Ruckus Wireless, an innovator in next-generation smart Wi-Fi technology, today announced that Pioneer Telephone Cooperative (Pioneer), the third largest U.S. telephone cooperative and a leading provider of commercial IPTV services, is beginning a customer trial of its new in-home "smart Wi-Fi" system to enable subscribers to stream picture-perfect digital TV content to any corner of the home using standard 802.11g Wi-Fi technology. The Ruckus trial gives Pioneer a significant lead over other U.S. IPTV providers in offering subscribers a way to reliably move new digital content around the home over standard Wi-Fi.

Pioneer plans to use the Ruckus Wireless smart Wi-Fi system as a next generation multimedia platform to enable and distribute broadband digital services, such as IPTV, to thousands of homes throughout Oklahoma. Pioneer is currently one of the nation's largest providers of commercial IPTV services (launched in June 2004) and has more than 20,000 broadband subscribers throughout 76 cities and towns.

The Ruckus smart Wi-Fi system is based on patent-pending technology that selects the best path through the air at any given time for a specific type of multimedia content, and directs Wi-Fi signals over that path to a given receiver instead of broadcasting it in all directions. If, however, that path experiences interference, the Ruckus system automatically steers the traffic over another path in real-time and ensures up to 20 Mbps of consistent bandwidth to every location in the home so there is no interruption in Wi-Fi transmissions.

"The digital age is forever changing how services are delivered to the home and consumed by users, presenting new challenges to users and providers alike," said Richard Ruhl, general manager at Pioneer Telephone. "It's now a digital world, whether TV, voice or data, and it's coming into the home over that single broadband connection, wrapped in the Internet Protocol (IP). By working with Ruckus, we're taking the lead in helping our customers turn these profound changes into huge benefits that will improve the freedom and flexibility in their lives for years to come."

Pioneer has deployed one of the most technically advanced broadband systems in the country. It currently delivers up to 20 Mbps of broadband capacity to subscribers using ADSL2+ technology to support the simultaneous viewing of as many as three different TV channels per home. Each TV stream consumes approximately 4.5 Mbps of capacity. Subscribers can choose from over 165 channels of compressed (MPEG-2) digital TV, such as Lifetime, ESPN and the Discovery Channel, as well as Internet access and, in the future, digital voice services.

"The number of IPTV subscribers in North America is set to grow to over 13 million by 2009, driven in part by providers like Pioneer," noted Jeff Heynen, Directing Analyst, Broadband and IPTV, Infonetics Research. "Ruckus Wireless is helping these providers solve the media distribution problem in the home, thereby decreasing the time to revenue for their broadband and IPTV services."

Early Adopting in Oklahoma
"The future is here today in Oklahoma!" said Selina Lo, president and CEO of Ruckus Wireless. "Broadband providers everywhere are rushing to do what Pioneer has already done. Not only are they a leader in the industry for rolling out IPTV, but more importantly, they represent the new model for how new digital services and content will be enabled, distributed and managed in the home."

Advances in data compression now make it possible to stream digital TV programming and multimedia content over the broadband connection coming into the home. This lets providers, such as cable companies and telecom carriers, bundle voice, video and data services and begin offering a host of new digital content and services. However, because these services come into the consumer's home over the computer line, users must now deal with how to move this digital content around their homes. Many of these homes don't have the requisite wiring to support the distribution of digital content.

"With the Ruckus System, we believe we can turn this problem into a real benefit," said Scott Ulsaker, video products manager for Pioneer. "Not only will we be able to solve the in-home distribution problem, but we will have a true multimedia service platform that can reliably handle all types of digital content. It will enable us to easily offer new digital broadband services and manage these services in the home. The Ruckus system clearly represents the next step for in-home service delivery for broadband providers as well as for consumers."

Until now, Pioneer was forced to send technicians to install Category 5 wiring or coaxial cabling throughout a subscriber's home. With the Ruckus System, Pioneer can effectively reduce installation times from three hours to 45 minutes and cut in half the amount of labor and truck rolls needed to enable and support its services in the home. Pioneer expects the technology to ultimately be able to be self-installed by the subscriber.

"We really care about what happens in the home because that experience is directly related to our service offering," said Ulsaker. "Consumers prefer Wi-Fi but, until now, the technology hasn't been able to reliably support services, such as multicast IPTV, that require a stable and predictable connection. Ruckus has made huge advances in making Wi-Fi predictable. That changes everything."

The Pickup Truck Test
During its lab and trial phases, Pioneer rigorously tested the Ruckus Wi-Fi system to ensure it could handle virtually any and all types of interference. "We turned on microwave ovens, tread mill machines, dishwashers, variable speed fans and even grinders to see how the system would handle interference," said Ulsaker. "To our surprise, it worked flawlessly, since so many other Wi-Fi products we tested just couldn't deliver a consistent link in the face of interference."

According to Ulsaker, the ultimate test was placing a Ruckus access unit upside down in a file cabinet in a completely metal building. "We put the Ruckus receiver in a pickup truck and began streaming IPTV signals from the access unit to the Ruckus receiver. Then we drove the pickup truck off to see how far we could get before the stream stopped. To our amazement, we got nearly a block away before the video stopped."

Pioneer is planning a phased rollout of the Ruckus Wi-Fi system as part of its popular broadband services throughout this year.