Ruckus Networks (formerly known as Ruckus Wireless) is a brand of wired and wireless networking equipment and software owned by
CommScope
CommScope is an American network infrastructure provider based in Hickory, North Carolina. CommScope employs over 30,000 employees. The company joined the NASDAQ stock exchange on October 25, 2013.
CommScope designs and manufactures network infr ...
. Ruckus offers
Switches
In electrical engineering, a switch is an electrical component that can disconnect or connect the conducting path in an electrical circuit, interrupting the electric current or diverting it from one conductor to another. The most common type of ...
,
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols, based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio wave ...
access points,
CBRS
Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) is a 150 MHz wide broadcast band of the 3.5 GHz band (3550 MHz to 3700 MHz) in the United States. In 2017, the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) completed a process which began i ...
access points, Controllers, Management systems, Cloud management, AAA/
BYOD
Bring your own device (BYOD )—also called bring your own technology (BYOT), bring your own phone (BYOP), and bring your own personal computer (BYOPC)—refers to being allowed to use one's personally owned device, rather than being required to u ...
software,
AI and
ML analytics software, location software and
IoT
The Internet of things (IoT) describes physical objects (or groups of such objects) with sensors, processing ability, software and other technologies that connect and exchange data with other devices and systems over the Internet or other com ...
controller software products to mobile carriers, broadband service providers, and corporate enterprises.
As a company, Ruckus invented and has patented wireless voice, video, and data technology, such as adaptive antenna arrays that extend signal range, increase data rates, and avoid interference, providing distribution of delay-sensitive content over standard 802.11 Wi-Fi.
Ruckus began trading on the
New York Stock Exchange
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed c ...
in 2012, and was delisted in 2016, after it was acquired by
Brocade Communications Systems
Brocade is an American technology company specializing in storage networking products, now a subsidiary of Broadcom Inc. The company is known for its Fibre Channel storage networking products and technology. Prior to the acquisition, the comp ...
for approximately $1.5 billion on May 27, 2016. Ruckus Wireless and Brocade ICX line of Switching products were acquired by
Arris International
Arris International Limited (styled as ARRIS) is an American telecommunications equipment company engaged in data, video and telephony systems for homes and businesses. On April 4, 2019, Arris was acquired by network infrastructure provider CommS ...
for $800 million in a deal finalized on December 1, 2017. The company was renamed as Ruckus Networks, an ARRIS company from Ruckus Wireless. On April 4, 2019,
CommScope
CommScope is an American network infrastructure provider based in Hickory, North Carolina. CommScope employs over 30,000 employees. The company joined the NASDAQ stock exchange on October 25, 2013.
CommScope designs and manufactures network infr ...
completed its acquisition of Arris, which included the recently acquired Ruckus.
History
Origin, Incubation and Funding
Ruckus Networks started in 2002 as an incubator project with name SCEOS (Sequoia Capital Entertainment Operating System) funded by a small seed round from
Sequoia Capital
Sequoia Capital is an American venture capital firm. The firm is headquartered in Menlo Park, California, and specializes in seed stage, early stage, and growth stage investments in private companies across technology sectors. , Sequoia's total a ...
, in
Menlo Park, California
Menlo Park is a city at the eastern edge of San Mateo County within the San Francisco Bay Area of California in the United States. It is bordered by San Francisco Bay on the north and east; East Palo Alto, Palo Alto, and Stanford to the south; ...
. After incubation Ruckus was incorporated in June 2004 as Video54 Technologies Inc., by William Kish and Victor Shtrom.
Sequoia Capital
Sequoia Capital is an American venture capital firm. The firm is headquartered in Menlo Park, California, and specializes in seed stage, early stage, and growth stage investments in private companies across technology sectors. , Sequoia's total a ...
, WK Technology Fund, and
Sutter Hill Ventures
Sutter Hill Ventures is an American private equity firm focused on venture capital investments in technology-based start-up companies. Founded in 1964, Sutter Hill is one of the oldest venture capital firms still in operation. Based in Palo Alto ...
initially funded the company. Selina Lo was the first CEO of the company and continued until company's acquisition by Brocade Communications in 2016.
