LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM--(Marketwired - Jan 16, 2014) - BETT SHOW 2014 -- High performance WiFi is an essential technology for education today, and the 802.11ac standard, or "Gigabit WiFi," will drive uninterrupted learning in schools at all levels. So says Meru Networks, a leader in wireless networking, heading into the UK's premier Education technology event, the BETT Show - January 22-25, 2014.

The company, whose solutions are deployed in more than 3,000 schools across the UK and Ireland, believes the new 802.11ac WiFi standard will shake up the industry and take personalised learning to the next level. The new superfast wireless standard has the potential to offer gigabit speeds and enable schools to take full advantage of their mobile device deployments and high-bandwidth, media-rich applications.

"Schools are rapidly rolling out large-scale deployments of WiFi-enabled devices, but many of them are simply not ready to take full advantage of these amazingly powerful devices," said Mark Howell, area director UK and Ireland for Meru Networks. "Unfortunately, there are still many schools that suffer interrupted learning by relying on legacy networks. These legacy networks are not powerful enough to cope with the growing appetite for data consumption and demand for fast access -- anytime, anywhere.

"Increasingly, we are being asked to replace legacy systems with fast seamless networks that schools can deploy and manage cost-effectively," he said. "The good news is that any schools using older wireless-enabled devices will still see a huge benefit with the new 802.11ac standard -- in fact, some customers have been experiencing up to 30 to 40 percent increased throughput on their 802.11n devices when using Meru 802.11ac networks."

Along with many of its education channel partners, Meru will promote its new AP832 access points -- the fastest AP on the market -- and other 802.11ac solutions on its stand (E340) throughout the BETT Show, which takes place at London's Excel on 22-25 January 2014. Meru will also run four seminar sessions every day on its stand, aimed at those looking at the new WiFi standard or weighing the benefits and challenges of wireless networking:

  • 11:00: Discover the Meru Difference
  • 12:00: Meru 802.11ac - where visitors can learn about Meru's virtualised wireless network architecture, optimising use of 802.11ac for higher throughput and capacity
  • 14:00: Managing Bonjour Services - where visitors can learn how to overcome the challenges of managing Apple Bonjour services on their network
  • 15:00: Identity Manager - BYOD solution - where visitors can learn how to simplify guest access and automate secure BYOD provisioning

Meru counts the pioneering Essa Academy in Bolton among its education customers and recently appointed Director Abdul Chohan to the Meru Executive Advisory Board. Essa was the first school in the UK to issue every pupil and teacher with an Apple device running over a Meru network to ensure every pupil has access to 21st century learning resources. Up to 15 new education customers a week, which recently include Shelfield Academy, Greenford High School, Hove Park, Pleckgate School and Chiswick School, are working with Meru Networks.

Notes for editors

  • Launched in July 2013, Meru's AP832 is the market's fastest 802.11ac access point. Its superior 802.11ac speed is attributable the single-channel option provided by Meru's MobileFLEX architecture and its support for the use of 80 MHz channels as outlined in the IEEE 802.11ac draft specification.
  • Competitors' wireless architectures largely restrict support for 40 MHz channels due to limited channel availability, reducing data rates to approximately half of the 1.3 Gbps-per-radio that the specification allows.
  • The Meru 802.11ac solution stands alone in its ability to enable the use of three spatial streams over two 802.11ac radios on standard 802.3af power. This eliminates the need for customers to upgrade their entire Ethernet switching infrastructure, as currently required by many Meru competitors when deploying their 802.11ac solutions.

About Meru Networks
 Meru Networks (NASDAQ: MERU) is a market leader in the development of mobile access and virtualized Wi-Fi solutions. Meru's MobileFLEX wireless architecture addresses the ever-growing need for higher bandwidth and higher client densities. The Meru Identity Manager solution greatly simplifies secure device on-boarding and the company's unique Context-aware Application Layers enable dedicated channel assignments for specific applications, devices and usage scenarios. Meru customers include Fortune 500 businesses as well as leaders in education, healthcare and hospitality. Founded in 2002, Meru is headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif., with operations in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia Pacific and Japan. Visit www.merunetworks.com or call (408) 215-5300 for more information.

© 2014 Meru Networks, Inc. Meru Networks and Meru are registered trademarks of Meru Networks, Inc. in the United States. All other trademarks mentioned in this document are the property of their respective owners.