Ruckus Networks

Ruckus Networks, an ARRIS company (formerly known as Ruckus Wireless), is a company selling wired and wireless networking equipment and software, headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. Ruckus offers Wi-Fi, switching, cloud and software products to mobile carriers, broadband service providers, and corporate enterprises.[2]

Ruckus Networks
Traded asNYSE: RKUS
IndustryTelecommunications equipment
Founded2004
Headquarters
Sunnyvale, California
Key people
Ian Whiting
(President)
William Kish
(Co-Founder)
Victor Shtrom
(Co-Founder)
ProductsHardware, software, and services to telecommunications service providers and enterprises
Revenue$373 million (2015)[1]
Number of employees
940 (2015)
ParentArris International
Websitewww.ruckusnetworks.com

Ruckus invented and has patented wireless voice, video, and data technology, such as adaptive antenna arrays that extend signal range, increase client data rates, and avoid interference, providing distribution of delay-sensitive multimedia content and services over standard 802.11 Wi-Fi.[3]

On April 4, 2016, Brocade Communications Systems announced that it was acquiring Ruckus Wireless for approximately $1.5 billion.[4] Brocade completed its acquisition of Ruckus Wireless on May 27, 2016.[5] After Brocade was acquired by Broadcom Limited, Ruckus was acquired by the Arris Group for $800 million on December 1, 2017.[6][7]

History

Ruckus was founded in 2004 by William Kish and Victor Shtrom. Sequoia Capital, WK Technology Fund, and Sutter Hill Ventures initially funded the company. Ruckus was publicly listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol RKUS.[8]

In 2015, Ruckus Wireless became the first Wi-Fi vendor to introduce an 802.11ac Wave 2 access point with the ZoneFlex R710. The R710 is capable of supporting twice the density of mobile devices over Wave 1 access points.[9]

The acquisition by Brocade in a cash and stock deal worth about $1.5 billion is meant to add Ruckus’s Wi-Fi products to Brocade's enterprise networking business.[10]

In November 2016 Broadcom announced their intention to acquire Brocade for $5.9 billion [11]

In February 2017 ARRIS announced their intention to acquire Ruckus Wireless—pending the sale of parent company Brocade to Broadcom.

The new multi-gigabit solution includes the Ruckus ICX 7150 Z-Series Switch, and the Ruckus R720 802.11ac Wave 2 access point.

The announcement that Brocade Communications Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: BRCD) is merging its Ruckus and ICX product lines in a sign that it's laying the groundwork for the planned divestiture of both businesses to ARRIS Group Inc. (Nasdaq: ARRS).[12]

In November 2018 it was announced that Commscope would purchase Arris along with Ruckus and the ICX switching component of Brocade for 7.4 billion. The acquisition was completed in April 2019 [13] [14]

In December 2019, it was announced that a security researcher had found several vulnerabilities in the web user interface software that runs on a number of Ruckus Wireless routers, which the company had since patched.[15]

Technology

Ruckus designed an adaptive directional antenna technology called BeamFlex. The company first sold the technology to other manufacturers to enable them to include it in their products. Ruckus also came out with a Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) device that was sold to service providers.[16]

Ruckus offers indoor and outdoor access points in several price ranges. BeamFlex is at the core of Ruckus’ ZoneFlex APs with its directional antenna technology. This technology automatically adjusts to changes in the Radio Frequency (RF) environment providing stronger signals. Beamforming has now been integrated into the latest version of the 802.11 standard and 802.11ac. Other products that Ruckus offers include controllers, software, and smart wireless services.[17]

Hardware

Ruckus offers Wi-Fi branded products such as indoor and outdoor wireless access points and wireless controllers all sold under the brand name.

Access points

Ruckus offers wireless access points that can support up to 500 simultaneous connections on a single node. In 2007, Ruckus launched ZoneFlex, a centrally managed WLAN platform for enterprises and carriers.[18]

Controllers

Ruckus traditionally offered two different controllers: ZoneDirector geared for smaller, single-site deployments and SmartZone directed at carrier and large, multi-site enterprise deployments. SmartZone can be delivered as both a virtual and physical appliance.

In mid-2016 Ruckus added Cloud Wi-Fi, a cloud-based WLAN controller that enables administrators to remotely manage distributed sites using a web UI or mobile app. Ruckus Cloud Wi-Fi is a subscription service.

