The Register® — Biting the hand that feeds IT

Feeds

Swivelling Eye-of-Sauron style WiFi maker preps $100m IPO

Crazy fools are making and selling actual stuff

Steps to Take Before Choosing a Business Continuity Partner

Wi-Fi signal booster biz Ruckus Wireless has set in motion a $100m stock market debut, and hopes to be listed early next year.

The company requested the stock symbol RKUS but didn't specify how many shares will be sold nor which exchange will host the listing - the fields are blank in the initial public offering paperwork filed with US regulators. The registration fee is specified and indicates a maximum listing of $100m.

Breaking with Silicon Valley tradition, Sunnyvale-based Ruckus is already making money and turning a profit in the first half of this year in a trend that shows every sign of continuing. Annual revenue is growing: the company took $120m in 2011 compared to $75m in 2010, up 60 percent year on year.

Ruckus makes directional Wi-Fi technology, which is incorporated into wireless routers and access points to point the radio signal in the right direction thus improving connectivity while reducing the need to bump up transmission power. The basic concept - having multiple antennas and switching between them depending on where the user is - is deceptively simple, but the implementation is a little more complicated.

The beauty of the Ruckus tech is that client devices are not aware that clever stuff is going on. So a punter's laptop, phone, tablet or iDevice is tracked as it moves around the office, but it isn't required to support directional signalling.

Ruckus isn't alone in doing that, even Cisco is in on the directional act these days, and Ruckus also competes with Meru and Aruba Networks, not to mention the 802.11ac standard that mandates standardised beam forming (as the technique is known). But despite that, Ruckus is an innovator and is prepared to paste the faces of its senior management over bizarre pop hit Gangnam Style, which surely counts for something. ®

Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Backup/Recovery

Anonymous Coward

Real engineering + real, patentable ideas...

Bravo!

5
0

Re: Real engineering + real, patentable ideas...

+ the weirdest piece of advertising I've seen in years.

3
0
Anonymous Coward

patentable?

huh? the idea of beam-forming is part of 802.11n - most people decided to ignore that part until 802.11ac comes into play - but the presence (and worldwide legal requirements and regulations) of phased array antennae mean this stuff is known, documented and not just within the remit of one persons/companys patent.

1
0

More from The Register

 breaking news
BBC-featured call centre slapped with hefty fine for unwanted calls
PPI pests: Swansea-based firm stung for £225k by ICO
Microsoft to open Windows Stores inside 600 Best Buy locations
Product showcases 'must be seen to be believed'
 breaking news
What did the Lehman Brothers implosion look like to a techie?
Insider tells all about the Gnab Gib at Lehmans
 breaking news
The only Waze is Google: Ad giant tipped to gobble map app 'for $1.3bn'
Pac-Man-satnav-ish upstart in bidding war with Apple, Facebook
 breaking news
1-in-10 e-tomes 'are self-published'... most are 'rubbish' says book ed
Publishing man scoffs at go-it-alone writers, ursines still fouling in forests
 breaking news
Facebook RSS reader said to uncloak June 20
Secret event scooped by Scottish developer?
 breaking news
O2 averts strike action over mass Capita outsourcing deal
Details of new agreement not yet released