Meru Networks

Meru Networks

Type	Subsidiary of Fortinet
Traded as	NASDAQ: MERU
Industry	Wireless LAN
Founded	Sunnyvale, California, U.S. (2002)
Founder	Dr. Vaduvur Bharghavan Srinath Sarang Joseph Epstein Sung-Wook Han
Headquarters	Sunnyvale, California, U.S.
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Bami Bastani (CEO) Larry Vaughan (SVP Sales)
Products	Wireless access points Wireless LAN Controller Networking devices
Revenue	USD 90.5 million (2011)[1]
Net income	USD 26.7 million (2011)[1]
Total assets	USD 66.8 million (2011)[1]
Total equity	USD 32.5 million (2011)[1]
Number of employees	403 (2011)[1]
Website	merunetworks.com

Headquarters of Meru Networks

Meru Networks is a supplier of wireless local area networks (WLANs) to healthcare, enterprise, hospitality, K-12 education, higher education, and other markets. Founded in 2002 and headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, United States, the company made its initial public offering in March 2010.^[2]

History

Meru Networks was founded in 2002 to address issues with legacy wireless networking architectures that support two separate access networks: a wired network for business-specific applications and a wireless network for casual use. This causes problems ranging from co-channel interference to the inability of micro-cellular systems to scale up.^[3] Meru Networks develops and markets a virtualized wireless LAN solution that enables enterprises to migrate applications from wired networks to wireless networks and become what Meru refers to as the "All-wireless enterprise."^[4] The company uses an approach to wireless networking that employs virtualization technology to create a self-monitoring wireless network that provides access to applications, improved application performance, and a greater ability to run converged applications, such as voice, video and data, over a wireless network.^[5][6]

The company’s current products address the IEEE 802.11ac and 802.11n wireless networking standards,^[7] The company focuses on a “Virtual Cell” approach to Wi-Fi. Under a single service assurance platform, it aggregates access points and the controller needed to manage them. This simplifies the management of access points, cuts the number of access points needed on a wireless network, and eliminates bandwidth contention issues.^[8]

Timeline

• February 2002: Meru Networks founded by Dr. Vaduvur Bharghavan,^[9] Srinath Sarang, Sung-Wook Han, Joe Epstein,^[10]
• June 2005: Company receives $12 M in Series C funding^[11]
• May 2006: Company receives $25 M in Series D funding^[12]
• January 2007: Company receives $27.6 M in unattributed funding^[13]
• January 2009: Company adds Ihab Abu-Hakima as President and CEO^[14]
• April 2009: Company receives $30 M in Series E funding^[15]
• August 2009: Company receives an additional $57 M in Series E funding^[15]
• March 2010: Company goes public with stock symbol NASDAQ:MERU^[16]
• May 2011: Dr. Vaduvur Bharghavan founds another company,^[17] becomes Advisory CTO
• March 2012: Bami Bastani appointed as President and CEO^[18]

Main Products and Services

Software

• Meru System Director Operating System. Runs on all Meru controllers and access points, implementing its virtualized wireless LAN technology. As an operating system, System Director runs other applications to deal with the specific requirements of the enterprise. Each application module is integrated with System Director, using its low-level control over the radio frequencies.^[19][20]
• Meru Identity Manager. Allows businesses to provide access to thousands of Wi-Fi devices in the “bring your own device” (BYOD) workplace.^[21]
• Meru Service Assurance Manager. Provides network-wide operations monitoring and diagnostics for wireless networks and the applications that run over them.^[22]
• Meru E(z)RF Network Manager. Manages multiple controllers and thousands of access points providing real-time location tracking and location firewall.^[23]
• Meru Spectrum Manager. A spectrum analysis solution.

Hardware

• Access Points. Built from the radio layer up to support virtualized wireless LANs and, with Meru software, to allow enterprise IT groups to replace wired Ethernet switches at the network edge.^[24]
• Controllers. Supporting from five to thousands of access points, Meru WLAN controllers synchronize these points to avoid interference and govern all traffic on the network to support more users and backhaul capacity.^[25]
• Appliances. The Meru Services Appliance family is an extensible platform that provides a set of applications for management of 802.11x networks. The appliance collects a range of data from Meru access points, storing it in a common database, where it is used by the higher-level management applications.^[26]

Products and services are sold through value-added resellers (VARs) and distributors.^[27]

Recognition

2011 honors include:

• 2011 ITP Technology Best Wireless Solution^[28]
• 2011 Health Management Technology Coolest Products^[29]

Markets

The company focuses on the education, healthcare and hospitality markets. Approximately three-quarters of its global sales come from the Americas, and among its 12,500 customers worldwide are the CME Group and Hellmann Worldwide Logistics.^[30]

