Ruckus Wireless (RKUS)

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Brazil's Public Universities Make the Smart Move to Better WiFi with Ruckus Wireless

Love how all news just keeps confirming how good Ruckus products perform. And they keep gaining new "satisfied" customers. Yet market PPS is not looking like it cares. Time will correct that IMO

PHILADELPHIA, June 30, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- ISTE 2015 CONFERENCE & EXPO (Booth 635) -- Ruckus Wireless, Inc. (NYSE: RKUS) announced today that its Smart WiFi products and technology have been selected and deployed across nearly one-third of all public (aka federal) universities in Brazil. Thousands of Ruckus ZoneFlex™ access points (APs) are being used for Ruckus Smart WiFi networks at these higher education institutions across Brazil to deliver high performance, reliable wireless connectivity to tens of thousands of students, faculty and staff.

Ruckus Wireless Logo.

"The experience with Ruckus equipment was very positive, the deployment was easy and fast, and the quality and reach of the access points in the IFRN wireless network received many compliments from users," said Carlos Eduardo Gomes do Egito, IT analyst of the Federal Institute of Rio Grande do Norte (IFRN). "We now have flexibility, control, signal stability, and high density per AP with Ruckus. We plan to expand our Ruckus wireless network to provide complete coverage in all of our campus environments."

The bring-your-own-device (BYOD) trend sweeping through education markets around the world is changing the face of teaching and learning, as more students use their own devices both at home and in school. As is the case everywhere, reliable, consistent WiFi availability is becoming increasingly important for students and teachers in Brazil. Users need faster and more stable access to Internet-delivered coursework, e-books, video and other digital curriculum tools that enrich their educational experience.

In fact, the quality of the student computing experience has become an important decision-making factor for Brazilian students in selecting a university. In the TIC Educacao survey, 96 percent of teachers in Brazilian public schools use Internet resources to prepare their classes. The survey also identified that 71 percent of public schools in Brazil have WiFi, but the Internet connection is very slow and unreliable in 52 percent of these schools.

Educational institutions thus face the rapidly increasing challenge to deliver the WiFi density, connectivity and coverage required to adequately accommodate a growing population of sophisticated users, who are now armed with multiple WiFi-enabled mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets.

Ideally suited for high capacity higher education environments, Ruckus Smart WiFi technology provides the robust and reliable connections required to provide reliable and fast WiFi connectivity in classrooms, labs, dorms, and everywhere else on campus. For flexible deployment and centralized management, Ruckus ZoneDirector™ Smart wireless LAN (WLAN) controllers give universities in Brazil a variety of deployment options that allow simple, centralized and unified management for indoor and outdoor wired and meshed access points. Ruckus ZoneDirector controllers uniquely provide them with at-a-glance views of the number of different types of devices being used on their WiFi networks, as well as the ability to easily and effectively define user- or device-specific access policies to optimize network performance and keep user traffic secure.

Ruckus ZoneFlex access points integrate patented Ruckus BeamFlex+™ adaptive antenna technology that adapts to a mobile device's constantly changing orientation and location. BeamFlex+ can enhance the user experience by helping to ensure a consistent wireless signal. Without it, changing client device orientation can cause up to a 2.5x performance difference.

"Prior to Ruckus, we just didn't have a simple and comprehensive way to manage the wireless network, which demanded a great deal of work and maintenance," said Fabio Rogerio da Silva, chief of the Logic Network Department at the Federal University of Sao Carlos (UFSCar). "Now with the Ruckus products and technology, we have great management capacity, enabling us to know the user demand by access point, divide the APs by groups, send SSIDs to different groups, authenticate users using the 802.1X protocol, and we can solve problems faster because, for example, when an access point is disconnected, the controller tells us immediately. We plan to expand our WiFi network with Ruckus Wireless equipment as we currently work with 802.11n equipment, and we would like in the future to adopt the 802.11ac standard."

Universities across Brazil that have standardized on Ruckus Smart WiFi network infrastructure include:

- Universidade Federal de Lavras
- Instituto Federal do Rio Grande do Norte
- Universidade Federal do Triangulo Mineiro
- Universidade Federal de Vicosa
- Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora
- Universidade Federal do Sul da Bahia
- Universidade Federal do Oeste da Bahia
- Universidade Federal da Bahia
- Universidade Federal de Sao Paulo
- Universidade Federal de de Sao Carlos
- Universidade Federal do Amapa
- Universidade Federal do Sul e Sudeste do Para
- Universidade Federal do Para
- Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco
- Universidade Federal de Campina Grande
- Universidade Federal de Sergipe
- Universidade Federal da Integracao Internacional da Lusofonia Afro-Brasileira
- Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul