Wireless LANs (WLANs) for Retailers

12 October 2006 Copyright © 2006 Meru Networks, All Rights Reserved. Third party copyrights are the property of their respective copyright owners.

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Meru Networks: innovative wireless LAN (WLAN) solutions

• Meru’s converged voice, data, and video WLAN platform sits at what the Gartner Group calls "the high end of the technology spectrum"

• Interoperable with existing networking infrastructure, the platform can also be used to create a wire-free all-wireless enterprise

• The platform offers the lowest available total cost of ownership

• Meru is a privately owned, Silicon Valley technology company

• Founded in 2002, offices worldwide • >35 patents granted or in process• $68M in venture-backed funding

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Target markets

• Meru’s target markets have critical data, voice, and video applications

• Healthcare• Hospitals and clinics

• Education• K -12, colleges, and universities

• Retail• Department, convenience, and

specialty stores• Logistics centers and depots

• Enterprise• Corporate and branch offices

• Government• Facilities and programs

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Retail trends are changing

• Enabling knowledge workers and staff to become mobile allows facilities to be better utilized, new ERP and CRM initiatives to be deployed, costs to be better managed

• Growing use of dual-mode phones, video, RFID, and PDAs must be accommodated

By 2007 more than 66 percent of workers will use mobile and wireless computing, and that number will rise to 89% in 2008. Mobility: Trends, Challenges and Solutions, Getronics, 2005

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Productivity growth drives profitability and holds the line on costs

A 1,000 employee retailer could realize $800,000 in savings from a 1% increase in productivity.

Making the Case for Wireless Mobility Investment, Mobile Competency, 2003

• Productivity improvements drive growth, raise profitability, and control costs by allowing small IT staffs to make the most of available resources

• Wired networks don’t address mobility needs, are costly to modify

• A low-overhead networking platform lowers costs by making small IT staffs more productive

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Reliable WLANs are the cornerstone of information conduits

A highly reliable WLAN allows a small IT staff to focus attention on productivity and growth-related opportunities instead of infrastructure-related problems

• Reliable conduits using converged voice/video/data encourage knowledge transfer and collaboration

• Retailers have dense, dynamic user environments and mixed clients

• Proprietary software/drivers are anathema to IT management

99.9999%Up Time

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Interoperable solutions overlay on existing infrastructure, preserve capital

Even if the initial use is for data, a WLAN must support converged data, roaming voice, and streaming video applications because they will be needed in the future

• Retailers must squeeze higher returns from existing assets while paving the way for new applications

• Solutions must be easily deployable, optimized for converged toll-quality voice/video/data, and able to withstand harsh environments such as warehouses

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The TCO of an IT solution can help or hinder strategic educational objectives

Loss of productivity and heightened frustration due to IT equipment downtime are factors in assessing TCO

Up to my knees in alligators, Getronics, 2003

• Lower total cost of ownership (TCO) should be a key objective of any IT infrastructure change because it determines where future funds will be directed

• Dynamic and rapidly evolving retail environments require flexible, adaptable solutions Source: Gartner Group

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Meru excels in wireless LANs for retail

• Meru offers best-of-class wireless LAN performance that can be overlaid on an existing wired network or replace it altogether

• Mobility: Toll quality voice over WLAN, voice mobility with no delays or dropped calls

• Productivity: No complex channel surveys, easy adds/moves/changes

• Connectivity: High density, high throughput, 802.11b/g fairness• Interoperability: Standard clients (no proprietary CCX adapters),

converged voice / data/ streaming video on one network• Lowest TCO: minimal IT management overhead, enables the all-

wireless facility

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Meru’s robust, secure WLANs preserve infrastructure investments• Meru offers a scalable, standards-based WLAN with toll quality

voice, robust controllers, and an all-wireless backbone option • Meru’s WLAN solution overlays on, and is interoperable with, existing Cisco

wired infrastructure, preserving this substantial capital investment• Field-proven to interoperate with existing infrastructure products such as

Cisco Catalyst 7500, Cisco VPN, Cisco 7920 phones, and firewall, IDS, authentication, security solutions

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What can Meru do that others can’t?

