Meru Networks Awarded Two New Patents for Technology That See Through Network Congestion in Device-Dense Enterprise Wi-Fi Environments

SUNNYVALE, Calif., March 9, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Meru Networks, Inc. (Nasdaq: MERU), the leader in 802.11n virtualized wireless LAN solutions for enterprise networking, today announced that it has been awarded two new patents for its groundbreaking innovation addressing Layer 2 network congestion collapse in 802.11n wireless LANs (WLANs). Users that introduce iPads, iPhones and other wireless devices in the enterprise expect an interactive experience while accessing their latency-sensitive voice, high-bandwidth video and data applications, regardless of the number of mobile devices on the Wi-Fi network. However, existing rate adaptation technologies often lead to significant reduction in the network speed experienced by users. The rate adaptation frameworks and methods covered in Meru's Patent no. 7,808,908 and Patent no. 7,756,059 enable the delivery of critical enterprise applications at the optimal transmission rate for each device, taking into account network congestion, loss rate of the channel, and the distance and mobile or stationary state of the device. Solutions that do not properly take these critical factors into account typically force the network to operate at the wrong data rate; which, as the number of mobile devices proliferates on the wireless network, causes it to struggle with high-congestion, dropped connections and potential network collapse. Incorporated into their virtualized WLAN suite of solutions, Meru's innovative rate adaptation technology addresses Layer 2 congestion collapse for wireless networks by dynamically transmitting at the optimum data rate, which results in higher throughput, providing enterprises with a high performance solution that supports increasingly dense environments and helps organizations avoid a Wi-Fi Meltdown™.

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Key Facts

• 802.11n implementations use rate adaptation to determine the highest data rate at which a given device can transmit, based on their position relative to an access point. However, this approach is not effective in dense environments, mistaking network congestion for distance and causing devices to take more time to transmit the same amount of data, slashing network capacity to fractions of what the network was designed to handle.
• These two new patent awards further validate Meru's leadership in innovation. Meru's previously announced Patent no. 7,826,426, which highlighted Meru's Virtual Port™ innovation, was invented to address wireless network congestion. Specifically, its patented Virtual Port technology provides wired switch-like bandwidth optimization and security for enterprises that increasingly need to manage environments with a growing density of iPads, iPhones and similar next-generation Smartphone devices, such as Android-based devices.
• Meru's core technology and virtualized architecture is purpose-built to support the proliferation of wireless devices and applications and, more critically, to help avoid Wi-Fi Meltdowns, as demonstrated with Meru's WLAN 500™ demonstration. With over 500 wireless devices in a 500 square foot area, Meru's wireless network solution streamed voice, video and data concurrently and delivered full quality of service to all devices, whether mobile or stationary.

Supporting Quotes

Zeus Kerravala, senior vice president and research fellow, Yankee Group

"The mandate for today's CIO has changed more than any other C-level executive over the past five years. Organizations are looking to their IT departments to help make workers more productive while lowering the cost of IT. The move to an All-Wireless Enterprise™ is one current IT trend that can achieve both goals. While this vision has been on the horizon for years, the technology to support it has not been available until now. With Meru, customers now have a virtualized WLAN technology solution to achieve a competitive advantage."

Joe Epstein, senior director, technology, Meru Networks

"Wi-Fi Meltdowns are caused in large part by wireless devices doing the wrong things when the network gets congested, even if they do the right things in lightly loaded environments. As the number of wireless devices such as iPads and smartphones converge on a given area, Meru's innovative signal-to-noise rate adaptation intelligently restores airtime fairness – overcoming the flaws associated with 802.11n implementations and avoiding a Wi-Fi Meltdown. As the leader in 802.11n innovation, Meru again demonstrates how our products are designed from the ground up to avoid the problems of scale-out wireless networking that legacy microcell technology has not been able to address."

About Meru Networks

Founded in 2002, Meru Networks provides a virtualized wireless LAN solution that cost-effectively optimizes the enterprise network to deliver the performance, reliability, predictability and operational simplicity of a wired network, with the advantages of mobility. Meru's solution represents an innovative approach to wireless networking that utilizes virtualization technology to create an intelligent and self-monitoring wireless network, and enables enterprises to migrate their business-critical applications from wired networks to wireless networks, and become all-wireless enterprises. Meru's solutions have been adopted in major industry vertical markets, including Fortune 500 enterprises, healthcare, education, retail, manufacturing, hospitality and government. Meru is headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif., and has operations in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Asia Pacific. For more information, visit www.merunetworks.com  or call (408) 215-5300.

This press release contains forward-looking statements regarding Meru Networks expectations, hopes, plans, intentions or strategies, including, but not limited to statements regarding Meru's ability to avoid a Wi-Fi meltdown, the rise in client density, the increase demand for WLAN capacity and the inability for microcell users to avoid Wi-Fi meltdowns. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, as well as assumptions that, if they do not fully materialize or prove incorrect, could cause our results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The risks and uncertainties include those described in Meru Networks' documents filed with or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission. All forward-looking statements in this press release are based on information available to Meru Networks as of the date hereof, and Meru Networks assumes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

Meru Networks is a registered trademark of Meru Networks, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

SOURCE Meru Networks, Inc.