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Xirrus Delivers the Industry's Most Advanced Wi-Fi Operating System
THOUSAND OAKS, CA, Dec 04, 2012 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) --
Xirrus(R), the leader in high-performance wireless networks, today
announced a major release of its flagship ArrayOS operating system
for Xirrus Wireless Arrays. Xirrus AOS 6.3 provides the industry's
most advanced Wi-Fi operating system for optimizing the services and
performance of wireless networks, uniquely addressing the growing
challenges in bring-your-own-device (BYOD) environments. ArrayOS 6.3
enables Xirrus Wireless Arrays with comprehensive, first-of-its-kind
application-level visibility and policy enforcement at the network
edge; support for Apple services such as Airprint and Airplay across
enterprise networks; high scalability in support of dense 2.4GHz
wireless environments; Passpoint certification for seamless Wi-Fi
roaming and carrier data offload at wireless hotspots; and new
options for migrating to 802.11ac when the new technology becomes
available in 2013.
"BYOD is the single largest factor driving enterprise mobility and
WLAN market growth, and it presents a challenge to IT in terms of the
plethora of diverse applications that are now traversing these
enterprise networks," said Rohit Mehra, vice president, network
infrastructure, at IDC. "Solutions such as the one available with
Xirrus AOS 6.3 enable IT managers with the application visibility,
management and policy enforcement around these applications, and will
increasingly find favor in newer WLAN architectures and deployments
that need to support mission-critical workloads."
With vastly greater compute power in each Array compared to
traditional access points (APs), Xirrus Arrays powered by AOS 6.3
enable vital services to be delivered and enforced at the network
edge, outclassing approaches that centralize services on a single
controller in the core of the network. Key new functionality in the
release includes:
-- Application Control provides full application visibility and policy
enforcement at the network edge in each Array. This enables
prioritization, rate limiting, and firewalling of traffic by
application -- a depth of functionality unmatched by any competitive
wireless vendor. By placing the classification and policy enforcement
engines directly at the edge of the network, AOS 6.3 with Application
Control allows enterprises to control bandwidth, security threats, and
policies before the traffic enters and impacts the core network.
-- Bonjour Director enables utilization of Apple devices on
enterprise-grade networks through the filtering and forwarding of
Apple Bonjour traffic. Bonjour traffic is multicast-based (multicast
DNS or mDNS) and does not natively operate across multi-subnet and
multi-VLAN networks. Bonjour Director propagates the discovery and
usage of Apple iOS devices across subnets and VLANs, simplifying the
integration of popular Apple services such as AirPrint and AirPlay.
-- Advanced RF control features enable Wireless Arrays to support greater
densities of users than competitive solutions. A new Honeypot SSID
mode eliminates much of the unnecessary traffic generated by
smartphones attempting to connect to the network. This capability
optimizes use of the available spectrum and increases network
performance and the number of devices that can connect to the network.
Additionally, new power management features help to optimize coverage
patterns to support dense device situations in open environments such
as stadiums and sporting venues.
-- Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Passpoint(TM) status was achieved from the Wi-Fi
Alliance for Xirrus Arrays in November 2012. See associated press
release
(http://www.xirrus.com/Company/Press/Press-Releases/Xirrus-Certified-for-Passpoint(TM)-by-the-Wi-Fi-Allia).
Based on the Hotspot 2.0 specification, Passpoint enables compliant
mobile devices to automatically discover and connect to
Passpoint-certified Wi-Fi networks without user intervention, as well
as roam seamlessly between networks while maintaining a network
connection.
-- 802.11ac-Ready Deployments are possible today with Xirrus' XR family
of modular, multi-radio Arrays. The AOS 6.3 release adds support for a
new Array model -- the XR-2200 Wireless Array -- which supports two
modular Access Points plus two open slots supporting additional
802.11n modules or future 802.11ac modules when they become available
in 2013. The XR-2200, along with all Xirrus XR Arrays, enables
enterprises to quickly upgrade their wireless infrastructure to
greater capacity while maintaining all of their existing investment.
"The Xirrus AOS 6.3 release has proven to be completely adaptable to
our wireless demands," stated Rocky Perritt, Manager of IT at Desoto
Parish School System in Mansfield Louisiana. "The Application Control
and Bonjour Director features have allowed us to simultaneously
prioritize learning-critical applications on our network while easily
extending network services for the latest tablet and mobile computing
devices. Further, the 2.4 GHz optimization features within AOS 6.3
have really enabled us to support an increasingly dense environment
of 2.4 Ghz wireless devices without increasing our IT budget."
"Wireless APs have become the preferred form and increasingly the
only form of access onto enterprise networks," said Steven Wastie,
Chief Marketing Officer for Xirrus. "Wireless-only devices such as
iPads and BYOD have thrown a wrench into the plans of IT directors.
Their wireless networks were not typically designed to handle the
onslaught of new devices and unknown application loads. With AOS 6.3,
Xirrus puts IT directors back in control, providing new levels of
visibility, flexibility, and control unmatched in enterprise wireless
networks -- as well as the scalability to support unpredictable new
demands for network capacity."
Availability
ArrayOS 6.3 will be available in December 2012 as a software upgrade
to Xirrus XR and XN Arrays. For more information, contact Xirrus at
info@xirrus.com.
About Xirrus, Inc.
Xirrus is the leading provider of high-performance wireless networks.
Xirrus' Array-based solutions perform under the most demanding
circumstances with wired-like reliability and superior security. The
Xirrus wireless solutions provide a vital strategic business and IT
infrastructure advantage to the education, healthcare, government and
enterprise industries that depend on wireless to operate
business-critical applications. Headquartered in Thousand Oaks, CA,
Xirrus is a privately held company that designs and manufactures its
products and solutions in the USA. For more information please visit:
http://www.xirrus.com/ and follow us on Twitter: @Xirrus.
Xirrus, XMS and Bonjour Director are trademarks or registered
trademarks of Xirrus. Other trade names used in this document are or
may be the property of their respective owners.
SOURCE: Xirrus
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