Xirrus introduces RF Performance Manager for 802.11N networks

Xirrus announced its advanced RF Performance Manager (RPM) for optimizing the bandwidth usage and station performance of 802.11n Wi-Fi networks. Leveraging the multiple integrated access point (multi-radio) design of the Xirrus Wi-Fi Array with up to 24 radios per device, RPM manages the allocation of wireless bandwidth to wireless stations across multiple RF channels.

The Xirrus Wi-Fi Array is intended for deploying high-speed 802.11n networks while maintaining coexistence with older 802.11a/b/g clients because of its multi-radio design that integrates 4, 8, 12, 16 and soon 24 radios per device. With each radio operating on a different channel, RPM selects the ideal radio for each station.

High speed stations are grouped together on radios with other high speed stations, while lower speed stations are combined with other lower speed stations. This ensures optimal performance for high speed 802.11n stations without compromise.

RPM for the Xirrus Wi-Fi Array includes a number of features for managing the RF and traffic performance in a Wi-Fi environment (see below). New in the ArrayOS 4.0.6 release is advanced station load balancing that intelligently assigns stations to radios based on 4 criteria:

• Band – 5GHz is favored over 2.4GHz if the station supports it. This is increasingly important for 802.11n given 8X as many channels (and thus bandwidth) are available in the 5GHz band.
• Station Mode – Wi-Fi mode of the station (802.11n, 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g) is considered with stations of like type steered to the same radio.
• Radio Load – Stations are steered to radios with the least station load.
• Signal Strength – Wireless signal strength is considered to ensure the station is connected to the appropriate radio based on strength of the link.