Meru Radio Switch

Meru Wireless BackboneMeru AirShield

Network hundreds of users with mixed 802.11a/b/g clients in high-density conditions

Offer toll-quality, simultaneous mobile voice and data communications

with seamless hand-offs and no dropped connections

Create an all-wireless campus without the costs

and issues of a wired network

Enhance wired networks with secure wireless voice and data – walk, talk, and surf with confidence

Meru Access Point

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Differentiating the old from the Meru

Older Centralized WLANs Meru’s Distributed Intelligent WLANs

Did not work well with different wireless cards (using both 802.11a and 802.11b/g laptops reduced network performance)

Compatible with all wireless cards running at the same time (full network performance with 802.11a/b/g laptops)

Required extensive radio channel surveys prior to installation and with every change, consumed IT staff time and budget

Does not require radio channel surveys, saves IT staff time

Access Points have to be carefully placed to avoid interference with each other, causes gaps in coverage if an Access Point fails

Access Points can be placed wherever needed without concern about interference, allows overlapping coverage so the network still works normally if an Access Points fails

Limited number of simultaneous users per Access Point (≈10-15) requires more Access Points in high density facilities

>100 users per Access Point reduces the total number of Access Points per facility

Could not manage data and voice or streaming video – sometimes separate networks were required for each

Supports converged data, voice, and video on one network, lowering costs and increasing flexibility

Rely on a combination of wired and wireless networks Enables the all-wireless facility without any wires

More susceptible to Denial-of-Service security risks through the Access Points

Access Points block many types of Denial-of-Service security attacks, improving security

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What are the elements of Meru’s comprehensive LAN platform?

E(z)RF

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Access Points

• Single radio and dual radio Access Points for use with Meru Controllers

• 802.11b/g and 802.11a radios simultaneously support a/b/g clients, offers market-leading 802.11g performance in mixed 802.11b/g environments

• Zero configuration setup using plug and play architecture • Automatic discovery and configuration

• Toll quality wireless VoIP performance using Air Traffic Control• QoS ensured using deterministic scheduling of client transmissions and zero-

delay hand-off between virtual cells • Highest user density environment support

• Provides 10x increase in client density with no degradation in quality• Compatible with existing enterprise deployments

• Reassociation with non-Meru Access Points for hand-offs• Multi-layered security with automatic rogue detection, location

positioning, and neutralization• Every Access Point includes an integrated network sniffer for channel supervision

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Radio Switches

• Radio switches include multiple software-configurable 802.11a/b/g radios

• Provide simultaneous service to multiple 802.11b/g and 802.11a channels• 802.11n ready backbone

• Provides the performance of multiple Access Points in a single product

• Saves over 70% in deployment and ongoing management costs• Radios can be assigned to client access, wireless hops to Access

Points, and/or wireless backbone• Multiple radios can be assigned when more bandwidth is required, e.g.,

backbones• Saturates large areas using Meru’s patent-pending, wideband

omnidirectional antennae • Eliminates directional antenna purchases, simplifies RF planning and site

surveys• Removes density/performance trade-off rules governing traditional

access points• Allows all voice, video, and data WLAN channels to be extended without

degradation of wireless service or concern about the coverage area• Works with existing clients

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Controllers

• Coordinates Meru Access Points• Centralized control for easy configuration and management • Enforces WLAN security• Enables plug-and-play deployment• Provides RF resource management and mobility• Coordinates contention management and QoS policies

• Simplifies Access Point deployment• Eliminates channel planning and complex RF site surveys• Zero-configuration with automatic selection of power and channel settings

• Enables toll-quality voice even in high density client environments • Provides seamless client mobility across subnets • Multi-layered security includes WPA, 802.11i, automatic rogue

access point prevention, and location-based access policies• Static and dynamic 40-bit and 128-bit WEP keys, TKIP with MIC, access

control entries supported by user by AP (MAC filtering), multiple ESSID/BSSID each with its own Security Policy

• “R” series Controllers provide redundant operation

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E(z)RF™ Application Suite

• BASE software suite includes dashboard, monitoring, configuration settings and templates, reports, and user administration

• VISUALIZE software suite complements the BASE suite with real-time visualization for viewing coverage, performance, and diagnostic data

• EZRF-COV-PLNR software suite provides RF coverage and survey data on existing RF coverage

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Meru Tailors Its Products To Meet Retailers Needs:

Retailers Must Tailor Their Needs To Competing Products

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How does Meru overcome WLAN limitations and what are the benefits?

