Royal Caribbean has selected Meru 802.11ac as its standard for wireless LAN (WLAN) connectivity on all new onboard deployments.
Royal Caribbean had been using Meru 802.11ac since 2011 on some ships but will now make it its fleet-wide standard.
The new wireless internet technology helps Royal Caribbean saturate its cruise ships with a WiFi signal and has become an important revenue source for the cruise line. For guests, it has meant an easier means of staying connected while at sea.
The Meru wireless LAN supports up to 8,000 passengers and up to 24,000 clients on a typical Royal Caribbean ship. Guest migration to 802.11ac clients will occur over time but those using 802.11n devices already see clear benefits, including faster data rates, when using the new 802.11ac networks. In its 802.11ac pilot on Navigator of the Seas, Royal Caribbean is seeing 20 percent higher throughput with 802.11n wireless clients.
Royal Caribbean director of IT operations, Gregory Martin, commented on the decision, "Our wireless environment is changing all the time, and Meru's MobileFLEX architecture gives us the high performance and reliability that we need to ensure guest satisfaction and staff productivity. Deploying Wi-Fi onboard ships is difficult, due to the all-steel construction and closed spaces, but Meru worked very closely with us to ensure comprehensive coverage and to optimize performance of voice and video, the key drivers for our 802.11ac implementation."
