Meru Networks Establishes Industry Program To Promote Interoperable, End-To-End Wireless VoIP Solutions

Meru Networks, the global leader in wireless VoIP infrastructure, today announced a new industry-wide partnering program to facilitate the delivery of seamless, end-to-end wireless Voice over IP (VoIP) solutions for enterprises and service providers.

By establishing a set of technology requirements and best practices, conducting interoperability testing and certification, creating complete installation guides and providing an ongoing support system, VoIP Unplugged aims to ease the process and take the guesswork out of deploying wireless VoIP networks.

The Meru VoIP Unplugged Program has certified the following market and technology leaders in the following product categories to define seamless, interoperable wireless VoIP solutions that meet the stringent standards for dial-tone quality voice service over wireless LAN:

• Strategic IP Solutions (including IP-PBXs, wired and wireless IP endpoints, SIP servers, call management software, and security products): Avaya, Juniper Networks
• VoIP Infrastructure: Fujitsu, Hitachi, OKI, ShoreTel, Zultys
• Wireless VoIP-enabled Devices: Hitachi Cable, Vocera
• Wireless VoIP Management and Planning: Roving Planet, WildPackets
• Metro Broadband Wireless Solutions: Firetide Networks

According to Infonetics Research, 27 percent of enterprises will use voice over WLAN by 2006. While the markets for both Voice over WLAN and Voice over IP are clearly growing and applications for these technologies in such key vertical sectors as healthcare and education have increased, there has not been to date, an industry-wide effort to ensure the availability of reliable, manageable and interoperable wireless VoIP solutions. With VoIP Unplugged, Meru is the first to initiate such a collaborative program dedicated to wireless infrastructure.

"As an adopter of wireless VoIP, the benefits of the technology were clear to us from the start, but best practices for deployment and interoperable solutions were lacking," said Gretchen Niehaus, Director of IT and Telecommunications, St. John's Hospital, Springfield, IL. "By creating a set of stringent guidelines and certifying that vendors' solutions conform to them, the VoIP Unplugged program will help guarantee the success of our wireless VoIP deployment."

"The idea behind VoIP Unplugged is to facilitate faster, more cost-effective wireless VoIP deployments that meet agreed-upon standards for quality and performance," said Ihab Abu-Hakima, president and CEO of Meru Networks. "By encouraging certification and putting in place both technical and practical guidelines, we believe the market will move more rapidly towards mass deployment of wireless VoIP solutions."

"A certification program like VoIP Unplugged is an excellent way to drive widespread deployment of voice over wireless technology," said Joel Conover, Principal Analyst at Current Analysis. "When enterprises and service providers can purchase certified wireless VoIP solutions, knowing that they are interoperable and meet a standard set of requirements, we're more likely to see a rapid rise in wireless VoIP deployments."

Statements from certified vendors on the new VoIP Unplugged program:
"By adopting a standards-based approach to wireless IP telephony, the VoIP Unplugged program offers businesses a way to incorporate new technology more quickly, easily and cost-effectively in support of their mobile workers," said Eric Rossman, vice president, Developer Relations and Technical Alliances, Avaya, which has certified the interoperability of Meru Networks wireless LAN solutions with Avaya IP telephony solutions. "As a result, organizations will now be able to speed the deployment of intelligent communications solutions that create new business value from their communications infrastructure."

"Meru is taking the industry a step forward by initiating such a collaborative effort," said Bo Larsson, CEO of Firetide. "With VoIP Unplugged, we are together assuring high quality, interoperable wireless VoIP solutions for Firetide customers who want to provide voice as one of the services of their wireless mesh network."

"VoIP Unplugged is a great way to bring together technology leaders focused on delivering consistent, high-quality VoIP services," said Tony Scarfo, vice president, Partner Management at Juniper Networks. "To effectively deliver high-quality wireless VoIP services, customers require a network that is absolutely secure and reliable. Together with the other members of the VoIP Unplugged program, Juniper Networks looks forward to delivering solutions that address the challenges of delivering a secure and assured VoIP experience."

"There's no doubt that wireless VoIP is going to be a major factor for greater adoption of Wi-Fi in the enterprise. The need for certified management tools to set up, administer and securely deploy wireless VoIP handsets is a critical part of the equation," said Tom Ohlsson, director of marketing, Roving Planet, Inc. "The VoIP Unplugged program will create the standard set of best practices that administrators need to effectively deploy wireless VoIP."

Jeff Ridley, director of product management for ShoreTel, Inc., the fastest growing PBX company in the U.S. and the leader in customer satisfaction stated, "Industry collaboration is critical to the successful, widespread deployment of VoIP and in particular, wireless VoIP, and Meru's VoIP Unplugged program is a significant step in the right direction. We are pleased to be part of VoIP Unplugged, as we believe the certification and partnering opportunities will further confirm the strength of ShoreTel's SIP solution."

"VoIP Unplugged is an excellent example of organizations joining together to promote interoperability in the Voice over IP space," said Niraj Jain, director of business development, Vocera Communications. "Interoperability allows companies like Vocera to concentrate on bringing innovative applications, beyond a traditional phone, to the market."

"As VoIP, and particularly wireless VoIP, accelerates in deployment, interoperability will be key to its success. WildPackets, with our unique ability to provide intelligent VoIP diagnosis via Signaling and Media layer analyses, embraces the opportunity to become part of the VoIP Unplugged program and demonstrate both the assurance of interoperability and the value that deep packet analysis can add in a wireless VoIP deployment," said Jay Botelho, senior product manager, wireless products, WildPackets.

Details on VoIP Unplugged best practices, solutions, application notes, and other partner information, can be found at http://www.voipunplugged.com.

About Meru Networks
Meru Networks is a global leader in Wireless Voice over IP (VoIP) infrastructure solutions. With its innovative, award-winning Air Traffic Control technology that brings the benefits of the cellular world to the wireless LAN environment, Meru's WLAN System is the only solution on the market that offers the reliability, scalability, and security necessary to deliver converged voice and data services over a single WLAN infrastructure. Meru's Wireless LAN System provides major Fortune 500 enterprises, universities, and healthcare organizations with the predictable bandwidth and over-the-air Quality of Service required to support a wide range of current and future wireless applications. Founded in 2002, Meru is based in Sunnyvale, California. For more information on Meru Networks and its products, visit http://www.merunetworks.com or call (408) 215-5300.