At its initial days, Ruckus focuses on In-Home IPTV content distribution over wireless. In 2007, Ruckus introduced a miniaturised wireless multimedia adapter, the MediaFlex USB Dongle, designed to provide wireless connectivity to in-home multimedia devices such as set-tops and media center systems. At 2007 CES event, Ruckus demonstrated the dongle with
Motorola set top box VIP1720.
On September 19, 2005, Ruckus announced that it has secured $9 million in its second round of financing, which increases total investment in the company to over $14 million since its formation in June 2004.
Sutter Hill Ventures
Sutter Hill Ventures is an American private equity firm focused on venture capital investments in technology-based start-up companies. Founded in 1964, Sutter Hill is one of the oldest venture capital firms still in operation. Based in Palo Alto ...
and Investor Growth Capital, the venture capital arm of
Investor AB
Investor AB is a Swedish investment and ''de facto'' conglomerate holding company. It was founded in 1916 and is still controlled by the Wallenberg family through their Foundation Asset Management company FAM. The company owns a controlling st ...
of Sweden, led the new financing. Existing investors
Sequoia Capital
Sequoia Capital is an American venture capital firm. The firm is headquartered in Menlo Park, California, and specializes in seed stage, early stage, and growth stage investments in private companies across technology sectors. , Sequoia's total a ...
and WK Technology Fund completed the oversubscribed round. WK Technology Fund led the $3.5 million first round of financing, while Sequoia Capital and private investors provided the initial $1.5 million of seed money. Ruckus Wireless has also appointed Wen Ko, founding managing director of WK Technology Fund, to its board of directors. In addition to Mr. Ko, the Ruckus board of directors includes Dominic Orr, chairman and former CEO of
Alteon WebSystems
Alteon WebSystems, originally known as Alteon Networks, is a division of Radware that produces application delivery controllers.
Alteon was acquired by Nortel Networks on October 4, 2000.
On February 22, 2009 Nortel Networks sold the Alteon ap ...
and later
Aruba Networks
Aruba Networks, formerly known as Aruba Wireless Networks, is a Santa Clara, California-based wireless networking subsidiary of Hewlett Packard Enterprise company.
The company was founded in Sunnyvale, California in 2002 by Keerti Melkote and ...
, Selina Lo, president and CEO, Gaurav Garg, former founder of
Redback Networks
Redback Networks provided hardware and software used by Internet service providers to manage broadband services. The company's products included the SMS (Subscriber Management System), SmartEdge, and SmartMetro product lines.
In January 2007, the ...
and partner at Sequoia Capital, and Bill Kish, CTO and co-founder of Ruckus Wireless.
Company Growth
On January, 2005, Ruckus announced that company signed a worldwide agreement to license its BeamFlex technology to NETGEAR for RangeMax product line.
In April 2008, Ruckus introduced ZoneDirector 3000 - An enterprise WLAN controller, FlexMaster - A remote centralized Wi-Fi management system and SmartMesh on its 802.11n access point. In 2008 Ruckus shifted focus on Enterprise,
Carrier SP, Education and
Hospitality
Hospitality is the relationship between a guest and a host, wherein the host receives the guest with some amount of goodwill, including the reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers. Louis de Jaucourt, Louis, chevalier de J ...
verticals with ZoneDirector controllers which is built on technology acquired from Airspider. In 2009, Ruckus entered into Metro-Wi-Fi with outdoor mesh system.
Dispute
In 2008, Ruckus sued Netgear, along with its new MIMO antenna supplier Rayspan, for patent infringement, over the antenna designs and associated software that have replaced the Beamflex technology which Netgear used to buy from Ruckus. Netgear licensed BeamFlex adaptive antenna to use in its RangeMax 824 v1 and v2 wireless routers. For RangeMax 824 v3 routers, Netgear used Rayspan made antennas which violated patents by Ruckus.
In 2010, three months after purchasing ’454 and ’143 patents from Adaptix Corporation., Netgear sued Ruckus for patent infringement. Netgear alleged that Ruckus’ Wi-Fi access points equipped with Ruckus’ BeamFlex and ChannelFly technology infringed the ’454 and ’143 patents. Netgear also asserted claims for induced infringement and contributory infringement, alleging that Ruckus knowingly and intentionally caused Ruckus’ customers to infringe the asserted patents. On 4 November 2013, The Delaware jury returned a verdict of non-infringement for Ruckus, finding that Netgear failed to establish that any of the Ruckus accused products infringed the asserted claims of the ’454 and ’143 patents.
