TMCnet News
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[March 16, 2004] Meru Improves Wi-Fi Handsets' Talk Time Meru Networks, a provider of voice over wireless LAN (WLAN) infrastructure technology, announced it is working with leading 802.11-based phone manufacturers and chip vendors to significantly increase handset battery performance. Meru is providing the manufacturers with sleep-mode drivers for handsets that increase talk time battery life by more than 200 percent when operating over a Meru Wireless LAN.Because Voice-over-IP (VoIP) packets over Wireless LAN can arrive at any time, voice-over-WLAN handsets continually operate at full power, – a tremendous drain on handset-battery life. Meru’s award-winning Wireless LAN System, on the other hand, leverages patent-pending Air Traffic Control technology to provide “predictable channel access” that delivers guaranteed Quality of Service (QoS) per voice call or per flow. Meru is providing a license for a sleep-mode driver that takes advantage of this predictability, allowing unused functions on the handset’s chips to be shut down between packet transmissions during talk time. The result is a 100 to 300 percent increase in talk time. "Extending battery life remains the final frontier of mobility," said Craig Mathias, a Principal with Farpoint Group, an advisory firm specializing in wireless communications and mobile computing. "Improved talk and standby time will enhance the usability of Wi-Fi handsets. Meru's commitment to improving the overall customer experience will lead to an even broader adoption of voice over Wi-Fi." “We are working with a variety of chip and handset manufacturers to bring the benefits of this technology to more WLAN users,” said Kamal Anand, VP of Marketing and Sales, Meru Networks. “This development is in keeping with our strategy to enhance user experience, drive the wireless VoIP market forward with inexpensive, standards compliant clients and, in turn, provide greater return on investment for our enterprise customers.” “We see a tremendous opportunity for voice over wireless LAN technology in our customer base. We hope to increase the talk time of our Wi-Fi handset when operating with Meru Networks,” said Mr. Toshio Wada, Manager, Information Systems Group, Hitachi-Cable. Recently accorded 2003 Product of the Year by Technology Marketing Corporation’s INTERNET TELEPHONY magazine, Meru’s Wireless LAN System is the industry’s only completely standards-compliant solution capable of delivering toll-quality voice calls over an enterprise WLAN. It enables an enterprise to deploy a single converged wireless network for voice, video and data, reducing the cost of deployment and administration as well as equipment costs. Meru's Wireless LAN System includes the Meru Access Point, a standards-compliant, 802.11 access point that simultaneously acts as an access point and radio-frequency monitor; the Meru Controller, a centralized gateway by which all security, QoS and management policies can be configured and enforced across the entire WLAN, and the Meru System Director, an extensible, embedded software suite. |