K 12 Presentation 120808
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Transcript of K 12 Presentation 120808
Wireless LAN for K-12 SchoolsEnabling 21st Century Learning
Meru Networks Background
Global leader of 4th Generation* Wireless LAN infrastructure solutions
- Rated #1 802.11n vendor
Over 2,000 Customers in 36 Countries
Marquis Deployments- Largest Single Enterprise WLAN Deployment
- Highest Density Environment
- Biggest Dual-mode Cellular-Wi-Fi voice Deployment
- First to Announce and Deploy a campus-wide 802.11n network
Fastest growing Wireless LAN company
* 4th Generation per Gartner Classification
“#1 802.11n vendor”“Fastest Growing WLAN Company “
Comprehensive Meru Solution for Wireless in Education
Central ManagementLocation ServicesSecurity Services
Backbone
Remote APs Small remote
location
Branch office 1-5 AP’s
Large School District
1000+ APs
School50-100 APs
School DistrictIndoor / Outdoor
100-1000 APs
Wi-Fi in K-12 Increasingly Tied to Strategic Objectives
Preparing for the Future
- 21st century skills/technology literacy initiatives
- Creating new learning spaces (outdoor areas, cafeterias)
Keeping Up with Growth
- New building construction & modular classrooms (over 350,000 in use in 2005)
- Modernizing (very) old facilities—average age of US school buildings 42+ years
Responding to Need for Real-time Communications
- Focus on safety & emergency communications
- Pressure to increase administrative productivity
- Staying connected with community & schools across district
Taking Advantage of Funding Opportunities
- E-Rate
- State & local technology initiatives
Applications for Wireless LANs in K-12
Student, teacher, faculty anytime, anywhere network access
Address state and federal testing requirements (laptop carts)
Wireless phones, PDAs, projectors, tablet PCs
Interactive/collaborative instruction
Emergency communications (voice) with teachers
Student safety (video surveillance)
Reduce property damage caused by vandalism (video surveillance)
Technology Evolution of Education
• Education needs are changing• Enabling teachers, students, and staff to become mobile allows
facilities to be better utilized, • New education initiatives to be easily deployed, and costs to be
better managed• Growing use of wireless laptops in education allows computing
resources to be shared
Productivity growth drives learning• Productivity improvements raise learning standards by focusing
more resources on teaching• Wired networks don’t address mobility needs, are costly to modify• A low-overhead networking platform lowers costs by making small
IT staffs more productive
Greater Return on Investment• IT teams must squeeze higher returns from existing assets while
paving the way for new applications• Solutions must be quickly, easily to deploy, manage, and optimized
for converged toll-quality voice, video, and data
Meru’s Value Proposition for Education
Provide a seamless RF environment with attributes of wired
Support high-performance voice, video, data over wireless
Future proofs network for unforeseen applications - provides greatest ROI
Simplest wireless to deploy and manage with lowest TCO
Meru provides education organizations of all sizes and needs with a wireless network that:
K-12 Schools Trust Meru to Deliver Wireless
Cohoes: Wireless IP video surveillance
ACPS: IP voice, video streaming, laptop carts
Oregon Episcopal School: Prepared for 802.11n with software upgradeable Meru a/b/g
Several of the nation’s largest districts
World’s largest enterprise WLAN at the School District of Philadelphia
Large District-wide Deployments
One-to-One Computing Programs
Wireless Voice, Video, Data Convergence
Dozens of leading schools with one-to-one laptop programs
Best laptop cart performance- Faster log-in
- Higher density
“The simplicity of the Meru solution and the ease with which we can add access points and change the system made it the best choice for us. We can truly leverage this technology for the benefit of our teachers and students. Our students use laptops and we're using advanced applications such as video streaming across the wireless network to deliver lessons."
“Meru's Air Traffic Control Technology™ also gave us switch-like performance with no co-channel interference, even when we installed additional APs to fill coverage gaps. And because with their single-channel approach there's no need for channel planning, it's easy for the BCPS technical staff to manage."
Why are Schools Choosing Meru WLAN? Reliability, Performance, Simplicity, and Cost
"When a cart with 25 laptops rolls into the classroom, everyone expects to log on immediately. With our old system, half the class often wasn't able to authenticate and get access. Now, with Meru WLAN everyone can connect at once, and our wireless network is incredibly reliable."