• Meru’s Air Traffic Control technology resides in what the Gartner Group calls "the high end of the technology spectrum," resulting in the only Wi-Fi certified WLAN for toll-quality voice and high-capacity data

• The net result is a superbly reliable WLAN that enhances every facet of your organization, regardless of industry

Mobility Untethered freedom of movement

Productivity Lower IT workload

Connectivity High density, 802.11b/g fairness

Interoperability Standard (non-proprietary) clients

TCO Low installed / maintenance costs

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Enhanced mobility: Work everywhere with every device

• Meru’s secure cellular-like technology lets users work where they need to, with Wi-Fi devices of their choosing

• Stay connected while roaming with scanners, phones, tags, badges, PDAs, PCs without the drop-outs or hand-off delays of micro cell networks

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Enhanced productivity:Faster installations, fewer headaches

• Meru requires no RF channel planning survey during installation or for adds/moves/ changes

• Self-configuring Controllers, Access Points with integrated network sniffers, remote diagnostics, and downloadable upgrades allow Meru WLANs to be quickly deployed without consuming IT staff time

• Micro cell architectures requires time-consuming and costly RF channel planning surveys pre-installation and following adds/moves/changes

• IT managers praise Meru’s networking solutions because they increase productivity by requiring less time to design, install, and maintain

Meru’s APs Coexist Harmoniously

Virtual Cell

Micro cell APs Interfere With One Another, Require Careful Planning

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Enhanced connectivity: the reliability of a wired network, the freedom of a wireless one

• Meru offers 10x density of competing alternatives and is ideal for malls, food courts, depots, and warehouses

• Overlay on existing wired networks or build all-wireless enterprises• Run 802.11b phones and g clients simultaneously without

degradation

Meru Radio Switch

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Enhanced interoperability:Backward compatible, forward looking

• Meru’s WLANs are compatible with existing core infrastructure• Works with standard Wi-Fi clients including smart phones• Standards-based security built-in, interfaces with enterprise IDS/IPS,

encryption, authentication, and locationing solutions

• Meru’s platform forms the foundation for future all-wireless and convergent fixed-mobile applications

Meru Wireless Backbone

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Reduced TCO:A platform on which you can afford to grow

• Meru’s WLAN platform supports data, voice, and streaming video

• Cost-effective for a single application, the platform can handle all three

• Meru’s WLANs alleviate the high TCO associated with supporting a micro cell deployment, or maintaining and updating separate networks for data, voice, and video

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Meru Improves the Total User Experience:

Other WLANs Have Severe Limitations

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Phone: Cisco phones work better on Meru’s networks

• Cisco wireless phones work better on Meru’s networks• Toll-quality voice while roaming, dynamic control of over-the-air communication• WPA / WPA2 Enterprise Mode with zero hand-off, a Meru exclusive• High QoS voice in converged data/video networks, no need for parallel networks• High density operation with more clients per Access Point, lowers costs

• Other WLANs just weren’t designed for voice• No contention management, no traffic management, no resource management, no

admission control, no upstream QoS reservation, no scalable QoS without additional higher layer system software

• Closely spaced Access Points aggravates co-channel interference, distant spacing reduces coverage and channel access

• QoS is dependent on proprietary CCX client adapters - difficult to manage and burdensome for guest access

In WLAN tests using Cisco 7920 phones + Cisco Unified CallManager®, Meru supported 10 simultaneous calls with MOS scores >4, Cisco supported 4 simultaneous calls with MOS scores <4.

