Meru puts 11n in the fast lane

Mark Howell says Meru Networks' single channel architecture puts it at a technical advantage

Wireless LAN (WLAN) vendor Meru Networks is accelerating its UK business around 802.11n products in the hope of growing much faster than the wireless market over the next year.

The proposed 11n amendment to wireless networking standards is expected to be finalised in November of next year. But Mark Howell, Meru’s sales manager for the UK and Ireland, revealed that 70 per cent of his company’s UK revenue already comes through 11n products.

“We are pushing 11n and already have dozens of deployments in the UK. Our single channel architecture puts us at a technical advantage to the competition,” he said.

Howell also cited Meru’s products with 11b and 11g functionality and the capacity to upgrade to 11n as attractive propositions for the enterprise market. “We are seeing good 11n uptake, predominantly in education. Enterprise adoption is starting to happen now. We are out there promoting it and the real work is likely to be next year.”

Howell claimed that Meru was growing faster than the 25 per cent to 30 per cent annual growth expected in the wireless market. “We are growing rapidly even in these tough times. We are not seeing any impact on our business here in the UK.”

Roger Hockaday, EMEA director of marketing for rival Aruba, said: “11n is popular in education as students are going to university with 11n equipped laptops. It is not quite the same for businesses, but in three of four years, virtually all sales of wireless will be 11n.”