Further technology and products development
On May 24, 2010, Ruckus announced that it has been granted a Wi-Fi Security Patent for Dynamic Authentication and Encryption by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) This patent is based on a technology developed by Ruckus called Dynamic Pre Shared Key, which require unique security keys to each WLAN user while Pre Shared Keys requires all user of WLAN to use same security key. The technology also aims to dynamically generate security keys and provision. On May 20, 2013, Ruckus introduced a follow up technology to DPSK called 'Zero-IT Activation' to provision unique security keys to client devices by a small agent-like software.
![Video54-Technologies-logo](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/Video54-Technologies-logo.jpg)
Ruckus Unveiled their Switching portfolio on June 21, 2010, named as ZoneSwitch Series of Switches. ZoneSwitch Series had two models 4124 and 4224, 24 Port Ethernet RJ-45 PoE Switches and Fiber uplinks with 180Watts and 375Watts power budget respectively.
On the same day Ruckus introduced a new Wall Switch access points ZoneFlex 7025 which fits compact into wall jack junction box and provides additional switch ports. Ruckus aims to provide multi-service using this access points in-room hospitality requirements and claimed it is Industry's first Wall jack/Wall switch/Wall jack access point.
On Jan 27, 2012, Ruckus opened a new R&D center in Diamond District Office Building,
Bangalore, India
Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...
operations will be the company's first development centre in India, joining the company's four other R&D centres in Taiwan (Taipei), China (Shenzhen), Israel (Tel Aviv), and US (Sunnyvale, CA). With 2013 YFind's acquisition, a R&D center in Singapore also added.
IPO and awards
Ruckus went public on the
New York Stock Exchange
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed c ...
on November 16, 2012, under the symbol RKUS.
On 12 June 2012, In an awards gala in London, Global Telecoms Business recognized Ruckus and
Tikona Digital Networks
Tikona Infinet Limited (TIL), referred to simply as Tikona, is an India Internet service provider based in Mumbai. The company started its operations as TDN in 2008 to provide home WIPRO services. Later the company acquired HCL Infinet from HCL ...
for building world's largest outdoor wireless mesh network in India, naming the companies the winner of its 2012 Broadband Wireless Access Innovation award. Tikona network consisted of over 40,000 Ruckus ZoneFlex™ access points across 30 cities.
IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Enterprise WLAN 2013-2014 Vendor Analysis” (doc #243354, September 2013) announced that Ruckus is named as leader in WLAN market. The report had 3 vendors named as leaders including Cisco, Ruckus and Aruba.
Acquisitions and mergers
On April 4, 2016, it was announced that
Brocade Communications Systems
Brocade is an American technology company specializing in storage networking products, now a subsidiary of Broadcom Inc. The company is known for its Fibre Channel storage networking products and technology. Prior to the acquisition, the comp ...
had agreed to acquire Ruckus for $1.5 billion. The deal was completed on May 27, 2016.
In November 2016,
Broadcom
Broadcom Inc. is an American designer, developer, manufacturer and global supplier of a wide range of semiconductor and infrastructure software products. Broadcom's product offerings serve the data center, networking, software, broadband, wirel ...
announced their intention to acquire Brocade for $5.9 billion. The deal was finalized on November 21, 2017. Broadcom said it would retain Brocade's fibre channel SAN switching business and divest Brocade's IP networking business – including the recently acquired Ruckus Wireless.
In February 2017,
Arris International
Arris International Limited (styled as ARRIS) is an American telecommunications equipment company engaged in data, video and telephony systems for homes and businesses. On April 4, 2019, Arris was acquired by network infrastructure provider CommS ...
announced that it would acquire Broadcom's Ruckus Wireless and ICX Switch businesses for $800 million. The deal was completed on December 1, 2017.
In November 2018 it was announced that
CommScope
CommScope is an American network infrastructure provider based in Hickory, North Carolina. CommScope employs over 30,000 employees. The company joined the NASDAQ stock exchange on October 25, 2013.
