Ruckus announces Xclaim, says it brings ‘big WiFi’ to small businesses

By Digital News Asia November 6, 2014

First mobile app managed, controller-free WiFi system
For small businesses demanding enterprise-grade WiFi solutions

Ruckus announces Xclaim, says it brings ‘big WiFi’ to small businesses

RUCKUS Wireless Inc has unveiled Xclaim, which it described as “a new kind of WiFi system” exclusively developed for the small business market.

Xclaim redefines the model for offering enterprise-grade WiFi services to organisations that have little to no IT expertise, the company said in a statement.

The “disruptively priced,” cloud-ready and controller-free Xclaim represents a fundamentally different approach to delivering enterprise-class WiFi.

“Ruckus is widely recognised for delivering carrier-class WiFi performance and reliability to mid-market enterprises and global service providers,” said Rob Mustarde, vice president and general manager of the Xclaim product line at Ruckus Wireless.

“With Xclaim, we are now extending this same value to the SOHO and ‘S’ of the SMB market. This segment is experiencing the same Mobile Internet revolution as everyone else, but hasn’t had reliable, powerful WiFi solutions available that are also simple to operate and manage, and affordable.

“Xclaim means these businesses no longer need to endure poor, consumer grade WiFi or deal with deployment costs beyond their reach and systems they can’t easily comprehend and manage,” he added.

Unlike alternatives, Xclaim eliminates the cost and complexity associated with conventional enterprise wireless local area network (WLAN) systems for smaller organisations that can’t justify purchasing them, but still desire best in class WiFi connectivity, coverage, and performance, the company claimed.

Included within the Xclaim portfolio is the free Harmony for Xclaim mobile application for the iOS and Android operating systems, Ruckus Wireless said.

Harmony for Xclaim radically streamlines installation, configuration and ongoing administration of a WiFi network. Within minutes, small businesses can begin offering secure, robust and reliable WiFi at a fraction of the cost and complexity of traditional enterprise alternatives, the company claimed.

“New wireless LAN products and services have been introduced by leading vendors targeting smaller-sized businesses,” said Chris DePuy, vice president of WLAN research at Dell’Oro Group.

“Two main product types have typically been used to target these businesses: Enterprise-class access points and Small Office Home Office, or ‘SOHO’, access points.

“Vendors are now bundling these products with services and software that are customised – and in some cases, cost-optimised – for SMBs (small and medium businesses).

“Given the expansion in the number of products being introduced to address SMBs, we estimate the SMB WLAN market opportunity will now approach US$1.3 billion in the next several years,“ DePuy added.

Xclaim features four best-in-class indoor and outdoor 802.11n and 802.11ac WiFi solutions for small businesses designed within sleek, lightweight, and low profile form factors. The products will start shipping in the fourth quarter in South-East Asia.