Switches

Ruckus ICX switches feature the ability to manage multiple switches from a single IP address. The streamlined efficiency of the Layer 2 to Layer 3 transition requires no upgrades in hardware. Moreover, ICX products allow stacking with other like model switches for improved network device interoperability.[19]

Software

Ruckus Wireless provides software-products to accompany their hardware. They offer the FlexMaster, SmartCell Insight, Ruckus ZonePlanner, Cloudpath, Ruckus Cloud Wi-Fi and Ruckus Mobile Applications.

Unleashed Multi-Site Manager (formerly FlexMaster)

The Ruckus Unleashed Multi-Site Manager Management (UMM) is a Linux-based managed service platform for configuration, fault detection, audit, performance management and optimization of hundreds of thousands of remote Smart Wi-Fi APs or Smart Wireless LANs (WLANs) from a single point.[20]

SmartCell Insight

The Ruckus SmartCell Insight collects and correlates Wi-Fi performance metrics into 19 available reports, has do it yourself analytics using customer reports, long term retention, and software only solution residing on a Linux server using CENTOS/RHEL OS.[21]

ZonePlanner

The Ruckus ZonePlanner is a Smart Wi-Fi RF simulation. It integrates Ruckus’ adaptive antenna patterns.[22]

Ruckus mobile applications

Ruckus Wireless has mobile applications called Ruckus SpeedFlex, Ruckus ZD Remote Control, and Ruckus SWIPE.[23]

Unleashed

Ruckus Unleashed is a controller-less platform for small and medium businesses that includes controller functionality in each access point, negating the need for a separate network appliance to manage the Wi-Fi access points.

Location services

Ruckus SPoT (Smart Positioning Technology) provides its customers with location-based services.

Cloudpath

Cloudpath began secure Wi-Fi onboarding — securely verifying, connecting and logging in Wi-Fi users — in 2006 and has since become a leader in certificate-based Wi-Fi security with its automated, self-service software.[24]

Enterprises

Ruckus relies heavily on its enterprise business, as it is two-thirds of their revenue with almost 100% of enterprise sales coming from the channel. Many of these enterprises include hospitality, retail, healthcare, transportation hubs, and education.[25]

Carriers

Ruckus Wireless started out by selling to carrier companies and they are still a good portion of their business. Their customers include C3ntro Telecom, Verizon, AT&T, Time Warner Cable, Deutsche Telekom, and China Telecom. One-third of Ruckus’ business is selling to carrier businesses.[26]

Small businesses

Xclaim Wireless was launched by Ruckus in 2014 as a new division aimed at small businesses. Xclaim Wireless provides a product portfolio designed for enterprise-class features at consumer-level prices.[27]

