Meru Networks Partners With Azlan, Tech Data's Enterprise Division and Europe's Largest IT Distributor to Further Expand Meru's Footprint Across Europe

SUNNYVALE, Calif., March 23, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Meru Networks Inc. (Nasdaq: MERU), a leader in virtualized 802.11n enterprise wireless networking, today announced a strategic partnership with Azlan, the Enterprise Division of Tech Data Corporation and the largest distributor of IT infrastructure reaching over 100,000 IT solution providers throughout Europe. Through this partnership, Azlan now expands its IT portfolio with Meru's virtualized wireless LAN (WLAN) solutions to deliver specialized value-added solutions to its extensive base of resellers. This partnership enables Azlan's value-added resellers (VARs) to differentiate themselves with Meru's best-in-class virtualized WLAN solutions for their customers to meet connectivity, mobility and density requirements and address the growing demand fueled by the explosion of iPads, iPhones and other mobile wireless devices throughout Europe to help enterprises avoid a Wi-Fi Meltdown™.  

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Enterprises across Europe are demanding higher service levels, and businesses are quickly realizing that microcell wireless products are not reliable, secure or scalable enough to meet their mission-critical needs. Europe is now one of Meru's fastest growing markets as organizations are modernizing legacy WLAN implementations with Meru's reliable and complete virtualized WLAN solutions to transform their organization to an All-Wireless Enterprise™.  

Key Facts

• Azlan now offers powerful 802.11n WLAN solutions, showcasing Meru's award-winning high-performance AP300 Series and entry-level AP1000i access points. The AP300 Series is ideally suited for highly dense environments and bandwidth intensive applications where a large number of client devices such as the iPad, iPhone and other mobile devices converge on a given area. Meru's AP1000i entry-level WLAN solution is designed to ease the deployment and management, while delivering reliability and cost savings for extended enterprise and branch office customers.
• In Spain, for example, the regional government of the Catalunya region, Generalitat de Catalunya, launched Project EDUCAT 1X1, a one child, one PC program for 3,200 schools. During the installation of the first 177 schools, the legacy microcell solution could not handle the density requirements. Severe contention between the 2-3 access points per classroom resulted in failed connections as the students tried to login simultaneously. Through Tech Data's reseller, LYNTEL, Meru deployed its virtualized WLAN solution which virtualizes bandwidth, then distributes dedicated bandwidth to each client device. After the first installation, the Generalitat de Catalunya was amazed that simultaneous logins just worked. The customer is now leading the transformation of wireless across the Catalunya Region, rolling out Meru at 170 schools thus far, with hundreds of additional schools pending installation.
• Enhanced by Meru's unique Service Assurance Management Suite, IT managers have the management, security and diagnostic tools they need to predictively and proactively manage and optimize the end-to-end performance of the entire WLAN infrastructure. Azlan's resellers will have the ability to offer users reliable and seamless mobility, despite the constant strain that an increasing number of applications and devices have placed on wireless environments.
• 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 streaming voice, video and data concurrently and delivering full quality of service whether mobile or stationary.

Supporting Quotes

Steve Cant, European business development director, Azlan (Tech Data's Enterprise Division)

"Meru brings an added dimension to Azlan's wireless networking portfolio. It enables us to offer our reseller customers throughout Europe an additional range of options, especially in the growing field of virtualized wireless solutions. Meru is one of the leading experts in this area and we will be working closely with them to ensure that VARs and integrators can meet the requirements of customers that operate in the most bandwidth-intensive environments and need the very best and most consistent performance available."

David Kelly, vice president, international sales, Meru Networks

"This partnership enables organizations across Europe to experience the real performance, security and reliability benefits that Meru's virtualized WLAN technology can bring, offering reliable and seamless mobility, even in wireless environments that have had a spike in mobile device proliferation. Looking ahead with this new relationship, we will continue to aggressively expand our partner program geographically across Europe with plans to further penetrate key vertical markets."

About Meru Networks

Founded in 2002, Meru Networks develops and markets 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 education, healthcare, hospitality, manufacturing and retail.  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.  

About Azlan

Azlan, the Enterprise Division of Tech Data Corporation, is a specialized value-added distributor of networking, communications, midrange enterprise server, storage and software solutions in Europe.  We enable fast, cost-effective pan-European distribution of products and solutions for market leaders such as VMware, IBM, HP, VMware and Oracle.  Azlan provides a variety of other value creating services including channel development, marketing and sales support, training and certification, and finance programs designed to assist vendor and reseller partners in developing their SME and mid market  opportunities at www.azlan.com.  Azlan continues to build on its 25 year history of excellence, now as part of Tech Data, which acquired Azlan in March 2003. Tech Data generated $24.1 billion in net sales for its fiscal year ended January 31, 2009. Founded in 1974, Tech Data (Nasdaq: TECD) is a leading distributor of IT products, with more than 100,000 customers in over 100 countries. www.techdata.com

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, the inability for microcell users to avoid Wi-Fi meltdowns, the ability to expand Meru's partner program across Europe and penetrate key vertical markets.       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.