Key Wireless LAN Pain Points for Educational Institutions
Students• Cannot connect or connections get dropped• Network is slow• Wireless doesn’t work well with video or real-time interactive apps
Teachers• Getting every student to boot and login cuts into limited class time• Reliability and speed needed for classroom mgmt and teaching
applications
IT Managers• Complex and costly to deploy, time consuming management• Providing wireless network access for dense populations of student
and faculty in classrooms, libraries, cafeteria, auditoriums• Providing mission critical, converged applications over the wireless
infrastructure as part of the school services
CIOs
Requires a flexible and robust network, deliver next generation education applications of voice, video, and data
Providing security and communications across a highly mobile student and faculty population
Deliver services within a dynamic academic environment with space constraints
School/District• Deliver Unreliable wireless limits ROI on school technology
investments (computer carts, labs, etc) • Funding/refresh cycles can’t keep up with technology
If only wireless was as easy wired…
Unpredictable cost and coverage
RF tuning and diagnosis is black magic, micro-cell tools ineffective - can’t tune what you can’t predict
Performance and reliability are not deterministic
Incremental capacity involves unknown and likely costly RF redesign
Simple email and web download ok, but what about other apps?
Predictable costs and coverage
Runs all applications
Well understood “cookbooks” for management and diagnostics
Deterministic performance and reliability
Known formula for increasing capacity and scale
Wired Edge: Stackable Ethernet Wireless Edge: if using Microcell
Challenges for the Wireless Edge
Simpledeployment, planning,
analysis, changes
Predictablecoverage, performance,
mobility
Reliableconnectivity, performance,
diagnostics
Extensiblecost effective growth as
devices, apps evolve
How to make wireless work like wire?
Challenges Solutions
Virtual Cell Abstract physical
network and pool RF
resources
ScaleCapacity
PerArea
Stacked Channel SpanLinear capacity growth
Meru Innovations -Technology Cornerstones
Application Aware Network
Optimize application
Performance
Virtual PortsPort level control
Provide switch level control
over each client
Wireless LAN Virtualization: Phase I Consolidation
Virtual Cell eliminates physical resource boundaries
Seamless mobility for free;Spatial growth without disruption
Wireless Coverage like “light bulbs”
- Where there is not enough “light”, add more access points.
- No disruption of the existing network or rewiring of surrounding “lights”
- Adjacent “lights” blend together uniformly
- If one “light” goes out, the room still has some light without interruption
Meru Virtual Cell: Pooling of RF Resources into a Single Entity
Leverages Virtual Cell mobilityand predictability
Introduces “switch port” control and granularity to wireless
- One device does not bring down the others
- Eliminates uncontrolled sharing of network resources
Each client appears to get its own dedicated AP throughout the network
Virtual Port provides abstraction of network per device
Meru Virtual Port: Per-Device Extension of Virtual Cell
Wireless LAN Virtualization: Phase II Partitioning
Microcell vs Meru’s Virtual Port Analogy
Microcell: All users share the same road, no prioritization, experience
determined by other traffic
Meru Virtual Ports: Each users has their own road and their own
experience
WLAN Virtualization
• Lowers cost of operations• Grow as you go• Reliability• Seamless Mobility
•Network is in control•Highly Predictable•Increased Security•Improved Management &
Diagnostics
Network is customized per client•Port-level control•Port-level services and access
… and its benefits
Pool RF Resources
Partition RF Resources
Virtual Cell
Virtual Port
Customize RF Resources
Pre-802.11Proxim
RangeLAN
Access
Connectivity
Fat APCisco Aironet
Standardization
ConnectivitySecurity
Interoperability
MicrocellCiscoAruba
Centralization
ConnectivitySecurity
InteroperabilityManagement
Coverage
Virtual PortMeru
Virtualization
ConnectivitySecurity
InteroperabilityManagement
CoverageSeamless Mobility
DeploymentReliability
PredictabilityExtensibility
Virtual CellMeru
Coordination
ConnectivitySecurity
InteroperabilityManagement
CoverageSeamless Mobility
DeploymentReliability
Evolution of Wireless LANs
Built upon from older generationIntroduced by the generation
Legend
From Microcell to Virtual PortFrom no control to complete control
Complex RF Planning
More APs
Client control
No Port Isolation
Client finds its own AP
Microcell WLAN Virtualized WLAN
Zero RF Planning
Fewer APs
100% Network control
Port Isolation
Virtual Port follows the client
Top Reasons K-12 Schools and Districts choose Meru
Meru Feature Value
Virtual Cell Single Channel and Channel Spans
No RF channel planning or site survey Fewer APs per square foot (less wires/sw ports) Lowest TCO
Client Density per AP Exceptional user experience in dense environments (classrooms)
1 AP per 100+ Students Less hardware & cost
True Air-Time-Fairness No starved clients All students can connect and stay connected No lost class time
Best mixed mode performance No performance penalty with b/g/n clients Eliminates expense to upgrade old clients
Seamless roaming No dropped connections of roaming devices Eliminates frustration of dropped calls
Supports high quality video Enables high quality video in classrooms Enables video surveillance of students/facilities Eliminates the needs of wires and wired devices Leverages the WLAN providing greater ROI
Provides Toll quality calls Provides high quality, secure communications between administration and teachers
Provides communications during emergencies
WLAN Virtualization Overcomes Challenges for the Wireless Edge
Simpledeployment, planning, analysis, changes
Predictable
Reliableconnectivity, performance, diagnostics
Extensible
ChallengesSolution: WLAN Virtualization
No channel/power planningNetwork looks “invariant”No RF or network tuning
Users sandboxedNetwork ControlSwitch-like experience
RF redundancyHigh reliability- channel layersSeamless Mobility, no hand-off
30% fewer APs than micro-cellCost-effective growth via poolingLayer channel to grow incrementally
coverage, performance, mobility
cost effective growth as devices, apps evolve
Case Study: St. Agnes Academy Density and New Applications
Profile Founded in 1906, St. Agnes is a high school for
women in Houston
Implemented one-laptop, one student policy – with approx 1300 laptops
Challenge Old building with chicken wire in the walls made the
signal propagation unpredictable
Could not support high density of simultaneous users with predictable connectivity and performance
Solution Implemented Meru in 2006 to support high density
and new applications
Wireless projectors
Wireless Video Cameras for Surveillance
Meru has not only given us the capacity and performance, but it has made managing the network much easier than it ever was before.
