Violet: Hi, my name is Violet Smith and I’m a marketing specialist here at Xirrus. In the following video, Perry Correll, our director of Product Marketing will walk you through a brief demonstration of the Xirrus Wi-If Array.
Perry: First, we’ll examine the external features. Here we could see both sides of the array. Looking at the base of the unit, we see the power supply options, both AC and power for Ethernet connections are supported from the power supply. Looking a little closer shows the wire side connection options. First we have the console port offering a standard zero port connection. Next is the 10/100 port. This interface is dedicated for out of bound management. The last 2 ports are the Gigabit Uplinks. These ports can be configured multiple ways including Link Back up for redundancy, Standard 802.3 ad link aggregation, Port Mirroring, and even as a standard Bridging Service allowing the ability to Daisy chain up to 3 arrays over single data connection. Next we flip the array over and remove the case to show its internal workings. The first thing you notice are the internal radios and antenna boards. The array shown is the XS16, which provide 16 separate radios. In this module, there are 12 dedicated 802.11a radios. In addition, it’s a port for 802.11a/b/g radios that can be configured as required. Other models in the wifi array are for 4 or 8 radios. All models support identical feature sets with the primary difference being between the models, the number of radios. Model selection is typically based on user capacity requirements. Newer versions of the wifi array also provide 802.11 and support. And in addition to the internal antennas, the array provides up to three external TNC connections for the use of external antennas that may be required for special applications. Zooming in a little closer on one of the radio boards, it is apparent that these are module in design which allows for complete upgradability of the array. So as the industry moves towards 802.11n and other advance wifi technologies, the module design of the array provide complete upgradability to protect existing investments. In the center we can see the central control board where all array, intelligence and data processing is handled. This design eliminates the need for an external controller and their associated ladency. The main processor for the controller is a one gigahertz power PC processor. The array also takes advantage of an FPGA design which like the modular radio boards offers complete upgradability for the array’s operating system. The FPGA’s provide all Mac functions, encryption, traffic cuing and prioritization. On each side of the board are memory modules, system memory on the left and pocket memory on the right. Each offer one gigabit of memory and support the operating system in a non-blocking switch fabric. Next is the compact flash module, where multiple versions of the operating system as well as configuration are stored. All array memory is designed to be upgradable to meet any future requirements. Putting the lid back on, you can see the front panel and its LEDs. The LED pattern shows the internal radios are arrayed in a 360 degree pattern providing complete coverage. The LEDs indicate radio status, activity as well as identify the band in used. Amber LEDs indicates a five gigahertz radio, green LEDs indicates a 2.4 gigahertz radio. In addition the radio located in the four pm position is typically use as a rogue threat sensor and will strobe from green to amber as it scans a 2.4 and 5 gigahertz band for unauthorized rogues and stations. It also has the ability to operate as a spectrum analyzer to monitor the RF environment. In the 12 o’clock position, you also have the LEDs that indicate the overall operational status of the array as well as uplink ports. The top most LED identifies the status of the gigabit uplinks. Next is a 10-100 management port and finally at the bottom is the LED that identifies the overall array status. You put all the array’s capabilities together and you can see this platform offers the most advance design for deploying a high performance high capacity wireless solution. Some of the features include a fully integrated wifi controller for high performance. An integrated gigabit switch to eliminate wired choke points. Multiple gigabit uplinks provide high bandwidth redundancy. The sectored antennas offer greater range and capacity. An integrated spectrum analyzer to monitor the RF environment, an integrated threat detector provides wireless IBS, IPS services. And a fully upgradable design to support today’s requirements as well as future needs. The zero wifi array, it provides more range, more coverage, more bandwidth, and higher performance per cable drop than any other wifi solution. And it accomplishes this with 75 percent less devices, cabling, switch ports, and installation time. Xirrus means high performance wifi.
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