The new software, called Virtual SmartZone™ Data Plane (vSZ-D), works with Ruckus Virtual SmartZone controllers, which provide a software-based system for managing wireless networks. Virtual SmartZone has gained significant momentum in just one year, with over 700 customers in production networks managing more than 200,000 access points. Virtual SmartZone is an important part of the industry's Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) movement, which encapsulates key network functions in software that can operate on industry-standard hardware.
Virtual SmartZone Data Plane provides a flexible and cost-effective approach to aggregating and tunneling end-user data for specific application or security policy needs. Tunneling typically increases costs and decreases performance, requiring expensive physical controllers that must be replicated at each site, while hardware and labor costs increase as the network grows. However, vSZ-D distributes the workload across multiple, less expensive systems, requiring only a single controller instance with low-cost vSZ-D deployments at remote sites. Data also moves faster because it can bypass the controller with only a gradual impact at each site.
Functionally, vSZ-D can be managed with the Virtual SmartZone controller, allowing independent scaling of control and data planes. Multiple vSZ-D instances can be deployed across distributed sites, or a single instance can be deployed centrally, making maximum network design flexibility more affordable. The NFV-based design eliminates deployment limitations due to physical hardware and geographic location.
Virtual SmartZone controllers are characterized by their high degree of flexibility: scaling up to 300,000 devices, offering simplicity and multi-ownership, and enabling growth-oriented Wi-Fi so networks can expand and adapt to the evolving needs of your business. The SmartZone software platform supports Ruckus ZoneFlex™ indoor and outdoor access points. Key features of vSZ-D include:
• Encrypted Data Tunneling: Provides flexible data tunneling options from all types of Virtual LANs (VLANs), including guest traffic encryption, point-of-sale data tunneling for PCI compliance, Voice over IP traffic tunneling, and seamless roaming across Layer 2 subnets.
• Dynamic data plane scaling: Provides scalability and resilience for large deployments, supporting 1Gbps, 10Gbps, and higher throughputs, which can be dynamically upgraded without requiring software upgrades.
• Cluster architecture: Provides scalability and resilience for large deployments, supporting up to 30,000 access points and 300,000 devices. One Virtual SmartZone controller can manage up to two vSZ-D instances.
• Multi-hypervisor support: Provides initial support for two of the most widely deployed virtualization engines in the industry, VMware vSphere and KVM (OpenStack).
vSZ-D is now available as an extension of Ruckus Virtual SmartZone controllers, offered in a "large-scale" version (vSZ-H) for operators and large enterprises, and an "essentials" version (vSZ-E) for medium and large enterprises. Customers will need to update their vSZ-H or vSZ-E controllers to version 3.2 to use the vSZ-D software.
The Virtual SmartZone software extends the Smart Wi-Fi technology that has made Ruckus so popular, including proprietary advancements such as BeamFlex™+ adaptive antenna technology, ChannelFly™ predictive channel selection, SmartMesh™ self-optimizing networking, and Dynamic PSK™ Wi-Fi security, which help Ruckus deliver reliable, secure, and scalable high-performance Wi-Fi for businesses and service providers.
