2008-08-18 18:50:06 -
www.merunetworks.com - Meru Networks, Inc. Rachna Ahlawat, 408-916-1466 rahlawat@merunetworks.com or Ulevich & Orrange, Inc. for Meru Networks, Inc. Janis Ulevich, 650-329-1590 ulevich@u-o.com or CSG/PR for Big Tent Morrison Shafroth, 720-470-3653 mshafroth@csg-pr.com Hundreds of bloggers and independent journalists covering the Democratic National Convention in Denver August 25-28 will file their stories
and share their ideas using a wireless network from Meru Networks.
Up to 400 bloggers, electronic journalists and non-profit leaders in the Big Tent (
BigTentDenver.com), a two-story, 8,000-square-foot "new media center" located minutes from the main convention at the Pepsi Center, will rely on the Meru wireless LAN (WLAN) to relay huge volumes of voice, data and video information to the world.
"While you no longer need a multi-million dollar budget to get a message out, you do need access to the Internet," said Bobby Clark, deputy director of Denver-based ProgressNow, a co-host of the Big Tent. "But even though the largest of the political bloggers now have a combined monthly audience of over 10 million people, they can't use traditional press venues at the convention. The Big Tent is about access for the new media, and technology vendors such as Meru, Google and Digg are key to helping us provide that access."
Big Tent organizers learned about Meru through contacts at the Denver International Airport, which installed a Meru WLAN in 2007 to provide access for travelers and staff.
Carter Johnson, MIS with the Colorado Environmental Coalition, also a Big Tent co-host, said a major challenge in providing wireless coverage for the event was the expected high density of users and equipment over the four days of the convention.
"Because it's a tent, everything has to be imported, and as many as 400 users may be online simultaneously at peak periods with a changing mix of data, voice and video," Johnson said. "So we were looking for a product that was quick to deploy and could support a lot of people in a small area. The Meru wireless LAN addressed those demands."
The Meru network in the Big Tent is based on the newest and most advanced version of Wi-Fi technology, known as IEEE 802.11n.
"We chose 11n because the area around the convention will be extremely dense with journalists and electronic news-gathering equipment, all competing for bandwidth," Johnson said. "Because Meru 11n dual-radio access points can work in the both 5.0- or 2.4-gigahertz (GHz) radio spectrums, users with newer 11n-equipped laptops or handhelds can occupy the 5.0-GHz band, while those with legacy 802.11b/g clients use the 2.4-GHz band. Since Meru 11n access points are backward-compatible with the 11b/g standards, they can serve any type of Wi-Fi client."
Meru CEO Ihab Abu-Hakima said the WLAN "will bring predictability to the inherently unpredictable, almost chaotic, environment that characterizes media coverage of a national political convention. This environment has an absolute requirement for a robust infrastructure that simultaneously supports voice, data and video and can adjust in real time to changing demands."
Meru is providing the Big Tent with 12 AP320 access points, each of which has two 802.11a/b/g/n radios; and an MC3000 controller, which provides centralized intelligent RF management and security for the wireless LAN. Like all Meru access points, the AP320 automatically selects a single channel span for use enterprise- or campus-wide, layering additional channel spans when more capacity is required. This single-channel approach minimizes the potential for co-channel interference and eliminates the need for costly and tedious channel planning.
About the Big Tent
Located at the Alliance Center, at 15th and Wynkoop Streets, just steps from the Pepsi Center, the Big Tent is an 8,000-square-foot, two-story, air-conditioned structure offering work space for journalists, bloggers and new media, as well as the Digg Stage and a YouTube area where people can record comments and ideas to broadcast to the world. The Big Tent will offer live coverage of every minute of the Democratic National Convention, as well as daily sponsored happy hours. When the Convention shuts down each day, the Big Tent will still be going with late-night entertainment, including concerts and films. The Big Tent is hosted by the Alliance for Sustainable Colorado, Daily Kos and ProgressNow; and sponsored by Digg, Google and Meru Networks.
About Meru Networks
Meru Networks develops and markets wireless infrastructure solutions that enable the All-Wireless Enterprise. Its industry-leading innovations deliver pervasive, wireless service fidelity for business-critical applications to major Fortune 500 enterprises, universities, healthcare organizations and local, state and federal government agencies. Meru's award-winning Air Traffic Control technology brings the benefits of the cellular world to the wireless LAN environment, and its WLAN System is the only solution on the market that delivers predictable bandwidth and over-the-air quality of service with the reliability, scalability and security necessary to deliver converged voice and data services over a single WLAN infrastructure. Founded in 2002, Meru is based in Sunnyvale, Calif. For more information, visit www.merunetworks.com or call (408) 215-5300.
Hundreds of Bloggers in 'The Big Tent' Will Have Robust,
Predictable Wireless Access As They Cover Convention