CommScope designs and manufactures network infr ...
would purchase Arris group including Ruckus Networks, for $7.4 billion. The acquisition was completed in April 2019.
2018–present
At MWC2018 at Barcelona, Ruckus Networks announced the new CBRS LTE portfolio. U.S. Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) 3.5 GHz LTE access points and related cloud subscription services were introduced by Ruckus to enable enterprises to deploy private LTE network. Ruckus conducted live demonstration at MWC'18.
In December 2019, it was reported that a security researcher had found several vulnerabilities in the web user interface software that runs on a number of Ruckus Wireless routers, which the company had since patched.
Technology
Ruckus designed an adaptive directional antenna technology called BeamFlex, and sold the technology to other manufacturers to enable them to include it in their products. Ruckus also came out with a Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) device that was sold to service providers.
Ruckus offers WiFi products such as indoor and outdoor access points, including BeamFlex, which has directional antenna technology, and automatically adjusts to changes in the Radio Frequency (RF) environment providing stronger signals. Beamforming was integrated into the version of the 802.11 standard and 802.11ac. Ruckus introduced BeamFlex+ with Polarization Diversity Maximal Ration Combining (PD-MRC) to handle complex wireless environment and it was an upgraded technology of BeamFlex.
Ruckus ICX Switches offers Campus Fabric technology in FastIron Operation system across all portfolio of Switches. It is based on IEEE 802.1BR standard for network automation and management simplicity.
Other products that Ruckus offers include controllers, software, and smart wireless services.
Acquisitions
2006 - AirSpider Networks
2011 October- India development centre of Intellinet Technologies Inc
2011/2012 - ComAbility
2013 - YFind Technologies Private Limited
2015 - Cloudpath Networks
Products and Services
Ruckus Networks design, sell and service IT networking products, such as switches,
WLAN controller, Access points, IoT gateways and software. Ruckus started as Wireless only company selling to Internet Service Providers(ISP), Hotel chains, Large public venues and later extended to Education.
Industries Served
Enterprises
![McDonalds1FlensburgPositionCityFlensburgHotspot-detail](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7c/McDonalds1FlensburgPositionCityFlensburgHotspot-detail.jpg)
Ruckus relies heavily on its enterprise business, as it is two-thirds of their revenue with almost 100% of enterprise sales coming from the channel. Many of these enterprises include hospitality, retail, healthcare, transportation hubs, and education.
Carriers
Ruckus Wireless started out by selling to carrier companies and they are still a good portion of their business. Their customers include C3ntro Telecom,
Verizon
Verizon Communications Inc., commonly known as Verizon, is an American multinational telecommunications conglomerate and a corporate component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The company is headquartered at 1095 Avenue of the Americas in ...
,
AT&T
AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile tel ...
,
Time Warner Cable
Time Warner Cable, Inc. (TWC) was an American cable television company. Before it was acquired by Charter Communications on May 18, 2016, it was ranked the second largest cable company in the United States by revenue behind only Comcast, operat ...
,
Deutsche Telekom
Deutsche Telekom AG (; short form often just Telekom, DTAG or DT; stylised as ·T·) is a German telecommunications company that is headquartered in Bonn and is the largest telecommunications provider in Europe by revenue. Deutsche Telekom was ...
, and
China Telecom
China Telecom Corp., Ltd. is a Chinese telecommunications company. It is one of the red chip listed companies of state-owned China Telecommunications Corporation. Its H shares have been traded on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong since 15 Novembe ...
. One-third of Ruckus’ business is selling to carrier businesses.
[Mark Haranas, CRN Exclusive: Ruckus CEO Talks Winning Over Aruba Partners, New Juniper Partnership And Channel Push, CRN, June 25, 2015, http://www.crn.com/slide-shows/networking/300077266/crn-exclusive-ruckus-ceo-talks-winning-over-aruba-partners-new-juniper-partnership-and-channel-push.htm/pgno/0/10, Retrieved July 27, 2015]
References
External links
{{authority control
Companies formerly listed on the New York Stock Exchange
Networking hardware companies
Companies based in Sunnyvale, California
American companies established in 2004
2016 mergers and acquisitions
2017 mergers and acquisitions
American corporate subsidiaries