Scaling Wi-Fi networks

2 Meru Confidential and Proprietary

Scaling Wi-Fi Networks

How do we ensure that the Meru ATC Architecture scales

Controlled tests- One AP in an RF chamber

Real world tests- Complete 20,000 sqft office test- Realistic traffic Loads

- Voice and data

TM

3 Meru Confidential and Proprietary

Real World scalability

Micro-cellular vs Virtual Cell

- Does the architecture scale ? - What are the limits of each ? - Floor coverage - Ease of installation - Does QoS really make a difference ?

DOES IT REALLY WORKDOES IT REALLY WORK

4 Meru Confidential and Proprietary

A Real World Test – Conducted by Industry Specialists

•Provides strategic advice and analysis for wireless broadband data industry.•Focused on

•Wi-Fi transition to 802.11n•Municipal Wireless•Emergence of WiMAX

•Ken Biba: Founder, Managing Director, CTO•Co-founded Sytek, Agilis, Xircom, Vivato•Early pioneer of the Internet

•Phil Belanger: Founder, Managing Director, CMO•Pioneer of local area networking with Zilog, Corvus, Xircom and Aironet•Co-authored 802.11 Mac protocol•Founder & Past Chairman Wi-Fi Alliance

•Wayne Gartin: Partner, COO

5 Meru Confidential and Proprietary

A Real World Test -What was tested

Controllers Alcatel-Lucent OmniAccess 4308 (Aruba 800)

Cisco 4402 WLAN Controller

MC3000 Controller

Software 3.1.1.4 4.0.217 4.1.185

3.4

Access Points

AP70 AP1242 AP208

Test was run with maximum 15 APs

6 Meru Confidential and Proprietary

Virtual Cell Scaling

•Performance increased linearly with each added Channel•Micro-Cellular performance decreased with scale

System Thruput

- Mbps

0

20

40

60

80

100

Meru

Cisco

Aruba

7 Meru Confidential and Proprietary

Real World scalability

•Voice toll quality guaranteed with scale•80% more real handsets

00.5

11.5

22.5

33.5

44.5

72 Calls 48 Calls 24 Calls

Meru Cisco Aruba

52

32

22

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Handsets

Meru Cisco Aruba

8 Meru Confidential and Proprietary

Real World scalability

Quality of service preserves voice under stress

0

10

20

30

40

System Thruput - Mbps

Meru Cisco Aruba

52

26.720.7

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Handsets

Meru Cisco Aruba

9 Meru Confidential and Proprietary

Novarum Conclusions

‘Co-channel interference is a real factor in enterprise wireless LAN deployments’

‘The micro-cellular systems did not scale well’ ‘AP coordination is a significant benefit for

enterprise WLAN systems’

Enterprise Wireless LAN Scale Testing – Novarum Inc.

Make It Meru!

The Test

12 Meru Confidential and Proprietary

One AP in the wild

A Real World Test

20,000 sqft floor already fitted out. Typical Office Layout, mixture of hard walled offices and cubicles

13 Meru Confidential and Proprietary

A Real World Test – Clients

ClientsLaptops Lenovo T43

HP 510HP Compact nc6200

802.11 adapters Cisco Aironet 802.11 a/b/g cardbus with Cisco Aironet Desktop Utility V 3.6.0.122

VoIP Berkeke OnDO SIP server50 Ascom i75 phones (V 1.2.19)2 Cisco 7921g phones (v 4.1.0.85 w/CCX v4)

Simulated Chariot 4.2

14 Meru Confidential and Proprietary

Test Cases

1. TCP flows to 72 Wireless clients2. Bi-directional 72 simulated VoIP conversations3. Bi-directional 48 simulated VoIP conversations4. Bi-directional 24 simulated VoIP conversations5. Bi-directional 24 simulated VoIP conversations, and 48 data clients6. Real handsets, how many does the systems support ?7. Bi-directional 12 VoIP handsets, and 72 Data Clients

Each test ran 3 times and averaged the resultsSimulated tests ran for 90 seconds when successful

15 Meru Confidential and Proprietary

One AP in the wild

A Real World Test – Meru 15 AP placement

Meru APs where physically separated by 6ft at each of the locations

16 Meru Confidential and Proprietary

One AP in the wild

A Real World Test – Cisco/Aruba 15 AP placement

Cisco’s and Aruba’s tools were used to automatically set channels and power levels of the APs

17 Meru Confidential and Proprietary

Results

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

System Thruput - Mbps

Meru

Cisco

Aruba

00.5

11.5

22.5

33.5

44.5

MOS

Meru

Cisco

Aruba

00.5

1

1.52

2.53

3.54

4.5

MOS

MeruCiscoAruba

Test 1 – 72 Data Clients

Test 3 – 48 VoIP Pairs Test 4 – 24 VoIP Pairs

Test 2 -72 VoIP Pairs

00.5

11.5

22.5

33.5

44.5

5

15 AP s 10 AP s

MeruCiscoAruba

18 Meru Confidential and Proprietary

Results

0

10

20

30

40

50

System Thruput - Mbps

Meru

Cisco

Aruba

00.5

11.5

22.5

33.5

44.5

5

MOS

Meru

Cisco

Aruba

Test 5 – 24 VoIP and 48 Data Clients 15 APs

05

1015

2025

3035

40

System Thruput - Mbps

Meru

Cisco

Aruba

00.5

11.5

22.5

33.5

44.5

5

MOS

Meru

Cisco

Aruba

Test 5 – 24 VoIP and 48 Data Clients 10 APs

19 Meru Confidential and Proprietary

Results

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Handsets

Meru

Cisco

Aruba

Test 6 – Maximum Number of REAL Handsets

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

System Thruput - Mbps

Meru

Cisco

Aruba

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Handsets

Meru

Cisco

Aruba

Test 7– Maximum VoIP and 72 Data Clients