Origin, incubation and funding
RUCKUS Networks started in 2002 as an incubator project with name SCEOS (Sequoia Capital EntertainmentOperating System) funded by a small seed round from Sequoia Capital,[9] in Menlo Park, California. After incubation[10] Ruckus was incorporated [11] in June 2004 as Video54 Technologies Inc., by William Kish and Victor Shtrom.[12] Sequoia Capital, WK Technology Fund, and Sutter Hill Ventures initially funded the company. Selina Lo was the first CEO of the company and continued until company's acquisition by Brocade Communications in 2016.
At its initial days, RUCKUS focuses on In-Home IPTV content distribution over wireless. In 2007, RUCKUS introduced a miniaturized wireless multimedia adapter, the MediaFlex USB Dongle, designed to provide wireless connectivity to in-home multimedia devices such as set-tops and media center systems. At 2007 CES event, RUCKUS demonstrated the dongle with Motorola set top box VIP1720.[13][14]
On September 19, 2005, RUCKUS announced that it has secured $9 million in its second round of financing, which increases total investment in the company to over $14 million since its formation in June 2004.[15] Sutter Hill Ventures and Investor Growth Capital, the venture capital arm of Investor AB of Sweden, led the new financing. Existing investors Sequoia Capital and WK Technology Fund completed the oversubscribed round. WK Technology Fund led the $3.5 million first round of financing, while Sequoia Capital and private investors provided the initial $1.5 million of seed money. Ruckus Wireless has also appointed Wen Ko, founding managing director of WK Technology Fund, to its board of directors. In addition to Mr. Ko, the Ruckus board of directors includes Dominic Orr, chairman and former CEO of Alteon WebSystems and later Aruba Networks, Selina Lo, president and CEO, Gaurav Garg, former founder of Redback Networks and partner at Sequoia Capital, and Bill Kish, CTO and co-founder of Ruckus Wireless.[16]
Company growth
In January 2005, RUCKUS announced that company signed a worldwide agreement to license its BeamFlex™ technology to NETGEAR for RangeMax product line.[16][17]
In April 2008, RUCKUS introduced ZoneDirector 3000 - An enterprise WLAN controller, FlexMaster - A remote centralized Wi-Fi management system and SmartMesh on its 802.11n access point.[18][19] In 2008 Ruckus shifted focus on Enterprise, Carrier SP, Education and Hospitality[20] verticals with ZoneDirector controllers which is built on technology acquired from Airspider. In 2009, Ruckus entered into Metro-Wi-Fi with outdoor mesh system.[21]
Dispute
In 2008, RUCKUS sued Netgear,[22] along with its new MIMO antenna supplier Rayspan, for patent infringement, over the antenna designs and associated software that have replaced the Beamflex technology which Netgear used to buy from Ruckus. Netgear licensed BeamFlex adaptive antenna to use in its RangeMax 824 v1 and v2 wireless routers. For RangeMax 824 v3 routers, Netgear used Rayspan made antennas which violated patents by Ruckus.[23][24]
In 2010, three months after purchasing ’454 and ’143 patents from Adaptix Corporation., Netgear sued Ruckus for patent infringement. Netgear alleged that RUCKUS’ Wi-Fi access points equipped with RUCKUS’ BeamFlex and ChannelFly technology infringed the ’454 and ’143 patents. Netgear also asserted claims for induced infringement and contributory infringement, alleging that Ruckus knowingly and intentionally caused Ruckus’ customers to infringe the asserted patents. On 4 November 2013, The Delaware jury returned a verdict of non-infringement for Ruckus, finding that Netgear failed to establish that any of the Ruckus accused products infringed the asserted claims of the ’454 and ’143 patents.[25]
Further technology and products development
On May 24, 2010, Ruckus announced that it has been granted a Wi-Fi Security Patent for Dynamic Authentication and Encryption by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). This patent is based on a technology developed by Ruckus called Dynamic Pre Shared Key, which require unique security keys to each WLAN user while Pre Shared Keys requires all user of WLAN to use same security key. The technology also aims to dynamically generate security keys and provision. On May 20, 2013, Ruckus introduced a follow-up technology to DPSK called 'Zero-IT Activation' to provision unique security keys to client devices by a small agent-like software. Ruckus Unveiled their Switching portfolio on June 21, 2010, named as ZoneSwitch Series of Switches. ZoneSwitch Series had two models 4124 and 4224, 24 Port Ethernet RJ-45 PoE Switches and Fiber uplinks with 180Watts and 375Watts power budget respectively. On the same day Ruckus introduced a new Wall Switch access points ZoneFlex 7025 which fits compact into wall jack junction box and provides additional switch ports. Ruckus aims to provide multi-service using this access points in-room hospitality requirements and claimed it is Industry's first Wall jack/Wall switch/Wall jack access point. On Jan 27, 2012, RUCKUS opened a new R&D center in Diamond District Office Building, Bangalore, India operations will be the company's first development centre in India, joining the company's four other R&D centres in Taiwan (Taipei), China (Shenzhen), Israel (Tel Aviv), and US (Sunnyvale, CA).[26] With 2013 YFind's acquisition, a R&D center in Singapore also added.
IPO and awards
RUCKUS went public on the New York Stock Exchange on November 16, 2012, under the symbol RKUS.[27][28]
On 12 June 2012, In an awards gala in London, Global Telecoms Business recognized RUCKUS and Tikona Digital Networks for building world's largest outdoor wireless mesh network in India, naming the companies the winner of its 2012 Broadband Wireless Access Innovation award. Tikona network consisted of over 40,000 Ruckus ZoneFlex™ access points across 30 cities.
IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Enterprise WLAN 2013-2014 Vendor Analysis” (doc #243354, September 2013) announced that RUCKUS is named as leader in WLAN market. The report had 3 vendors named as leaders including Cisco, RUCKUS and Aruba.[29]
Acquisitions and mergers
In 2006, the company acquired AirSpider Networks.[30]
In October 2011, the company acquired the India development centre of Intellinet Technologies Inc.[31] Later that year, they acquired ComAbility.
In 2013, RUCKUS acquired YFind Technologies Private Limited.[32]
In 2015, the company acquired Cloudpath Networks.[33]
On April 4, 2016, it was announced that Brocade Communications Systems had agreed to acquire RUCKUS for $1.5 billion.[34]
2018–present
At MWC2018 at Barcelona, RUCKUS Networks announced the new CBRS LTE portfolio.[44] U.S. Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) 3.5 GHz LTE access points and related cloud subscription services were introduced by Ruckus to enable enterprises to deploy private LTE network. RUCKUS conducted live demonstration at MWC'18.[45]
In December 2019, it was reported that a security researcher had found several vulnerabilities in the web user interface software that runs on a number of RUCKUS Wireless routers, which the company had since patched.[46]