Jason Hyams, director of technology
Case Study: Baltimore County Public Schools Video Streaming, District-wide Deployment
Profile 171 Schools, 15 million square feet
105,000+ students
Challenge Support digital media instructional tools
High density of users in classrooms and labs
Support for video streaming applications
Solution Implemented Meru 5-30 APs and a controller in each
building starting in summery 2007
Over 2000 Access Points have been installed by start of 2008 school year
"Meru's Air Traffic Control technology also gave us switch-like performance with no co-channel interference, even when we installed additional APs to fill coverage gaps.
With their single-channel approach there's no need for channel planning, it's easy for the BCPS technical staff to manage."
Case Study: School District of PhiladelphiaLarge, Distributed School District
Profile Top 10 national K-12 school district with
273 schools and > 217,000 students
Challenge Establish a next generation “School of The
Future”- 100% mobile teaching and learning environment
Support secure, converged data, voice and video
High-performance, high density, everywhere
Solution Meru WLAN
- Maximum bandwidth and highest density
Application fairness — over-the air QoS
90+ Schools with approximately 30,000 radios have been deployed in 2007-8. 90+ additional schools to be deployed by September 2009
"Charged with the fundamental mission of providing our students and teachers with state-of-the-art computing capable of supporting high-bandwidth instructional applications, the District is confident that Meru Networks has established a framework for wireless networking that will comfortably scale to satisfy our educational needs as demand grows.
The entire school district now has an easy-to-manage, scalable wireless network that accommodates our high-density demands.“- Deputy CIO
“With Meru's technology and 11n's performance and reliability, I'm confident in using the wireless network not just as an adjunct to my wired network, but as the primary network for high-stakes activities such as student testing.”
- Brad Fischer, Director of Technology, Danville Public Schools
Thank You
Meru Addresses Education’s Most Challenging Wireless Issues
Meru Approach Other Approaches
Deployment • Single-channel eliminates complex and costly RF channel planning
• No need to re-plan the entire network to accommodate Moves/Adds/Changes
Traditional microcell deployment requires heavy RF channel planning and power management of access points that only last until the next move/add/change
User Density • True Air Time Fairness algorithms ensure that all clients get high-quality performance
Random access prevents large number of users from accessing the network efficiently—only a few users get desired performance while other experience delay and erratic quality. The more clients, the worse the performance
Real-time Applications Support
• Virtual Cell eliminates co-channel interference, coordinating all access points to behave as a single, distributed access point, supporting seamless roaming for real-time applications
• Supports up-stream and down-stream QoS required by wireless voice and video
• Clients make roaming decisions between APs on different channels with Microcells. Due to air time contention, roaming times are highly variable, ranging from 100ms to seconds
• No upstream QoS limits support advanced applications
Investment Protection
• Full backwards compatibility for a/b/g/n• Built-in scale with channel layering capability,
allowing customers to double/triple network capacity by simply adding APs to high-use areas
• Limited backwards compatibility—single B client can impact performance of G clients and same is true for a/b/g clients in 802.11n networks
• Difficult to scale due to inherent tradeoff between coverage and throughput—AP cells must be reduced to support greater throughput but as AP cells get smaller, channel interference among APs increases
Uncoordinated “Hub” Access Points Coordinated “Switch-like” Access Points
Unreliable Connectivity
Co-Channel interference
Client is in control: Ping-pong and sticky client issues
Performance Degrades with density
High Reliability and Performance: unique Virtual Cell™ and Virtual Port technology
Manages co-channel interference
Infrastructure control of client associations and handoff
Reliable performance even with density
Higher Complexity and Cost of Operations
Complex RF and power planning
Periodic site surveys
Constant tuning of network
Simple Deployment and Operations
No RF/channel planning
No need for periodic surveys
Wireless as a “utility”
Other WLANs Meru’s Virtualized WLAN
Meru Has Superior WLAN Architecture
X
Client is in Control
Infrastructure is in
Control