Meru Eliminates 802.11g Client Performance Penalty

Meru Networks, a start-up based in Sunnyvale, California, has developed a Dual Speed WLAN technology that enables its Wi-Fi access points to overcome the "802.11g client performance penalty" that occurs when even one 802.11b device joins an 802.11g network.



Meru Networks said that although 802.11g is designed for 54 Mbps rates, typical real-world performance averages about 25 Mbps. Because 802.11g is backwards compatible with 802.11b clients, the access point radio needs to throttle-down whenever an 802.11b client is active. This drops the performance of the entire WLAN to about 8 Mbps.



Meru is introducing a new AP200 Access Point with Dual Speed WLAN technology to overcome this issue. The system uses deep packet classification in order to determine the bandwidth requirements of the 802.11B and 802.11G clients, as well as predicting the traffic patterns at a low level. It then divides channel access time on the air medium such that the 802.11B and 802.11G clients receive a proportionate channel access. Only one type of client access (802.11b or 802.11g) is permitted at any given instant. The 802.11g and 802.11b clients do not see each other and operate at full speed during their allotted channel access periods. No changes are needed on the client side.



The new AP200 access point incorporates two radios that are software programmable to be either Meru Dual-Speed 802.11b/g or 802.11a. http://www.merunetworks.com