Different by Design

WLAN Infrastructure that Assures Application Delivery and Toll-Quality Voice

The Evolution of WLAN

Convenient

2 nd Generation Stand Alone

2000-01

Important

3 rd Generation Centralized

2002-03

Business-Critical

4 th Generation Traffic-optimized

2004-05 2 • Data • E-mail • Browser • Basic Connectivity • Data • E-mail • Brower • Web services • Data • Voice • Streaming video • E-mail • Browser • Web services • Integrated messaging • Critical business applications • Primary connectivity

3

Guaranteed delivery of business critical applications is a must

• Businesses today mandate guaranteed application delivery • Business-critical applications must work regardless of the medium over which they are delivered • Applications must run as well on a wireless LAN as they do on a wired one • The user experience and application performance must be the same

LAN = WLAN

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Guaranteed application delivery doesn’t happen by chance

• WLANs must be application-aware to guarantee delivery • Voice has unique QoS needs • Streaming video needs downlink bandwidth • Slow/fast clients need fair air time allocation • Mobility requires instantaneous handoffs • Traditional WLANs have unpredictable application delivery • No application awareness – the network doesn’t adapt with new clients and applications • No upstream flow control - clients independently decide when to transmit • The initial deployment consumes all usable channels leaving no reserve capacity • Functional for e-mail and Web browsing but not for mission-critical applications

5

Meru’s WLAN platform is different by design

• Meru is the only WLAN vendor to provide guaranteed application delivery • Adjusts in real-time to mission-critical data, voice, and streaming video applications • Analyzes traffic in real-time, continuously optimizes the network for every application • The WLAN decides when clients transmit, providing flow control and yielding the highest performance WLAN in the industry • The result: highest bandwidth, highest density, fastest handoffs, highest MOS scores

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Meru’s Value Proposition Key Differentiators

1.

Air Traffic Control 2.

Ease of Set-up and Use 3.

Virtual Cell Technology 4.

Investment Protection

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Key differentiator: Air Traffic Control

Air Traffic Control Technology

• Manages upstream and downstream application flows like a switch • Coordinates flows between Access Points and eliminates co channel interference • Provides air time fairness • Enables high-density, mixed 802.11b/g client networks • Uses standard (non-proprietary) clients • Cellular-like Architecture

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Hubs vs. switches

• A hub shares the total bandwidth among all users without regard for fairness - this is how traditional WLANs work • A switch provides a dedicated line at full bandwidth between every two devices yielding fairness and high throughput - this is how a Meru WLAN works

Real world benefits of Air Traffic Control

User Density

Active Users Per Access Point

100+

Fairness

9 20-25

5X Vendor C Meru

TCP 802.11g only (no b clients )

~20.1

~16.8

TCP

Mixed Environment (802.11g & b clients)

~18.1

~3.4

802.11b/g Performance

Vendor C Meru Vendor C Meru

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Key differentiator: Ease of Set-up and Use

Expanding a Traditional WLAN

1

1

6

11 6

1

1

6

11 6

1

1

6 1 11 1

1

6

1

6 11 1 1

1

6 1 1 11 6 1 6 11 1 11 1 11 6

1

11 6

1

Expanding a Meru WLAN

•

Traditional WLAN

• To minimize interference power levels are lower so cell size is smaller • Recurring site surveys reassignment – requires more Access Points, cable drops, and labor • Adds/moves/ changes require channel

1 1 1 1

•

Meru WLAN

• Single channel eliminates interference so full power can be used, larger areas covered so fewer devices required • Access Points can be added to increase capacity as needed without a channel planning survey

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Key differentiator: Virtual Cell Technology

• Manages network access and handoffs • Instantaneous handoffs • Delay-free roaming • Toll-quality voice • Application load-balancing

Ch. 1 Traditional WLAN deployment Ch. 6 Ch. 1 Ch. 11 Meru WLAN deployment

Traditional WLAN: Roaming and handoffs

Ch1

Delayed

Ch6

Dropped X

Ch

11

12 • • Roaming client scans for the next strongest signal then disconnects/reconnects from Access Points • Handoff takes 50-1000ms, is noticeable to callers, and can result in dropped calls Client decides when to handoff and to which Access Point to connect…even though it knows nothing about the Access Point’s load or capacity • Cannot intelligently select the optimum Access Point – it’s hit or miss • Controller cannot enforce roaming direction, only reject clients

Meru WLAN: Roaming and handoffs

No Delay No Dropout

Ch1 Ch1 Ch1 13 • • A roaming client stays on one channel, and the Meru Controller drop-free – not the client – decides when to switch • Process is instantaneous (≈3ms), silent (transparent) to callers, and Controller knows the best Access Point for handoff based on application, load balance, and signal quality • Unlike a client, the Controller has knowledge of the entire network and can make informed decisions

Meru Toll Quality Voice

Meru QoS = 5X Voice Calls Per Access Point

No over-the-air QoS AP Wired QoS Over-the-air QoS Meru AP Wired QoS 30+ Toll Quality 14

5X

< 5 7-10

Today’s AP Standard Client Today’s AP Proprietary Client

Typically on separate channels/network

Meru AP Standard Client

Dynamic mix of voice and data on same channels

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Key differentiator: Investment Protection

•

Future-proofing

• Requires fewer Access Points, cable drops, and POE than traditional VoWLANs • Forestalls the need to touch clients to add to 802.11a or 802.11n for new applications or VoWLAN

Meru offered the best balance across usage, security and cost. In terms of both our current needs and our future plans to expand the network by adding voice and additional data applications, Meru’s WLAN System was the clear choice.

Dan Wittekind, Director of Information Systems, LifeSphere

Less equipment, simpler installations, better coverage

•

Traditional WLAN operates at lower power to minimize interference

• Requires more Access Points, more cable drops, and more POE devices • More Access Points require more lengthy surveys and increase interference • Dynamic power adjustments cause erratic client behavior, distant low-speed clients consume bandwidth •

Meru Virtual Cell WLAN operates at full power

• Requires fewer Access Points, cable drops, and POE devices • No channel surveys or interference issues • Stable clients, fair consumption of bandwidth Meru Virtual Cell 16

A single channel architecture preserves RF resources

•

Traditional WLAN consumes RF resources Ch. 1 Ch. 6 Ch. 11 All RF channels are consumed – Access Points must be modified or replaced for expansion and future applications

•

Meru Single Channel WLAN preserves RF resources Ch. 11 Ch. 6 Ch. 1 Virtual cells can be layered to add capacity/bandwidth without touching existing Access Points

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Customers: Industry Firsts

•

University of Miami Medical

•

World’s largest single channel deployment

UNCC

University of Michigan

•

Highest user density production deployment

• •

Philadelphia School District

•

High density and high availability in largest WLAN enterprise network

Dade County

Osaka Gas

•

DoJ

•

Nike

•

Largest dual-mode phone FMC deployment Zero handoff for clients as they roam from AP to AP

Iowa

19 Gartner Magic Quadrant

Meru’s converged voice, data, and video WLAN platform sits at what the Gartner Group calls "the high end of the technology spectrum"

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Sales, support, training worldwide

Meru Networks Corporate Headquarters Sunnyvale, California 94087 Tel: +1-408-215-5300 Fax: +1-408-215-5301 www.merunetworks.com