The RUCKUS One cloud native platform, NaaS consumption-based financing, and multi-access management can all be purchased separately, or as a broader converged set of services.
Bart Giordano, SVPand president of the Networking, Intelligent Cellular and Security Solutions business units, Commscope
RUCKUS Networks, now a CommScope brand since CommScope’s 2019 acquisition of Arris, has announced three new solutions. Either separately or together, they provide converged network management that bolster the ability of their channel partners to offer differentiated services to customers through a unified dashboard.
“The announcement has three elements,” said Bart Giordano, a long-time RUCKUS executive who is now senior vice president and president of the Networking, Intelligent Cellular and Security Solutions business units now that RUCKUS is part of CommScope. They are the launch of the AI-driven RUCKUS One cloud native platform for simplified converged network management, the establishment of a new Network as a Service [NaaS] program to provide a consumption-based operational and financial model for customers, and the creation of a new multi-access public and private [MAPP] solution offered either with NaaS, with private cellular networks alone or as a converged network using a mix of Wi-Fi, IoT, wired and private cellular.
“Ruckus One is an evolution of Ruckus Cloud, which is something we have had since 2015,” Giordano said. “Now, the platform moved from providing just Wi-Fi management to providing wireless and wired, and we organically developed our IoT [Internet of Things] portfolio . Ruckus One is the culmination of all that, which takes all the best elements of the Ruckus portfolio and puts it into a single plane of glass at cloud scale. It offers a broader portfolio with CommScope’s NaaS financial model and MAPP programs, and offers everything as a service through the channel.”
The AI-driven RUCKUS One platform delivers network assurance, service delivery and business intelligence in a unified dashboard to simplify converged network management across multi- access public and private networks.
The NaaS program provides customers with a new operational and financial model to consume networking solutions and services delivered on a subscription basis.
“Others have a financial model,” Giordano said. “What’s unique about what we offer is the combination of these three things – AI, the ability to manage switching and services in a single pane of glass, and the ability to wrap it in a NaaS model. Many companies who sell through this model also direct to enterprise, and that’s not our model at all. We are 100% channel, and our NaaS offering is purpose-built for the channel.”
Giordano said that customer demand for this consumption model is increasing.
“Desire for the consumption model that we offer with NaaS is evolving,” he stated. “With money tightening, more organizations now want to consume it as a service from a partner.”
The new MAPP offering can come with the NaaS, and is designed to facilitate easy deployment and operation of networks leveraging private cellular alone or as a converged network using a multi-access combination of Wi-Fi, IoT, wired and private cellular.
“MAPPs respond to the need for partners to bring on more value to customers,” Giordano said. “Devices that come into enterprises today demand we consider new access technologies, such as thermostats, door locks which are connected to the network, and environmental sensors. They may consider private cellular services for higher rates of speed, but that means more complexity. Whatever device is connected to the network, be it IoT or private cellular, and with our MAPP you get a pane of glass to manage it all supported by data science and AI.”
All of this, Giordano said, is excellent news for the channel partners who make up the entire RUCKUS route to market.
“The channel is very significant, particularly around verticals that move to managed services more than normal,” he indicated. “Hospitality is a strong MSP play, as are MDUs [multi-dwelling units], student accommodations, and now increasingly traditional enterprises. We do a lot of education, which is mainly by the partners who act as outsourcers. Customers want to shift their resources to areas of the network they consider more strategic, like cybersecurity.”
The RUCKUS One platform is available everywhere today.
“The NaaS and MAPP are available in the U.S. now, and in Canada very shortly,” Giordano noted. “They will launch in all global markets in the first half of the new year. It’s a strong partner play across the board, with Ruckus One being MSP-ready, and all of it enabling partners to more efficiently manage networks.”
