Xirrus Outlines Six Month Product Roadmap Through Early Q3 2010

Disclosure of Continuing Innovation Plan Promotes Transparency with Customers

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Feb 10, 2010, 10:50 ET

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif., Feb. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Xirrus, Inc., the only Wi-Fi "Power-Play" that delivers the most coverage, bandwidth, and user density in the industry, announced today the public disclosure of its product roadmap.

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The economic challenges of the past 18 months have mandated a shift in the way most organizations do business. Tightening budgets have made it imperative to do more with less. For IT (Information Technology) departments, this reality has made vendor selection for new purchases a more carefully scrutinized process with both value maximization and risk minimization critical in making the final decision.

As a network infrastructure vendor, Xirrus® has always believed in working transparently with our customers so that all questions are answered up front and doing business with us is easier than anyone else. To further increase our transparency, Xirrus is making our short-tem product roadmap public, helping customers balance current decisions against future plans.

"The Xirrus Array architecture is unique in the industry and has proven itself time and again to solve the Wi-Fi user density problem that every other vendor has struggled with," said Dirk Gates, founder and CEO of Xirrus. "We are continually innovating our products to make Wi-Fi more resilient, higher performing, and easier to deploy. By publicizing our product roadmap plans, both our customers and Xirrus benefit on multiple fronts: 1) we increase the dialog towards progressing the product; 2) we increase the transparency and trust with our customers; and 3) we ease the decision process when selecting Xirrus as a vendor."

Xirrus product plans for the next six months are outlined below in six product categories:

Array Hardware Platform

Q1'10

XN12 and XN16 Arrays – For very high user densities, Xirrus' new top of the line 12- and 16-radio 802.11n Arrays are the most powerful Wi-Fi devices on the planet with support for 400+ users in a single device. These high radio density models are also ideal for interlinking multiple Arrays via high performance wireless mesh connections using dedicated multi-radio 802.11n WDS (wireless distribution system) links.
Managed PoGE – New line of managed 1-, 2-, and 8-port Power over Gigabit Ethernet injectors, providing remote web- and SNMP-based power management of Arrays while enabling energy/cost savings by scheduling the operating hours of the Wi-Fi network.

Q3'10

802.3at HPoE – Support for the high power PoE standard on certain Array models.

Rapid Deployment Kit (RDK)

Q1'10

Ultra-high Density RDK – New XN12 and XN16 Array versions of the RDK supporting 400+ Wi-Fi users in a single device, ideal for temporary conference / convention applications.

Q2'10

Tactical Military/Outdoor Application RDK – Enhancements for RDK applications with rain, dust, sand, etc. exposure.

Array Accessories

Q1'10

Tamper Proof Enclosure – Door-open status trigger with associated alarm notifications for the Xirrus indoor enclosure, for installation in security conscious organizations.

Array Software (ArrayOS)

Q1'10

Load Balancing enhancements – Expanded functionality for station balancing across the Array's 4, 8, 12, or 16 radios based on band (2.4GHz vs. 5GHz), mode (802.11a/b/g/n), and signal strength. Stations are steered to radios with the most available bandwidth (typically in the 5GHz band) and where possible, clustered with stations of like kind, thereby optimizing user performance, utilization of available Wi-Fi spectrum, and Array radio resources.
Multi-Link Mesh Performance increase – Enhanced performance and resiliency for 802.11n point-to-point and point-to-multipoint mesh links between Wi-Fi Arrays. Up to 900Mbps of WDS backhaul bandwidth can be achieved by assigning up to three 802.11n radios per link, and up to four links per Array. See accompanying release from February 9, 2010, "Xirrus RF Innovation: High Performance 802.11n Multi-Link Wireless Mesh."
Scanner enhancements – Optimizations for hand scanner operation in open environment applications.

Q2'10

Unique SSIDs per Radio – Enables more granular control of the Wi-Fi spectrum by allowing SSIDs (Wi-Fi networks) to be created on a radio-by-radio basis, in addition to across the entire Array as supported today. This allows specific applications (e.g. voice) or specific client types (e.g. legacy 802.11b) to operate independently on their own radio(s) without impact on other applications/clients in the same Array.
Auto Band – Automatic selection of 2.4GHz vs. 5GHz band per radio based on Array network and environmental factors to optimize use of the Wi-Fi spectrum.
L3 Roaming enhancements – Additional optimizations to wireless station roaming across Layer 3 boundaries in support of voice applications and campus implementations.
Cluster Management – Utilizes a "master Array" to simultaneously service clients and manage virtual groups of Arrays via web or command line interfaces, similar to virtual stack control found on stackable switches.
Connection Assurance – Proactive monitoring, alerting, and remediation to ensure proper connectivity between wireless clients and network resources.
Tunneling enhancements – GRE tunneling support, allowing each Array to tunnel user traffic to specific locations in the network or across a WAN.
IP Helper – Implementation of IP helper function for connecting Arrays to remote networks for broadcast-based services such as DHCP and NETBIOS.

Q3'10

Multicast Optimization – Extensions to the Array's multicast traffic handling to optimize performance and mobility over Wi-Fi on a per client basis.
Spectrum Analyzer enhancements – Refinements to the data and display of RF spectrum information provided via the Array's built in RF monitor radio.
VoIP Prioritization enhancements – Optimizations for prioritized operation of manufacturer-specific Wi-Fi phones.

XMS Management

Q1'10

SNMPv3 – Support for secure SNMPv3 management of Array networks from the XMS.

Q2'10

Location Identification – Expansion of Xirrus' location-based services for mapping stations, Arrays, and rogues. Leverages the extensive location information inherent in the Array's multi-radio plus directional antenna design to increase location accuracy.
Heat Map enhancements – Live display of RF coverage by Array via dynamic heat maps, incorporating directional antenna coverage per radio with inter-Array correction.
LDAP Module – Optional XMS server module providing client authentication via an LDAP server.
Bulk Configuration Enhancements – New table-based tool for fast and simple configuration of very large Array networks.
Location Services Partner – Integration with an additional 3rd party vendor for enhanced location and asset-tracking services with the Wi-Fi Array.

Q3'10

Client Troubleshooting – IT Help Desk oriented tools to enhance troubleshooting capability for client connectivity and performance issues.
IDS/IPS enhancements – Expanded control of coordinated rogue monitoring and mitigation control across an Array network managed by the XMS.
3rd Party AP integration – Monitoring of 3rd party vendor APs within the XMS.
Network Services Module – Optional XMS server module for centralized NAC, NAP, and AAA services within a Xirrus Array environment.

Client Tools

Q1'10

Wi-Fi Inspector enhancements – New release with SSID network data export and Windows 7 support.

Q2'10

Wi-Fi Monitor enhancements – Advanced client troubleshooting facilities in the Xirrus Wi-Fi Monitor Gadget for Windows with direct Array connection and diagnosis.

Additional details on product features will be provided as new releases are made available or contact Xirrus at [email protected].

About Xirrus

Xirrus, the only Wi-Fi Power-Play™, manufacturers the Wi-Fi Array® architecture that displaces both overlay Wi-Fi offerings and switched Ethernet or Fast Ethernet to the desktop. Unlike traditional access points, the Wi-Fi Array integrates 4, 8, 12, 16 or 24 802.11abgn radios along with a high-gain directional antenna system, onboard multi-gigabit switch, Wi-Fi controller, firewall, dedicated Wi-Fi threat sensor, and an embedded spectrum analyzer into a single energy-efficient and cost-effective device using 75% fewer devices, cabling, switch ports, power, space, and installation time compared with any other offering. For more information, please visit http://www.xirrus.com.