ORACLE TEAM USA, Defender of the 34th America's Cup, Selects Ruckus Wireless as the Team's Official Wi-Fi Supplier

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 21, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --ORACLE TEAM USA, winner of the 33^rd America's Cup in 2010 and defender of the America's Cup in September 2013, today announced that it has selected Ruckus Wireless™ as the team's official Wi-Fi technology supplier.

ORACLE TEAM USA is equipping state-of-the-art AC 45 (45-foot) and AC 72 (72-foot) racing catamarans with ultra high-speed Wi-Fi technology patented by Ruckus.

Unlike conventional Wi-Fi, Ruckus Smart Wi-Fi technology uniquely increases the strength, performance and reliability of Wi-Fi transmissions by automatically focusing and continuously steering signals around obstacles and over the best performing paths as environmental conditions change.

Ruckus products and technology are also being used within ORACLE TEAM USA design and production facilities, the America's Cup team bases at Piers 30/32 in San Francisco, and at the team's hospitality lounge in the Marina.

"Since it was first won by the yacht America in 1851, technology has always been the key to winning the America's Cup," said Asim Khan, Director of Information Systems at ORACLE TEAM USA.

On ORACLE TEAM USA's race boats, smart Wi-Fi technology is used to transmit critical telemetry, wind and load data from sensors located throughout the boat to crewmembers equipped with wearable, Wi-Fi-enabled displays. Immediate access to this information allows the crew to quickly make real-time adjustments to sail trim to enable maximum speed through the water. The communication systems will be carefully configured to comply with strenuous communications rules regarding information to and from the yacht when it is racing.

The Wi-Fi system is also being used to disseminate data gathered during practice sailing (training) to ORACLE TEAM USA design and production teams for faster post-race processing and evaluation. ORACLE TEAM USA uses very high-bandwidth applications to gather and assess performance data during its tests, such as the boat's speed using different sail trim configurations.

"Wi-Fi was an obvious choice for us but getting it to work fast and operate reliably has been a big problem historically because carbon fiber structures screen RF signals," said Khan. "Add to this that our boats operate at high-speed in drenching salt-water conditions, then traditional wireless technologies simply couldn't deliver. With Ruckus we've seen a 10-fold improvement in performance over previous wireless technology we used."

Smart Wi-Fi Everywhere

On board each ORACLE TEAM USA race boat, data is collected from hundreds of sensors and is processed by an onboard local server. A single Ruckus ZoneFlex 7982 802.11n AP then transmits this data to different Wi-Fi devices the crew members' reference.

At the end of each training session, Ruckus Smart Mesh Wi-Fi technology is used to backhaul gigabytes of data collected on the boat to servers within ORACLE TEAM USA's operation that process the information for the team's various design and test groups.

The crew now has access to crucial information affecting race performance or how the craft is responding to wave or load pressure. Trimmers, for example, can adjust the boat's wing and soft sails to compensate for changes in wind and load.

ABOUT ORACLE TEAM USA
When ORACLE TEAM USA won the 33rd America's Cup in February 2010, not only did team owner Larry Ellison succeed in his goal of bringing the America's Cup "home" to the United States, but his team became the Defender of the 34th America's Cup.  Led by CEO Russell Coutts and skipper Jimmy Spithill, ORACLE TEAM USA is comprised of the best international sailing, design, build and support talent to defend the trophy on San Francisco Bay in 2013.
http://www.oracleteamusa.com

ABOUT RUCKUS WIRELESS
Headquartered in Silicon Valley, Ruckus Wireless is a supplier of advanced wireless systems for the explosive mobile Internetworking market. The company markets and manufactures a wide range of indoor and outdoor "Smart Wi-Fi" products for mobile operators, broadband service providers, and corporate enterprises around the world. Ranked as the top telecom company by Inc. Magazine and named a World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer, Ruckus invented and has patented state-of-the-art wireless technology, such as adaptive antenna arrays that focus and direct Wi-Fi transmissions over the best signal path, automatically avoiding sources of Wi-Fi interference. These unique capabilities extend signal range, increase client data rates and ensure consistent and reliable distribution of delay-sensitive multimedia content and services over standard 802.11 Wi-Fi. For more information, visit http://www.ruckuswireless.com.

MEDIA CONTACTS

ORACLE TEAM USA
[email protected]

Ruckus Wireless
David Callisch
Ruckus Wireless
408-504-5487
[email protected]

SOURCE Ruckus Wireless