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Data: Meru’s networks offer higher density, higher performance

• Meru has proven solutions for dense client and high throughput applications• Selected for world’s largest WLAN enterprise network (30,000 Access points) at a Top-10

U.S. School District – the first installation provides 500Mbps per classroom with redundant failover

• Highest user density production deployment - 100+ active users per Access Point (AP) at Northern Michigan University

• World’s largest single channel deployment - 2000 APs at University of Miami Medical Hospital

• Other WLANs lag far behind Meru with respect to both density and throughput• Meru has 10x client density for data, 5x for voice• Meru has demonstrated >6x throughput in dense data applications

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Innovation: Meru is enabling the all-wireless campus

• Meru drives innovation and invention into the WLAN market – architecting the all-wireless network

• Scalable wireless pipes provide robust and secure backbones, an industry first

• Standard voice and data clients get wire-like performance, an industry first• The innovative RS 4000 Radio Switch incorporates four radios and supports

dual 802.11a and dual 802.11g operation, an industry first• Meru’s platform uses an extensible architecture that grows more powerful

without forklift upgrades, an industry first

Meru Wireless Backbone

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$ $ € £ ¥€ £ ¥$ $ € £ ¥€ £ ¥

Meru Lowers the Total Cost Of Ownership:

Other WLANs Have Higher Life-Cycle Costs

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Mobility metric

• Meru lets all users walk, talk, and surf - all at the same time• Users can roam reliably during voice calls, increasing their mobility as well as

their ability to multi-task • Cisco voice quality drops with >4 voice calls on the same Access Point. How

should this be managed?• Scenario: department store with 150 staff members and dual-mode

phones• Average hourly staff wage: $40• Average calls per day requiring walk to the next task: 30• Average time to reach the next task after a call: 1 minute

• Cisco’s poor mobility results in 27,375 hours of lost time, or $1,095,000 of lost wages per year

• ((1 min. x 30 tasks) / 60 min.) x 150 users x 365 days = 27,375 hrs• $40 hour x 27,375 hours = $1,095,000 (≈854,000€)

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• Meru leads the industry in the ratio of users-to-Access Points and guaranteed access to bandwidth

• Cisco requires more APs in high-density environments, increasing equipment and installation costs

• Scenario: warehouse with 200 staff with 802.11b/g laptops, all of which must download a 5MB SKU update within five minutes

• Meru can download the data to all staff members in <5 minutes using 3 APs •Meru installation cost: 3 APs@$795 + 3 inst.@$500 = $3,885 (3,030€)

• Cisco requires >50 minutes using 14 APs to download the data•Cisco installation/survey cost: 14 APs@$899 + 14 inst.@$582 = $20,734 (15,918€)

• Staff members lose work time using a Cisco network, whereas with a Meru network they can be productive in minutes

Productivity metric

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Connectivity metric

• Meru provides fair access to 802.11b/g clients• Cisco is slow to associate new clients + 802.11g throughput degrades in the

presence of b clients• Meru 18Mbps vs. Cisco 9Mbps with only 10 g clients and 1 b client

• Scenario: retailer with 2 Access Points and 25 inventory clerks who must log-in their mixed 802.11b/g laptops at the start of a shift

• Meru logs in all clerks in ≤3 minutes • Field data shows Cisco requires ≈6 minutes to log in each group of 4 clerks,

or (6 minutes x (25 / 4) students) 37.5 minutes for all clerks

• Clerks lost >35 minutes during log-ins using a Cisco network, but only 3 minutes using a Meru network

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Interoperability metric

• Meru’s WLANs work with standard clients, eliminating the need to install, track, and update custom clients or adapters

• Cisco requires proprietary CCX client adapters on every device for micro cell power management - CCX patch management, RF tuning, and new client troubleshooting are IT burdens

• Cisco’s management tool points to a problem but doesn’t solve it – Meru doesn’t have the problem to begin with

• Non-CCX guest access requires a separate network• Scenario: retail chain with 2500 clients (laptops, PDAs, phones), 40

sites, 200 vendor visitors per month• Average time to load/verify Cisco CCX adapter: 30 minutes each• Churn rate (new/replacement devices): 5% (125) per month

