Announcement: Ruckus SmartZone (SZ) software on SCG-200, SZ-100, vSZ platforms

[michael_brado]

Ruckus Wireless
Unveils SmartZone Unified Software Platform for the Wireless Networks of the
Future



Company Launches
Scalable and Resilient Carrier-Grade Software Platform Designed to Optimize the
WiFi User Experience

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ruckus-wireless-unveils-smartzone-unified-software-platform-... 

The release is also posted to our Press
Room:

http://www.ruckuswireless.com/press/releases/20150519-ruckus-wireless-unveils-smartzone-unified-soft... 



Full text of the release pasted below.







Ruckus Wireless Unveils SmartZone Unified Software Platform for
the Wireless Networks of the Future

 

Company Launches Scalable and Resilient
Carrier-Grade Software Platform

Designed to Optimize the WiFi User Experience


 

SUNNYVALE, CA – May 19, 2015 – Ruckus Wireless, Inc. (NYSE: RKUS) announced today the
introduction of its new SmartZoneTM software platform, a carrier-grade solution
developed for and deployed by service providers around the globe, now extended
to demanding enterprise customers. This future-ready solution powering Ruckus Smart WiFi products and technologies addresses the
growing challenges that enterprises and service providers face in delivering
high-performance, reliable WiFi, while also providing them with a clear path to
meet constantly increasing network infrastructure performance and service
requirements.

 

The Ruckus SmartZone software platform
provides unified software architecture across wireless LAN (WLAN) controllers,
for appliance, virtualized and cloud environments offering the ultimate in
deployment flexibility. This new WiFi software offers a tremendous level of
flexibility: scaling up to 300,000 devices, offering single and multi-tenancy,
as well as ‘WiFi-as-you-grow’—the capability for your network to expand with
and adapt to the changing needs of your business.

 

The new SmartZone software incorporates
and supports all Ruckus ZoneFlexTM indoor and outdoor access points (APs),
managed by a family of Ruckus physical and virtual appliance controllers,
including:

 

-        
NEW Ruckus SmartZone 100 wireless LAN (WLAN)
controller – the most affordable, scalable, resilient, and highest performing
WLAN controller in its class. The Ruckus SmartZone 100 combines power,
simplicity and tremendous scalability with unique Ruckus clustering technology.
Supporting up to 25,000 clients, with up to 10 Gbps data throughput, the
SmartZone 100 can manage up to 1,024 Ruckus ZoneFlex access points (APs), with
support for up to 3,000 APs and 60,000 clients in a cluster. The new Ruckus
SmartZone 100 easily integrates with network, security and authentication
infrastructure already in place, and is easily configured through a
point-and-click web wizard. Ruckus ZoneFlex APs automatically discover and are
configured by the SmartZone 100. Redundant and secure, the SmartZone 100
provides WLAN-wide network management within a single, easy-to-use and
affordable WLAN system.

 

-        
Ruckus virtual
SmartZone (vSZ) virtualized WLAN controller – designed for small, medium and large
enterprises and service providers. Delivering the benefits and easy scaling
capabilities of virtualization, the Ruckus virtual SmartZone is designed to
provide maximum scalability and flexibility with Network Functions
Virtualization (NFV). A vSZ cluster can support up to 30,000 APs and 300,000
WiFi clients.

 

-        
Ruckus virtual Data
Plane with vSZ-D – Ruckus SmartZone virtual Data Plane (vSZ-D) is ideal for
enterprise and service provider customers that need to centrally tunnel some or
all end-user data. The vSZ-D provides flexible and cost-effective data
tunneling that benefits from NFV architecture. 
The vSZ-D is manageable via the vSZ while enabling independent scaling
of control and data planes.

 

-        
Ruckus SmartCellTM Gateway (SCG) 200 – the most scalable hardware WLAN
controller on the market, supporting up to 10,000 access points (APs) and
100,000 clients (with a capacity of up to 20 Gbps) per appliance in a
cluster architecture. The Ruckus SCG 200 is the only platform that integrates 3GPP gateway functions, allowing
mobile network operators (MNOs) and managed service providers (MSPs) to
integrate Ruckus Smart WiFi into their existing mobile core to leverage
infrastructure services such as authentication and billing, already in place. Successfully
installed in customer deployments around the world, the Ruckus SCG 200 supports
both WLAN controller and WLAN gateway functions.

