Sky and Ruckus Wireless have developed a new wireless access point technology that they claim increases Wi-Fi connectivity in high demand areas.
The solution bundles together DSL links to the access point’s Ethernet port to increase throughput. The companies said its primary benefit was how it does not require a LAN switch, link bonding hardware or a special network configuration.
Its advantages are “significantly” lower deployment costs, the removal of “single point of failure” risk, where the entire network goes down if one part fails, and a lower total cost of ownership.
Sami Susiaho, Head of Edge Technologies at Sky said: “We wanted a simple, scalable, robust and low cost way to add capacity to our hotspots. Line aggregation or fibre optic technologies are too costly to roll-‐‑out to 20,000+ sites. This technology allows us to just add the same again, perhaps many times if needed, very effectively increasing capacity at a fraction of the cost.
“Our long‑standing successful relationship with Ruckus Wireless meant they were the perfect partners to help us bring this new service to market within six months to the benefit of our customers.
“This product demonstrates our investment in industry innovation and comes at a time where access to Wi‑Fi is becoming a utility – voice is moving to Wi‑Fi, video traffic is increasing exponentially and the coming summer brings sporting events like International rugby, Test Cricket, Formula 1, the Olympics and the Euros. Evolutions like this keep us in a strong position to grow market share in a highly competitive marketplace.”
Kevin Francis, Solution Architect at Ruckus Wireless, added: “Service providers often run two or more physical connections to remote client locations but it is generally expensive to aggregate all of these connections. For one, it requires an extra element: a network switch. The ability to bundle DSL‑links is key to delivering a better user experience – and now we have brought this to market with a world‑renowned partner.”