• 1st year overhead managing Cisco client adapters: 2000 hours• (2500 clients x 30 min.) + ((125 clients x 30 min.) x 12 mos.) = 120,000 minutes or 2000 hours

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TCO metric

• Meru’s Air Traffic Control technology minimizes the need for RF channel planning

• Cisco requires RF planning to avoid adjacent channel interference, and more APs to provide adequate coverage, adding cost and complexity

• Scenario: 100 room home furnishing superstore (100,000 sq. ft. total), each room must be covered by 2 APs for seamless roaming (20 APs required in total )

• Cisco survey time is >4x longer than Meru

• IT productivity for surveys is 1 hour per 7,040 sq. ft. with Cisco, productivity with Meru is 1 hour per 32,260 sq. ft.

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TCO metric

Cisco Meru

Construct Proposal and Work Order

• Manually draw estimated coverage areas. • Record planned access point information.• Write proposal with estimated coverage maps, AP

locations, antenna types and transmit powers.TOTAL TIME: 3 hours

• Coverage Planner software automatically generates a report including network coverage and performance maps plus AP location information.

• Write proposal using automatic reportTOTAL TIME: 0.3 hours

Pre-Deployment Survey

• Each planned AP location requires three readings per room using a utility shipped with the network card. Record readings. 1 minute per room

• Time required to walk the entire site: 60 minutes• TOTAL TIME: 2.7 hours

• For each planned AP location, walk through the coverage area of the AP and update the Coverage Planner map in each room with one mouse click. 20 seconds per room

• Time required to walk the entire site: 60 minutesTOTAL TIME: 1.5 hours

Post-DeploymentSurvey

• Each planned AP location requires three readings per room per AP using a utility shipped with the network card. Record readings. 2 minutes per room

• Time required to walk the entire site: 60 minutes• TOTAL TIME: 4.3 hours

• For each planned AP location, walk through the coverage area of the AP and update the map in each room with one mouse click. Included in site walking time – no additional time required.

• Time required to walk the entire site: 60 minutesTOTAL TIME: 1 hour

Reporting • Manually draw coverage maps for each access point and record access point MAC-addresses, access point locations, channels, and installation notes. 2.5 minutes per room

TOTAL TIME: 4.2 hours

• Automatically generate report with two mouse-clicks• Additional site notes, as needed: 15 minutes

TOTAL TIME: 0.25 hours

TOTAL 14.2 hours total - 1 hour / 7,040 sq. ft. 3.1 hours total - 1 hour / 32,260 sq. ft.

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Summary

Mobility Limited Untethered

Productivity High IT workload Low IT workload

Connectivity Slow, low-density Fast, high-density

Interoperability Proprietary clients Standards-based

TCO High Low

Others Meru

Meru’s platform is innovative, fast, extensible, user-friendly, and cost-effective

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Meru has a track record of helping customers meet their strategic objectives

“We evaluated several wireless LAN products, but when we saw Meru’s demonstration, our decision was easy,” said James Pierce, Chief Information Officer, The Monitor Group.  “We were able to configure and deploy the system, with consistent security and access policies, in a matter of minutes…Meru’s ability to handle multiple data applications, as well as voice, to meet our future needs, convinced us that Meru was the only WLAN solution that made sense.”

"WLAN connectivity allows organizations to cost-effectively support on-campus workers with voice and data applications that can significantly improve communications and workflow inside the enterprise," said David Werezak, Vice President, Research In Motion. "Meru's WLAN infrastructure with its reliable connectivity and seamless coverage provides a solid foundation for the BlackBerry WLAN solution."

To provide wireless coverage, SUNY Farmingdale deployed Meru access points spaced only 30 feet apart from each other. Gladson George, Network Administrator, SUNY Farmingdale, said, "This high density set-up would not have been possible without Meru's unique Air Traffic Control technology.  With Meru's ability to coordinate all of the access points in this area and successfully manage signal contention, we can deliver wireless access in the most demanding of environments."

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www.merunetworks.com