Xirrus XN8 Wi-Fi Array Outperforms Traditional APs + Controller in Tolly Group Tests

May 04, 2010

First Test in Series Highlights User Density, Capacity, and Range Advantages of the Wi-Fi Array at a Device Level; Second Test at System Level in Q3’10 Will Expand to Full Scale Deployment

Xirrus®, the Wi-Fi "Power Play" that delivers the most coverage, bandwidth, and user density in the industry, announced today the results of the first in a series of Wi-Fi solution comparison tests conducted in association with The Tolly Group, a provider of third party validation of IT products and services. The results demonstrate the performance advantages of the fully distributed architecture of the Xirrus Wi-Fi Array in comparison with the centralised architectures of traditional thin APs coupled to controllers in the IT closet.

Click here to view the full Wi-Fi device report from The Tolly Group

"A single Xirrus XN8 Array performed very well in tests conducted against 4 802.11n APs + controller," said Kevin Tolly, Founder of The Tolly Group. "While both solutions contained the same number of radios - 8 in each case - the Wi-Fi Array exceeded the performance of the multiple thin AP solution in every performance category tested."

Highlights of the test results include:

• User Density: 100 wireless laptops over AES-encrypted connections simultaneously logging into a Windows domain with a 23MB profile took 2 minutes 40 seconds for 1 XN8 vs. 2:56 for 4 traditional APs connected to a centralised controller
• Range: The Wi-Fi Array supported over twice the range of the traditional AP as measured by signal strength at a given distance in both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz Wi-Fi bands
• Roaming: Roaming time for stations moving between 2 devices was less on the Array than traditional APs in both Open and AES-encrypted scenarios
• Backbone Traffic: The Array placed one-half the traffic on the network backbone as did the traditional APs for the same test due to the distributed architecture of the Array (see graphics)
• Functionality: Feature/function tests executed against both the Array and AP solution showed effective functional equivalence for the two solutions

Figure 1: (Source: Tolly, April 2010) Backbone traffic from 4 traditional APs + controller (in green) and server traffic (in blue) for a 100 laptop domain login with 23MB profile. Since traffic must pass in and back out of the controller, there is 2X the traffic on the backbone network in a centralised architecture.

Figure 2: (Source: Tolly, April 2010) Backbone traffic from 1 XN8 Array (in green) and server traffic (in blue) for a 100 laptop domain login with 23MB profile. In this case, the traffic on the backbone is equal to the server for a distributed architecture and half that of the centralised traditional AP + controller.

"Xirrus' fully distributed, dense radio architecture continues to be unique in the industry and is the leading solution for dense user and device environments. This was proven by the real world results obtained from the testing with The Tolly Group in the dense user scenarios we created that replicate conditions our customers face everyday around the world," said Dirk Gates, CEO and founder of Xirrus. "In these tests, we answered important questions including 'How long will it take to log my users into the network?', 'How will my network backbone be impacted by wireless traffic?', and 'How large an area will each Wi-Fi device cover?'. The economic advantages of the Xirrus solution over traditional offerings was evident from the significantly lower device counts and cables used to execute these tests while at the same time delivering superior performance."

The second round of Wi-Fi solution testing with The Tolly Group, planned for Q3'10, will focus on system level testing using 64 radios of each solution deployed in a real world environment. The system tests will compare 8 XN8 Arrays to 32 dual-radio APs + controller and focus on the performance, encryption, and economics of the solutions. A key focus will be analysing the linearity of investment as a wireless network scales in size. While the distributed design of the Xirrus Array scales linearly in performance and economics as more devices - and therefore more capacity - are added, the centralised design of the thin AP + controller solution exhibits a 'stair step' effect in its growth as the performance capacity available per AP drops as the device limit of the controller is reached - whether that is 16, 32, 128, 512, or more APs.

Click here to view the full Wi-Fi device report from The Tolly Group

About The Tolly Group
The Tolly Group, an independent testing and strategic consulting organisation based in Boca Raton, FL., offers a full range of services designed to furnish both the vendor and end-user communities with authoritative and unbiased information. Additionally, The Tolly Group is recognised worldwide for its expertise in assessing leading-edge technologies. For more information on The Tolly Group's services, visit its Web site at www.tolly.com, E-mail info@tolly.com or call (561) 391-5610.

About Xirrus
Xirrus, the only Wi-Fi Power Play™, manufactures the Wi-Fi Array® architecture that displaces both overlay Wi-Fi offerings and switched Ethernet or Fast Ethernet to the desktop. Unlike traditional access points, the Wi-Fi Array integrates 4, 8, 12, 16 or 24 802.11abgn radios along with a high-gain directional antenna system, onboard multi-gigabit switch, Wi-Fi controller, firewall, dedicated Wi-Fi threat sensor, and an embedded spectrum analyser into a single energy-efficient and cost-effective device using 75% fewer devices, cabling, switch ports, power, space, and installation time compared with any other offering. Xirrus products are designed and manufactured in the United States. Xirrus is ISO 9001:2008 and Verisign certified. For more information, please visit www.xirrus.com.