The new Ruckus ZoneFlex R710 is the first Wi-Fi access point to take advantage of the significant technical advancements of the 802.11ac standard. It offers simultaneous transmission of multiple client streams to different devices over the same frequency, a new and widely recognized capability called MU-MIMO. This allows for twice the density of Wave 1 mobile devices and data speeds exceeding two gigabits per second.
One of the first locations to utilize this technology is the city of San Jose, California. The city has deployed the ZoneFlex R710 in a production environment, demonstrating its support for the migration to the new Wave 802.11ac 2 technology.
With a new design, the Ruckus ZoneFlex R710 access point supports up to four spatial streams and 500 simultaneous clients. Furthermore, each ZoneFlex R710 access point integrates BeamFlex™+, Ruckus's patented adaptive antenna technology, designed to enhance the performance of Wave 2 802.11ac by optimizing antenna coverage for each client based on transmission.
Featuring four dual-band smart antenna arrays, the ZoneFlex R710 can dynamically create over 4,000 unique directional antenna patterns per radio, mitigating up to 15 dB of RF interference while reducing co-channel interference. The smart antennas and dual polarization also allow the R710 to automatically adapt to changes in the physical orientation of mobile client devices such as smartphones and tablets, helping to maximize uplink performance and provide superior reception for clients with weak signals.
Thanks to BeamFlex+, the ZoneFlex R710 also offers a significant increase in performance and capacity. This technology delivers up to 5 dB of signal gain and aggregate data rates of over two gigabits per second (Gbps), 1733 Mbps (@ 5 GHz) and 800 Mbps (@ 2.4 GHz). Compatible with existing Wi-Fi clients, the ZoneFlex R710 can function as a standalone Wi-Fi access point or as part of a centrally managed Ruckus Wireless Intelligent Wireless Network (WLAN). Furthermore, the ZoneFlex R710 is equipped with dual Gigabit Ethernet ports that can be added to meet peak performance requirements for maximum investment protection. It is also unique in its ability to support spatial multiplexing, adaptive antenna switching, and beamforming to ensure that Wi-Fi performance and reliability are not compromised. The ZoneFlex R710 maintains full 4x4:4 802.11ac functionality with standard 802.3af Power over Ethernet (PoE), eliminating the need for costly and cumbersome network switch upgrades.
Monetizing Wi-Fi, the
ZoneFlex R710 features an integrated USB port to accommodate Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) devices and other Internet of Things (IoT) prototypes. This, combined with Ruckus SPoT™ location-based services (LBS) and analytics, enables businesses and service providers to monetize their public Wi-Fi investment through powerful analytics and location-based user engagement.