References
  1. "Ruckus Income Statement - Annual". Yahoo! Finance. Retrieved February 2, 2015.
  2. Investor's Business Daily, Ruckus Wireless Reaches New Heights With Wi-Fi Tech, Nasdaq, Sept. 10, 2014,http://www.nasdaq.com/article/ruckus-wireless-reaches-new-heights-with-wi-fi-tech-cm389517, Retrieved July 27, 2015
  3. John Cox, Wi-Fi,smart antennas power new carrier gear from Ruckus Wireless, NETWORKWORLD, Oct. 18, 2010,http://www.networkworld.com/article/2192096/wireless/wi-fi--smart-antennas-power-new-carrier-gear-from-ruckus-wireless.html, Retrieved July 27, 2015
  4. "Brocade to Acquire Ruckus Wireless to Build a Networking Company for the Digital Transformation Era". 19 April 2016.
  5. "Brocade Completes Acquisition of Ruckus Wireless". newsroom.brocade.com.
  6. "Arris slaps down US$800m to buy Brocade's wireless bits". The Register. February 23, 2017. Retrieved March 27, 2017.
  7. "ARRIS to Acquire Ruckus Wireless and ICX Switch Business for $800 Million in Cash". Arris official website (Press release). Arris. February 22, 2017. Retrieved March 27, 2017.
  8. Peter Delevett, From fizz to fizzle: Ruckus Wireless plummets 18 percent in IPO, San Jose Mercury News, Nov.16, 2012, http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_22012492/from-fizz-fizzle-ruckus-wireless-plummets-18-percent, Retrieved July 27, 2015
  9. Jon Gold, Ruckus first to roll out enterprise 802.11ac Wave 2 AP, NETWORKWORLD, April 2, 2015, http://www.networkworld.com/article/2904851/wireless/ruckus-first-to-roll-out-enterprise-802-11ac-wave-2-ap.html, Retrieved July 27, 2015
  10. "Brocade to buy Ruckus Wireless in $1.5 billion deal". VentureBeat. Retrieved 2016-04-05.
  11. Ron Miller, Broadcom acquires Brocade in $5.9 billion deal, TechCrunch.com, Nov 2, 2016 https://techcrunch.com/2016/11/02/broadcom-acquires-brocade-in-5-9-billion-deal/
  12. Mari Sibley, Ruckus Lines Up Assets Ahead of Arris Sale, LightReading.com, June 13, 2017 http://www.lightreading.com/cable/cable-wi-fi/ruckus-lines-up-assets-ahead-of-arris-sale/d/d-id/733641
  13. https://www.commscope.com/acquisitions/arris-ruckus/
  14. https://www.commscope.com/NewsCenter/PressReleases/CommScope-to-Acquire-ARRIS/
  15. "A ton of Ruckus Wireless routers are vulnerable to hackers". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2019-12-29.
  16. Craig Mathias, Ruckus Introduces Beamforming for 802.11n, NETWORKWORLD, March 9, 2009,http://www.networkworld.com/article/2234791/ruckus-introduces-beamforming-for-802-11n.html, retrieved July 27, 2015
  17. WLAN Infrastructure, Infonetics Research, July 6, 2015, Retrieved July 27, 2015
  18. Paul Mah, Ruckus Wi-Fi Access Points for Your Small Business, CIO, Jan. 31, 2013, http://www.cio.com/article/2388827/wireless-networking/review--ruckus-wi-fi-access-points-for-your-small-business.html, Retrieved July 27, 2015
  19. Robert Archer, Access Networks to Reveal New Access Point Enclosure, Ruckus ICX Switches, More at CEDIA, CEPro.com, September 1, 2017 https://www.accessca.com/access-networks-reveal-new-access-point-enclosure-ruckus-icx-switches-cedia/
  20. John Cox, Ruckus Wireless unveils 11n Wi-Fi gear for net operators, NETWORKWORLD, Feb. 26, 2008, http://www.networkworld.com/article/2283816/network-security/ruckus-wireless-unveils-11n-wi-fi-gear-for-net-operators.html, Retrieved July 27, 2015
  21. Shamila Janakiraman, Ruckus Launches Virtual SmartCell Gateway Carrier-Class Virtualized WLAN Controller, NFVZONE, May 27, 2014,http://www.nfvzone.com/topics/nfv/articles/379710-ruckus-launches-virtual-smartcell-gateway-carrier-class-virtualized.htm, Retrieved July 27, 2015
  22. Brian Young, Ruckus Wireless Introduces ZonePlanner-WLAN, F.BUSINESS, July 26, 2010, http://www.firstpost.com/business/biztech/business-tech/it-infrastructure/ruckus-wireless-introduces-zoneplanner-wlan-1878809.html, Retrieved July 27, 2015
  23. Nathan Eddy, Ruckus Wireless Launches Smart WiFi Mobile Application, eWEEK, Sept. 9, 2014, http://www.eweek.com/small-business/ruckus-wireless-launches-smart-wifi-mobile-application.html, Retrieved July 27, 2015
  24. Angela Swartz, Sunnyvale-based Ruckus Wireless acquires Cloudpath Networks, Silicon Valley Business Journal, October 22, 2015 https://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2015/10/22/sunnyvale-based-ruckus-wireless-acquires-cloudpath.html
  25. Mark Haranas, CRN Exclusive: Ruckus CEO Talks Winning Over Aruba Partners, New Juniper Partnership And Channel Push, CRN, June 25, 2015,http://www.crn.com/slide-shows/networking/300077266/crn-exclusive-ruckus-ceo-talks-winning-over-aruba-partners-new-juniper-partnership-and-channel-push.htm/pgno/0/10, Retrieved July 27, 2015
  26. Mark Haranas, CRN Exclusive: Ruckus CEO Talks Winning Over Aruba Partners, New Juniper Partnership And Channel Push, CRN, June 25, 2015, http://www.crn.com/slide-shows/networking/300077266/crn-exclusive-ruckus-ceo-talks-winning-over-aruba-partners-new-juniper-partnership-and-channel-push.htm/pgno/0/10, Retrieved July 27, 2015
  27. Kristen Bent, Ruckus Wireless Targets SMB Market With New 'Xclaim' Brand, Go-To-Market Model, CRN, Oct. 29, 2014,http://www.crn.com/news/networking/300074620/ruckus-wireless-targets-smb-market-with-new-xclaim-brand-go-to-market-model.htm, Retrieved July 27, 2015
    • Historical business data for Ruckus Networks:
    • SEC filings
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.