Extraordinary growth likely for Ruckus Wireless in enterprise and service provider Wi-Fi markets

SUNNYVALE, USA: Ruckus Wireless said that it gained top share in outdoor mesh AP unit shipment to service providers and was ranked the fastest growing wireless LAN (WLAN) company in 2009, according to the latest industry reports from Dell'Oro Group and Gartner respectively.

New WLAN research from DellOro Group, a leading industry analysis company, shows Ruckus Wireless as the worldwide leader in unit shipments of Wi-Fi mesh access points to service providers, garnering 41 percent of the market in the fourth quarter of 2009 and 57 percent in the first quarter of 2010.

In its most recent WLAN report entitled "Market Share Analysis: Enterprise Wireless LAN Equipment, Worldwide, 2009", Gartner ranked Ruckus Wireless as the top performing WLAN vendor worldwide for 2009 based on its new relative industry performance ranking benchmark.

"Having just entered the outdoor Wi-Fi service provider market in July, 2009, Ruckus Wireless has demonstrated growth that we rarely see," said Brian Modoff, managing director and senior telecommunications analyst at Deutsche Bank Securities, Inc.

"This is largely attributed to the combination of three attributes: low cost and trimmed down outdoor product packages, sophisticated radio technology that increases reliability and range and the boost of 802.11n in outdoor Wi-Fi capacity."

The DellOro Group analysis noted that the resurgence of outdoor wireless LANs within the service provider market is being driven by factors including:

* Growth in client devices with Wi-Fi capabilities,
* Continued build-out of WLAN infrastructure to provide end users access to (Internet) data, anywhere, anytime,
* Increasing offerings of free Wi-Fi access by service providers to maintain subscriber loyalty and provide opportunity to offload cellular data traffic, and
* Adoption of outdoor Wi-Fi mesh infrastructure by service providers to offer broadband access in locations where traditional wired access is not feasible or affordable.

"Operators and enterprises of all sizes are rushing to offer better wireless coverage and faster data speeds to keep up with users' insatiable demand for mobile internet access," said Selina Lo, president and CEO of Ruckus Wireless.

"The fact that we have been able to attain a dominant position over competitors with much longer tenures in this market is a testament to our Smart Wi-Fi innovations and to the market's appetite for easier, better and more affordable Wi-Fi that can be adapted to a variety of infrastructural applications."

Ruckus Wireless has developed a "smarter" approach to Wi-Fi that employs patented dynamic beamforming technology, interference rejection techniques and adaptive signal controls to deliver wireless range and performance never before available to Wi-Fi operators.

Ruckus Ranks Highest in Gartner's New Relative Industry Performance Benchmark
To more accurately measure WLAN vendor performance while taking into account relative performance in specific product segments, Gartner has introduced the relative industry performance benchmark (RIP).

Gartner's RIP benchmark provides added insight into market momentum not always found in simple market share rankings. Gartner RIP scores were calculated by factoring 2008/2009 "normal" revenue change (if revenue growth by segment would have followed the market average revenue growth) against actual revenue growth.

Analyzing the top 10 WLAN vendors, Gartner ranked Ruckus Wireless as the number one vendor in this benchmark with a year over year growth rate in excess of 105 percent.
"Enterprise wireless remains a hot segment as the mobile Internet takes off, and Ruckus has clearly benefitted by having a highly differentiated solution," said Lo.

"Enterprises are also looking to deliver users new levels of reliable connectivity and signal range as they look to make Wi-Fi the primary method of connectivity. We are pleased that Gartner has looked beyond conventional market share rankings and taken an innovative approach to better measuring vendor performance in this space."