shaping Wireless QoS policies Wireless Voice Call Admission Control RPM is part of a family of functionality packages for the Xirrus Wi-Fi Array, which also includes the RF Security Manager (RSM) and RF Analysis Manager (RAM). These additional packages will be introduced in subsequent press releases. All three packages are available now in the ArrayOS 4.0.6 software release. Sign up for your free site survey by visiting us at www.xirrus.com/sitesurvey or by calling 800-947-7871. About Xirrus Xirrus, the only Wi-Fi "Power-Play," manufacturers the Wi-Fi Array® architecture that displaces both overlay Wi-Fi offerings and switched Ethernet to the desktop. The Wi-Fi Array integrates 4, 8, 12, 16, or 24 802.11abg+n radios coupled to a high-gain directional antenna system into a single device along with an onboard multi-gigabit switch, Wi-Fi controller, firewall, dedicated Wi-Fi threat sensor, and an embedded spectrum analyzer. The Wi-Fi Array provides more than enough bandwidth, security, and control to replace switched Ethernet to the desktop as the primary network connection. The Xirrus Wi-Fi Array delivers the most coverage, bandwidth, throughput, and user density on a per device and per system basis than anything else available on the market today - resulting in a solution that uses 75% fewer devices, cabling, switch ports, power, space, and installation time compared with any other offering. Xirrus is a privately-held company headquartered in Thousand Oaks, California. For more information, please visit www.xirrus.com. Xirrus - Switching: Without Wires™ Xirrus - High Performance Wi-Fi™ Xirrus - Wi-Fi Array® Follow us at twitter.com/xirrus, facebook.com/xirrus, and youtube.com/xirrustv. |