 

 

SmartZone Means Smart WiFi Now and in the Future

 

The SmartZone software platform provides
carrier-class performance, form factor flexibility, and high-performance WiFi
that can scale as an enterprise or service provider grows. Enterprises and service
providers can choose between multiple physical and virtual products to best
suit their needs, with data tunneling or local breakout for maximum
flexibility.

 

Ruckus SmartZone software platform
provides many key features and benefits, including:

 

-        
Resiliency – including cost-effective, massive
scalability, active-active controller clustering, enhanced AP survivability and
distributed deployment functionality;

-        
Innovation – next
gen Zero-IT with
Hotspot 2.0, Google and Facebook log-on functionality, and Ruckus ChannelFlyTM technology with adaptive channel
selection;

-        
Manageability – multi-tenant and multi-site, single pane GUI for easy management of the
entire cluster, 30 days of embedded reporting data with data retention, license
transfer across the SmartZone controller family, and restful/JSON API.

-        
Capacity Based Client Admission Control – designed to maintain best bandwidth option between WiFi and
Cellular networks, this feature protects the user experience when an AP is
under a heavy load, and maintains minimum bandwidth per client;

-        
Service Provider WiFi Gateway Functionality – this feature supports integration with the mobile packet core
using SaMOG per 3GPP Release 11 standards, for trusted WLAN access. Other
features include support for subscriber management, other value-added services
such as traffic breakout directly to the Internet, and Hotspot 2.0 Release 2
technology, which enables the WiFi connection experience to be as secure and
easy to use as 3G/4G LTE.

 

“Enterprises and service providers that are providing WiFi are under
the stress of increasing mobile device proliferation and constantly escalating
availability requirements of business-critical applications,” said Greg Beach,
vice president of Product Management, Ruckus Wireless.  “As applications evolve and more devices get
connected, both of them need to invest in a high performance and high
availability network to overcome these challenges today, while investing for
their future WiFi needs. With
our Ruckus SmartZone software platform, we’re providing them with a solution
that is cost-effective and easy to use and manage.”

 

Pricing and
Availability

The new SmartZone family of Ruckus physical and virtual appliance
controllers is available now worldwide from authorized Ruckus BiG DOGs
partners.  The vSZ-D will be available
next quarter. The new Ruckus SmartZone
100 controller starts with an MSRP of $4,995 (USD), plus $100 (USD) per access
point license.  The Ruckus virtual
SmartZone (vSZ) pricing is $995 (USD) per instance, plus $100 (USD) per access
point license.  For Ruckus SmartCell
Gateway (SCG) 200 or vSZ-D pricing, contact Ruckus Wireless.

 

Follow Ruckus
Wireless on Linkedin and Twitter 
for all the latest on #SimplyBetterWireless.

###

ABOUT RUCKUS WIRELESS

Headquartered
in Sunnyvale, CA, Ruckus Wireless, Inc. (NYSE: RKUS) is a
global supplier of advanced wireless systems for the rapidly expanding mobile
Internet infrastructure market. The company offers a wide range of indoor and
outdoor “Smart WiFi” products to
mobile carriers, broadband service providers, and corporate enterprises, and
has approximately 52,000 end-customers worldwide. Ruckus technology addresses
WiFi capacity and coverage challenges caused by the ever-increasing amount of
traffic on wireless networks due to accelerated adoption of mobile devices such
as smartphones and tablets. Ruckus invented and has patented state-of-the-art
wireless voice, video, and data technology innovations, such as adaptive
antenna arrays that extend signal range, increase client data rates, and avoid
interference, providing consistent and reliable distribution of delay-sensitive
multimedia content and services over standard 802.11 WiFi. For more
information, visit http://www.ruckuswireless.com.

 

ChannelFly,
Ruckus, Ruckus Wireless, SmartCell, SmartZone, and ZoneFlex are trademarks of
Ruckus Wireless, Inc. in the United States and other countries. All other product or company names may be trademarks of their
respective owners.

[michael_brado]

SZ 3.1.1 Update coming.  We've pulled the 3.1.1.0.442 links temporarily, so we can incorporate important updates.  More to come, thanks.

[michael_brado]

Firmware re-posted, with a caveat about a few R710, and cert issue for webauth/guest pass on R710/T300/T301s.