Canada's Christ the Redeemer Schools Adopt High-Speed Meru Wireless LAN District-Wide.

Meru WLAN Proves 'Rock-solid Stable' for Use With Online Video Learning Tools Accessed on Classroom Laptops

SUNNYVALE, Calif. -- A new high-performance wireless network from Meru Networks will enable students and teachers in Alberta, Canada's Christ the Redeemer Catholic School Division to use laptop computers as effective video learning tools, without the long connection times and dropped connections that have plagued them in the past.

Alberta's fastest-growing school division, headquartered in suburban Calgary, plans to deploy a Meru IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n wireless LAN in 16 schools district-wide over the next two years. In the three schools where the WLAN has already been installed, its performance has been "rock-solid stable," according to Vincent Van Hyfte, assistant superintendent for administration and operations.

With student and teachers needing access to a plethora of online video learning tools (such as those found at www.LearnAlberta.ca, a site of the Alberta Department of Education), and with pilot tests being conducted for testing student achievement online, "we expect the wireless system to perform as well as wired workstations," Van Hyfte said.

The Meru WLAN replaces an older wireless network that failed to meet the district's needs.

"Our division was growing so rapidly that we were losing our computer labs to classroom use, and we had to go the route of using portable laptop computers on mobile carts rather than desktops," Van Hyfte said. "But once you start getting 25 to 50 laptops in a small area - especially with the growing use of video applications - the older wireless technology can't keep up. Users were experiencing connection times as long as 10 minutes, and once they did get connected, they often dropped off. In a class period of less than an hour, that's a serious problem. One of our technology providers told us, 'If you want serious speed and capacity, you want Meru.'"

Before choosing Meru, Van Hyfte traveled to Houston, Tex., to see the Meru wireless deployment at St. Agnes Academy and learn about video applications over the WLAN. The Academy had had similar problems handling very high densities of laptop computers accessing multimedia applications before installing its Meru WLAN in 2006 (http://www.merunetworks.com/pdf/casestudies/CS_StAg_Edu_0108_V1.pdf).

No Coverage Mapping Needed: Just Add APs to 'Top Off' the Network

In addition to addressing the speed and capacity needs of Christ the Redeemer Catholic Schools, Meru's virtual cell wireless architecture is easy to deploy and manage, Van Hyfte said. In a Meru virtual-cell WLAN, all wireless access points operate on the same RF channel. By contrast, the micro-cell approaches of other vendors assign adjacent APs to one of three different channels; this requires precise time-consuming and costly channel planning to avoid co-channel interference.

"We initially did a little mapping of the access points, but found it to be a waste of time," Van Hyfte said. "With Meru, if network coverage needs 'topping up,' you just put in another AP. No other solution makes it this easy to build higher capacity.

"Once the Meru system was configured and set up, it was a classic case of 'no news is good news.' We just don't hear of any issues with the Meru WLAN. Teachers can take their own laptops anywhere in the schools and have wireless access. Students can sign out school laptops and get access, even in the gym. Users had a lot of problems with the old wireless network, but now they don't even think about whether it will work - they can just focus on their assignments."

Meru WLAN Capacity Exceeds Expectations, Means Fewer APs to Buy

By late 2010 the Meru WLAN will be extended to all 17 district buildings (15 schools, the Centre for Learning at Home, and the administrative offices). About 150 APs will cover the entire district - "fewer than I thought we'd need," Van Hyfte acknowledged. "Meru's single-channel approach can support more devices per AP than other vendors. From what I'd heard, I knew the coverage would be good, but the capacity exceeded my expectations."

The Christ the Redeemer Schools wireless deployment currently uses Meru AP208 access points which support the IEEE 802.11a/b/g standards. All future installations will use AP320 units, which have dual radios and support the IEEE 802.11n draft 2.0 wireless LAN standard, providing performance of up to five times the performance of 11a/b/g. Ultimately all existing AP208s will be replaced with higher-performance AP320s. A Meru controller at each school provides centralized configuration and management for the APs on the WLAN.

About Christ the Redeemer Catholic Schools

Christ the Redeemer Catholic Schools (CRCS) was created as a result of the Government of Alberta's restructuring of school districts across the province in 1994 and 1995. Today CRCS provides an authentic Catholic education to students in traditional schools in the communities of Oyen, Brooks, Drumheller, Strathmore, High River, Okotoks and Canmore, and their surrounding areas. Alternative education programs are offered through Virtual Schooling, Online Education and Home Schooling programs to students all over Alberta and around the world. For more information, visit http://redeemer.ab.ca.

About Meru Networks

Founded in 2002, Meru Networks develops and markets wireless LAN infrastructure solutions that use virtualization to deliver pervasive, high-fidelity wireless service for business-critical voice, video and data applications. The company first introduced its award-winning virtual cell wireless architecture in 2003, and Meru products embody a complete departure from typical hub-based WLAN approaches, offering a wireless solution with levels of performance, reliability, security and cost-effectiveness previously found only in wired networking environments. Meru's solutions have been adopted in all major industry vertical markets, including Fortune 500 enterprises, healthcare, education, retail, manufacturing, hospitality and government. Meru is headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif., and has operations in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Asia Pacific. For more information, visit www.merunetworks.com or call [phone].