Creating A Ruckus

Ruckus Wireless Inc. president and CEO Selina Lo says it’s no mistake that the wireless upstart is called Ruckus and its channel offering is referred to as the Big Dog program.

That’s because the Californian company is biting into bigger competitors such as Cisco Systems Inc. with innovative and reliable technology at a better price along with a margin-rich, 100 percent channel-friendly sales model.

Ruckus has done what the wireless pundits claimed was impossible: deliver a no-compromise wireless LAN experience for the midmarket that is every bit as reliable as a wired LAN. Just as impressive, the Ruckus solution comes in at half the price of old-school wireless solutions. And it takes half the time to install.

Lo credits Ruckus’ intelligent SmartMesh networking software and patented BeamFlex smart-antenna array technology. Combined, the two have opened the door for solution providers to deliver a reliable wireless solution without all the heavy Cat5 cabling requirements that have made some competitors’ offerings costly, messy and time consuming. What SmartMesh technology does is eliminate the need to run Ethernet cables to every Wi-Fi access point.

“Our company is not shy,” said Lo, who bet the company on a move into the crowded and intensely competitive wireless market and in short order has won over several hundred savvy solution providers. “We are pretty loud. The Ruckus name represents our spirit. You can’t ignore us. If you say we can’t do something, we go out and do it and make a ‘ruckus.’ “

Ruckus indeed. The company is one of a record-breaking 177 vendors in this year’s CRN Emerging Vendors class. It’s a class that has grown steadily in size and influence over the past several years as some larger, more established vendors continue to dole out single-digit margins and haphazard support for the channel.

Channel-hungry emerging vendors across the board – in software, security, storage and all tech sectors – have designed products aimed straight at the heart of the SMB market, where clients are every bit as demanding as enterprise customers, but are more willing to take a risk on cutting-edge solutions from the entrepreneurial solution providers partnering with vendors on this year’s list.

What Ruckus and the other emerging vendors are doing is rewriting the rules of the marketplace by building a better mousetrap. They are risk-takers moving to gain market share from larger, established companies.

“Ruckus is probably the best-kept secret in the technology business,” said Mike Gompers, president of One Media Wireless, an Atlanta-based solution provider and one of Ruckus’ Gold Big Dog partners. “They have great products. And Ruckus really helps the system integrator solve the business challenges of building networks versus spending all my time trying to get the wireless equipment to where it needs to be.”

He was looking for a wireless solution last summer for the hospitality industry that would allow him to get the job done without having to tear apart a hotel to install Cat5 cables. “My biggest challenge now is finding wall power, not how to get cabling from the phone closet and
go room to room with it.”

Gompers, a gutsy former Cisco global accounts executive who started One Media Wireless two years ago, beat his old company and other wireless vendors in an exhaustive competitive bid showdown to win a huge deal earlier this year with Lodgian Inc., one of the largest independent hotel operators in the country.

The Ruckus ZoneFlex Smart WLAN enabled One Media Wireless to outfit the original Lodgian property, the eight-floor, 181-room Courtyard Marriott in Atlanta, with no additional Cat5 drops. Compare that to a traditional Cisco solution, which would have required 19 additional Cat5 cable drops at US$250 per drop, according to the final bid specifications. The final bid number for total installation and labour costs for the Courtyard Marriott was four times greater with the Cisco WLAN from a local Cisco solution provider versus the Ruckus ZoneFlex product from One Media (US$4750 for the Ruckus ZoneFlex Smart WLAN versus US$19,750 for the Cisco Enterprise WLAN system). The total cost of ownership costs that included maintenance came in at US$43,795 for the Cisco solution versus US$13,950 for the Ruckus solution on the property.

Cisco wouldn’t comment on the Lodgian final bid comparisons or even on how its technology stacks up against Ruckus.