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Meru Networks: Making Enterprise WLAN a Reality
2Company Proprietary and Confidential
About Meru Networks
Private Company, Backed by 9 Global Venture Capital FirmsLocations: Sunnyvale, Bangalore, Tokyo, UK, Hong Kong, Singapore, SwedenF500 Customers in Higher Education, Healthcare, Retail, Manufacturing17 patents granted/provisionals/applicationsMeru Industry Firsts
World’s largest single channel / No RF Planning deployment (1400+ APs in 20+ Buildings, University of Miami Medical Hospital)Highest user density(100+ active users/AP, Northern Michigan University)World’s largest enterprise dual-mode voice + data deployment (6000 phones, 49 offices, 80+ Controllers, 800+ APs)
3Company Proprietary and Confidential
Meru’s Growing Customer Base
Keystone Foods
4Company Proprietary and Confidential
WLAN Evolution
Phase (1): Stand Alone Access Point (Fat AP)Phase (2): Centralized WLAN Switch, (Thin AP)Phase (3): WLAN Controller to intelligent AP Coordinated ‘Air traffic control’
5Company Proprietary and Confidential
Centralized ManagementSystem Director
• Controller GUI and CLI
• Highly configurable• Detailed data and
statistics• Remote packet
capture• Diagnostic commands• One-step upgrade• Automatic upgrade of
APs• Scriptable for off-box
manipulation of config/stats
• Secure SSL connection
6Company Proprietary and Confidential
Centralized Management (Cont.)
E(z)RF Applications SuiteVisualization
RF Contours (See the air)Device Location (Asset Recovery)OEM Ekahau
Multi-controllerMgt / configure / monitor Server / Client Architecture
Diagnostics Network Related IssuesSecurity Violations Hand-off issues
7Company Proprietary and Confidential
E(z)RF Applications Suite
8Company Proprietary and Confidential
WLAN Security
Utilize your existing security policies and infrastructure
Existing VPN / FirewallNetwork Access Control (NAC)RADIUS / AAA System (Active Directory)
Avoid ‘re-purchasing’ your infrastructure!
Supported Encryptions / AuthenticationsWPA, WPA2, 802.11i, 802.1x, AES CCMP
WLAN Challenges
10Company Proprietary and Confidential
WLAN ChallengesProblem 1
Channel Planning & Operational Overhead
Avoiding overlapping channels (1,6,11)Troubleshooting RF interference
Meru’s SolutionSingle Channel ArchitectureAir Traffic Control
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Traditional Deployment
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Single-channel Deployment
11Company Proprietary and Confidential
WLAN ChallengesProblem 2
QOS / Application Support / CapacityContention for the air & bandwidthCSM/CA Shared Medium Access (Hub)802.11e is one direction (Downstream)Maintaining connection across multiple AP deploymentToo many stations in one cell.
Meru’s SolutionCoordinated access to the air (fairness on the air)Dynamic QoS bi-directionalSingle Channel / Virtual CellHigh density performance802.11e enhanced
12Company Proprietary and Confidential
Over-The-Air QoS Architecture
Application Flow Detection
Application Flow Detection
Global RF Resource Knowledge
Global RF Resource Knowledge
Admission ControlAdmission Control
Control Mechanismsin 802.11 Standard
Control Mechanismsin 802.11 Standard
+
∆ Global knowledge of interference and resource usage at AP’s including knowledge of clients
∆ Time-based accounting, not bandwidth-based∆ Inter-cell Coordination
∆ Deep packet inspection for understanding resource requirements of Application (e.g. SIP/Codec)
∆ Resource management
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ATC QoSAlgorithms
∆ Virtual carrier sense for uplink reservation/QoS∆ Contention-free periods and contention periods.
Per-flow SchedulingPer-flow Scheduling∆ Uplink and Downlink accounting of packets /
expected packets∆ Reservation-based QoS
+
13Company Proprietary and Confidential
WLAN ChallengeProblem 3
Virtual Cell Architecture
BSSID = ZZ BSSID = ZZ
RoamingRe-Authentication slows associationRe-Key encryptionWLAN Joining ContentionHigh hand-off times in large WLAN deployments
Meru’s Solution – Seamless RoamingVirtual Cell Architecture Single BSSIDDevice thinks it is on the same AP across WLAN deployment
100ms – 1 sec between handoff
BSSID = A BSSID = B
01:00
14Company Proprietary and Confidential
WLAN ChallengeProblem 4
Meru’s SolutionTime-slicing channel access into 802.11B-only and 802.11G-only slides, andAdaptively determining the time for each slice
- Deep packet classification in order to determine the bandwidth requirements of the 802.11B and 802.11G clients as well as predicting the traffic patterns at a low level
- Divide channel access time on the air medium such that the 802.11B and 802.11G clients receive a proportionate channel access and only one type (802.11b or 802.11g) clients access at particular times
802.11G and 802.11b clients operate at full speed during their channel access periods
Network Capacity Approximations for 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11aSource: Cisco Systems
Concurrent Operation of 802.11b/g
15Company Proprietary and Confidential
Components of the Meru WLAN System
∆ Coordinated Access Point► Air Monitor + Access Point ► Application Flow Classification► Contention management
∆Controller Family► Centralized appliance for
coordination, management and security
► Built-in application Flow-Detectors e.g. SIP, H.323, Spectralink SVP,
► Platform for new services: e.g. Location Tracking
► SW model on multiple HW platforms
16Company Proprietary and Confidential
Enterprise Wide DeploymentScaleable, Secure, High Performing
Floor 2Floor 2
Floor 1Floor 1
Data CenterData Center
Meru AP
AP
Remote Office
Central Campus
Servers - Radius, DHCP, LDAP Web
Branch Office
Internet
Deployment Options:♦ L2 LAN between AP and controller
(e.g. branch office, corp bldg)♦ L3 campus network between AP and
controller (e.g. campus)♦ L3 WAN between AP and controller
(e.g. remote office)
Overlay Network Leveraging:♦ Existing L2/L3 devices♦ Existing WAN connections♦ Existing Security infrastructure
Redundant Meru Controllers
