Communitech Deploys Meru Wireless Network to Facilitate Collaboration at Ontario's Regional Hub for Commercialization

Meru Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:MERU), a leader in virtualized wireless LAN solutions, today announced that Communitech (www.communitech.ca) has deployed a Meru wireless network at the Communitech Hub. The Hub is a 44,000 square-foot historically significant facility housing 75 companies and 3 post-secondary educational institutions as well as more than 30 functional peer groups involving the 1,000 tech companies in Waterloo Region.

Communitech is a not-for-profit organization that helps technology companies in Ontario, Canada start, grow and succeed while promoting Waterloo Region as a technology cluster. Waterloo Region is home to almost 1,000 tech companies that span the information technology, digital media, biomedical, aerospace, environmental technology and advanced manufacturing sectors. Home-grown global companies like Research In Motion (RIM), OpenText, Desire2Learn, Christie Digital Systems Canada, and COM DEV are located in Waterloo Region along with hundreds of startups and SMEs. The Communitech Hub fosters a unique digital media ecosystem and is one of many commercialization facilities that make up the Canadian Digital Media Network (CDMN).

The Meru network serves as the foundation for all Hub tenants' communications. Meru's single-channel, virtual cell architecture ensures lack of interference with neighbors, including Google, that share the space. In addition to the 75 residents, Communitech regularly hosts more than 30 peer-group meetings involving the more than 1,000 companies in the region. Group participants frequently have more than one mobile device each, so device densities can get quite high at peak use.

"What we do here involves a lot of people coming in and out of our doors all the time bringing in their own mobile devices, including smartphones, tablets, and laptops," said says Brad Buckborough, Communitech network administrator. "A wired network is not going to work in this situation, and many wireless vendors are unable to meet our needs, due to the stone and steel architecture and historical status of the building. The Meru network was the right choice for us, and Meru's E(z)RF management makes it very easy and cost effective to maintain."

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