Meru Networks Significantly Outperforms Cisco™ in Converged Wireless Voice and Data Benchmark

The Tolly Group Certifies Toll-Quality Application Delivery with Over 300% Greater Throughput

 

SUNNYVALE, Calif., September 17, 2007 – Meru Networks, the leader in fourth-generation WLAN infrastructure, today announced that The Tolly Group completed and published a first-ever practical comparison of enterprise-grade wireless local area network (WLAN) infrastructure running voice and data applications simultaneously. The Tolly Group's independent test results indicate that Meru's WLAN system delivers over three times more bi-directional data throughput than the Cisco WLAN solution tested. Meru's system consistently delivered toll-quality Voice over IP (VoIP) in a wireless multi-user environment, while the Cisco solution failed to deliver acceptable quality for any of the VoIP users.

"This test illustrates that Meru's over-the-air QoS can manage VoIP and data traffic in such a way as to deliver toll-quality voice in a multi-user high density enterprise environment while Cisco's solution fails to deliver acceptable quality for any of the VoIP users," said Kevin Tolly, president/CEO/founder of The Tolly Group. Enterprises require performance, reliability and availability from their WLAN. These test results show that Meru's platform is more robust in handling converged voice and data traffic than Cisco's WLAN infrastructure.

Meru's Air Traffic Control Architecture and Virtual Cell Technology allow enterprises to deploy a WLAN providing high capacity and uniform coverage enterprise-wide.

The Tolly Group completed performance testing with Meru's WLAN enterprise-class controller, the MC3000, and Meru's dual-radio, 802.11g WLAN AP 208 and Cisco's 4402 WLAN controller and AP1242 AG. The test measured the voice quality and aggregate throughput for several dozen live and simulated simultaneous VoIP over WLAN sessions, along with high volume of traditional data applications. Meru WLAN system demonstrated that it can deliver toll-quality VoIP while handling 28 VoIP users and eight data users communicating simultaneously across a single AP. The Meru solution received a mean opinion score (MOS) of 4.07, while the Cisco solution received a MOS of 1.65. A score of 1.0 represents the lowest possible MOS value, so 1.65 is not suitable for communications. Meru WLAN also demonstrated fairness for balanced upstream and downstream data traffic, while Cisco supports 40% fewer transactions with unbalanced upstream and downstream traffic.

Based on The Tolly Group's Fair Testing Charter, Cisco was invited to review test plans and offer technical support but did not respond to the invitation. For more information on the test, please contact The Tolly Group for details.

"The Tolly Group has certified what many customers are figuring out as they move from islands of wireless connectivity to an enterprise-wide wireless LAN supporting data and voice applications," said Steve Troyer, vice president of product marketing for Meru Networks. "Meru's WLAN solution is purpose-built to perform and deliver in these increasingly mission critical environments."

About The Tolly Group
The Tolly Group, an independent testing and strategic consulting organization based in Boca Raton, FL, offers a full range of services designed to furnish both the vendor and end-user communities with authoritative and unbiased information. Additionally, The Tolly Group is recognized worldwide for its expertise in assessing leading-edge technologies. For more information on The Tolly Group's services, visit its Web site at http://www.tolly.com, or call (561) 391-5610.

About Meru Networks
Meru Networks is the global leader in wireless infrastructure solutions that enable the All-Wireless Enterprise. Its industry-leading innovations deliver pervasive, wireless service fidelity for business-critical applications to major Fortune 500 enterprises, universities, healthcare organizations and local, state and federal government agencies. Meru's award-winning Air Traffic Control technology brings the benefits of the cellular world to the wireless LAN environment, and its WLAN System is the only solution on the market that delivers predictable bandwidth and over-the-air Quality of Service with the reliability, scalability, and security necessary to deliver converged voice and data services over a single WLAN infrastructure. Founded in 2002, Meru is based in Sunnyvale, California. For more information on Meru Networks and its products, visit www.merunetworks.com or call (408) 215-5300.