Ruckus Wireless looks for Australian channel

US-based Ruckus Wireless is looking to find its feet in the Australian market by signing on a number of value-added resellers and system integrators.

The company planned to push its MediaFlex Router and MediaFlex Adapters to resellers who had existing relationships with ISPs, Ruckus APAC sales director, Michael Paparella, said.

The vendor's devices feature an embedded six-way MIMO-G antenna system, dubbed BeamFlex, which it claims can communicate multimedia content over longer distances and at higher speeds than consumer-grade 802.11 products.

Paparella said the both devices were managed by the "brains" of the technology; a software program run on the service provider end called SmartCast. This software enables the Ruckus devices to distinguish multicast video streams from other traffic types.

"The difference between buying your standard Linksys or Belkin product is that we have intelligent software that lets the routers talk to each other so they can find the best possible path for the data," he said.

Although Ruckus A/NZ representative, Mark Jackson, said the vendor was in discussions with two local distributors, Paparella said it first wanted to identify market opportunities.

"At the moment, the market is in an initial phase where companies are doing a lot of investigation work and concentrating on infrastructure," he said. "But we want to get into the market with partners who have forethought and know where the opportunities exist for the home networking space exists."

Paparella said the vendor would establish a three pronged channel strategy in the APAC region. The first layer would consist of a partner program for VARs and system integrators who would focus on the consumer wireless market.

The next layer would involve Ruckus partnering with OEMs interested in incorporating the Beamflex technology into devices, such as set-top box manufacturers. Netgear's RangeMax routers already feature Ruckus antennas, Paparella said.

Finally, the company plans to license its antenna technology to consumer electronic companies but added this area would focus on Asian manufacturers.