While the company’s main emphasis is on the markets noted above, they are not its exclusive focus. In December 2011, for example, Meru announced that it was working with Ayacht Technology Solutions to install a new Wi-Fi network at historic, 37,000-seat Fenway Park, the home of Major League Baseball's Boston Red Sox^[31]

Acquisitions

On September 8, 2011, Meru announced that it had acquired access control specialist Identity Networks. Founded in 2006 and based in Manchester, UK, Identity Networks develops and markets tools that offer provisioning and notification services that give guests access credentials by way of email, or SMS, and also provide reporting, auditing, and policy customization.^[32]

Acquisition

On May 27, 2015, Fortinet agreed to acquire Meru Networks for $44 million in cash.^[33] Fortinet will integrate the Meru Networks team and operations into their organization.

References

1. Meru Networks (2012-03-15), FORM 10-K, Washington, D.C.: U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, retrieved 2012-05-21
2. "Meru Networks IPO". sec.gov. Retrieved 2012-01-04.
3. "The Limits of WLAN Capacity". Ken, Novarum Blog. Retrieved 2012-01-04.
4. "AMA TechTel Company Description: Meru". AMA TechTel. Retrieved 2012-01-04.
5. "Your Resources at Maximum Efficiency". Innovation Network Technologies. Retrieved 2012-01-04.
6. "I Need To Run Video Over Wireless LAN". WiFiSecured. Retrieved 2012-01-04.
7. "802.11n Wi-Fi Standard Finally Approved". Dong Ngo, CNET News. September 11, 2009.
8. "Virtual Cells Come to Mainstream Wireless Networks". Michael Vizard, Channel Tech Center. November 7, 2010.
9. "Meru Networks, Corporate Summary". Crunchbase. Retrieved 2012-01-04.
10. "Meru Networks Kicks Off '802.11 to the Nth Degree Live!' Tour". Meru Networks. Archived from the original on 2010-12-31. Retrieved 2012-04-02.
11. "Venture Choice Industry News". Retrieved 2012-01-04.
12. "InternetAcceleration News Summary". Internet Research Group. Retrieved 2012-01-04.
13. "Meru Networks Gets $27.6M". Silicontap.com. March 6, 2007.
14. "MarketsData: Meru Networks Inc.". Financial Times. Retrieved 2012-01-04.
15. "Meru Boosts Funding to $87.5M". Silicontap.com. Aug 12, 2009.
16. "Meru Networks goes public for $65.8M". IndUS Business Journal. May 7, 2010.
17. "SEC Form 8-K". SEC. 2011-05-12.
18. "Meru Networks Appoints Bami Bastani New President and CEO". 2012-03-21.
19. "Meru Service Director". WiFiSecured.com. Retrieved 2012-01-04.
20. "Wireless Management Matures". Beth Bacheldor, EDTECH. Oct 7, 2010.
21. "Meru Networks, Identity Manager". Zcyko Manufacturers. Retrieved 2012-01-04.
22. "Meru's Service Assurance Manager Promises 'Proactive Troubleshooting'". CRN. Oct 13, 2009.
23. "Meru upgrades E(z)RF Network Management Suite, intros Network Management Appliance". MuniWireless. Sep 7, 2011.
24. "New Wi-Fi gear aims to wipe out Ethernet edge switches". John Cox, Network World. May 4, 2011.
25. "Meru Program Relates Corporate Wi-Fi Confidence To Private Devices". DataCenter Management. Oct 24, 2011.
26. "Meru packs diagnostic security features into Wi-Fi management software". John Cox, Network World. May 26, 2010.
27. "SYNNEX Offers Meru's vWLAN Through Reseller Network". MobileEnterprise.com. Feb 28, 2011.
28. "2011 ITP Technology Best Wireless Solution". ITP.net. Retrieved 2012-01-04.
29. "2011 Health Management Technology Coolest Products". Health Management Technology. Jan 2011.
30. "Meru Networks, Inc. Company Profile". Hoovers, A D&B Company. Retrieved 2012-01-04.
31. "The Boston Red Sox Gear Up to Support Record Crowds and Wi-Fi Demand at Fenway Park with Meru". Yahoo Finance. December 20, 2011.
32. "Meru Networks Acquires Access Control Specialist". Chad Berndtson, CRNs. September 9, 2011.
33. "Fortinet Announces Agreement to Acquire Meru Networks". Retrieved 27 May 2015.

External links

• Official website

• • Business data for Meru Networks:
  • Hoover's
  • Reuters
  • SEC filings