Vox Telecom and Ruckus have signed a strategic collaboration agreement to provide WiFi solutions in the South African market.
Traditionally, Vox Telecom used a number of third-party router brands to service the home WiFi market, and is now adding the Ruckus wireless access point (AP) to its solution stack.
“We are now adding another option, where users can opt for a Ruckus ZoneFlex R310 access point (AP) with installation, at no extra charge,” says Dederick Venter, executive head: outsourcing at Vox Telecom.
However, the partnership goes further than the home AP, and includes all of Ruckus’s hardware devices as well as software and management offerings.
“Wireless is changing everything,” Venter adds, pointing to mobility, analytics, cloud and IoT as the trends driving the market.
And fibre is just the start, he says. “The Internet of Things (IoT) is the next wave in the evolution of the Internet. And this starts with the connected home and connected living.”
The global fibre to the home (FTTH) market reached 181,7-million subscribers in June 2015 and is still rising.
In addition, it is estimated that the South African market will reach more than 360 000 by 2019 – but Venter believes this is conservative and will prove to be higher.
By 2020 it is predicted that 24-billion devices will be connected to the Internet – and the vast majority of these will use some form of wireless access.
Venter adds that residential WiFi used be about point to point connectivity. Today, WiFi lets every PC, notebook, tablet, phone and other devices in the home to connect
“Currently the neglected piece of the FTTH network is the last interface between users and the Internet – the WiFI router, Venter points out.
“Typical single-radio WiFi devices can’t cope with the number of wireless connections that the average home demands.”
The Ruckus AP is a simple ceiling-mount device that gets around these issues.
All of Vox Telecoms’ technicians have been certified on the Ruckus technology.