Ruckus Wireless, a supplier of advanced wireless systems for the mobile Internet working market, announced that its ZoneFlex Smart Wi-Fi system has been recently selected by a number of K-12 schools and healthcare organizations to enable more stable connectivity and consistent performance to mobile devices such as iPads, smart tablets and others.
ZoneFlex Smart Wi-Fi technology is designed to support new era of wireless applications that exploit the power and mobility of these smart tablet devices. Due to the high mobility of these devices, a slight change in antenna orientation of these devices causes dramatic swings in wireless performance.
“With standard Wi-Fi systems we would see wild performance changes from one moment to the next, and we couldn't figure out why,” said Jamie Steck, IT director for Central Utah Clinic, in a statement.
Ruckus Wireless’ adaptive antenna technology effectively eliminates these problems because it can automatically alter the direction and form of wireless signals as it talks to each device so more consistent performance is achieved, Steck added. “This was huge for us as we continue to invest in smart tablet devices to support critical-care applications.”
Adaptive antenna technology has several advantages over conventional Wi-Fi systems, which have no ability to adaptively cope with device orientation changes. Conventional systems function like audio speakers and blast Wi-Fi signals in all directions.
Adaptive antenna technology overcomes these problems by constantly steering Wi-Fi signals over the best path for each device, even as the device changes its orientation. This process occur on a packet-by-packet basis as the Smart Wi-Fi system learns how it is performing based on real-time feedback from each client device.
Ruckus Wireless Smart Wi-Fi equipment is especially useful in K-12 schools and universities that use iPads, iPhones, tables and handheld devices to enable mobility in classrooms to achieve higher standards of learning.
Some of the schools to deploy Ruckus Smart Wi-Fi recently to support a mobile computing environment include Hood River School District in northern Oregon, and Central York School District in south central Pennsylvania – both of which have standardized their entire districts on the ZoneFlex wireless LAN (WLAN) system, company officials said.
Ruckus’ smart Wi-Fi equipment has also been deployed at Central Utah Clinic (CUC). CUC, a specialty healthcare group with 25 clinics in and around Utah, selected the ZoneFlex system to support doctors, nurses and administrative staff using iPads and mobile EMR applications, enabling greater efficiency and mobility, according to Ruckus officials.
To provide adequate Wi-Fi coverage with built-in redundancy at is multiple clinics, CUC deployed 50 ZoneFlex 802.11n dual-band APs, along with ZoneFlex 3050 controllers, the company said. Additionally, CUC deployed ZoneFlex 802.11n long-range point-to-point bridges to connect various remote locations.
Recently Ruckus announced its new smart mobile Wi-Fi portfolio was used to enable operators to strategically integrate 802.11 with cellular networks. The portfolio includes new mobile Wi-Fi gateways, aimed at helping mobile operators cleanly integrate carrier-purposed Smart Wi-Fi technology into 3G and 4G infrastructures.
Rajani Baburajan is a contributing editor for HealthTechZone. To read more of Rajani's articles, please visit her columnist page.
Edited by
Janice McDuffee
