LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM--(Marketwired - Jan 20, 2014) - BETT SHOW 2014 -- Meru Networks, Inc.® (NASDAQ: MERU) today announced that Blackburn-based Pleckgate High School is supporting the deployment of 1,200 iPad minis® distributed to pupils in the school on day one with a Meru Education-grade (MEG™) wireless solution. The planned mobile launch -- a first for the school -- coincided with the first day of the new autumn term, and was chosen in favour of a phased rollout due to the Meru solution's proven high-density handling capabilities.

"At my previous school, we rolled out iPod touches, but found that the Cisco wireless network was simply unable to cope with a high number of devices connecting at the same time. We switched to Meru with great success," said Lewis Hall, e-learning manager at Pleckgate High School. "When I moved to Pleckgate, we expanded the existing Meru network, which has been able to cope with everything we threw at it and more. People said we were crazy to deploy 1,200 devices in one day, but, using Meru, it went even better then we imagined."

One of the government's Building Schools for the Future (BSF) successes, Pleckgate became one of the first schools to trial a free iPad mini program last year. Such a large-scale mobile device "switch on" was deemed a worthwhile risk, with Pleckgate's having already deployed Meru's Wi-Fi technology throughout the school and with management's prior experience with Meru's ability to support high numbers of users and devices simultaneously.

Each member of the Pleckgate staff also has an iPad mini or an iPad2®, as well as a MacBook Air®, while every classroom and learning space is equipped with Apple TV®, with use enabled by the Meru Bonjour® Gateway -- all deployed within the space of the last 12 months. The school will eventually move to an all-mobile environment, phasing out desktops PCs and laptops in classrooms to improve student-teacher interaction and accelerate independent learning.

Pleckgate makes extensive use of AppleTV units powered by the Apple AirPlay service. Meru's Bonjour gateway support, integrated into the Meru MobileFLEX architecture, helps ensure that transmitting devices and the displays connected to AppleTV units are appropriately coordinated on a per-classroom basis, to avoid interference and confusion. Meru's access points and controllers manage the service dynamically.

"iPads and mobile devices are not a quick fix, we know that, but are an enabler to delivering better learning and teaching," said Hall. "I knew from previous experience that this approach could work. At my previous school we doubled our GCSE results within two years of deploying mobile devices and teaching and learning went from 60 percent 'inadequate' to 70 percent 'good' OFSTED results. A mobile device strategy can be effective, as long as the right infrastructure is in place to support it."

Meru's Education-grade (MEG) wireless solution is designed to solve educational institutions' BYOD (Bring your own device) issues and support their learning-essential applications. MEG starts with three simple steps:

1. On-board quickly with BYOD provisioning and secure wireless access mapped to IT policies.
2. Connect all BYOD devices reliably anywhere on campus.
3. Learn by deploying validated learning and teaching applications on BYOD devices over the MEG wireless solution.

"Pleckgate School took a calculated risk in deploying thousands of mobile devices in a single day, knowing that its wireless network would be able to stand up to the challenge," Sarosh Vesuna, vice president and general manager of education at Meru Networks. "Increasingly, schools and other educational establishments need to know that their Wi-Fi can deliver each time every time, and cope with the rigorous demands of large numbers of users and devices."

Pleckgate joins more than 3,000 schools in UK and Ireland who are currently using MEG solutions. Additional information about the Meru MEG solution is available here: http://bit.ly/15vW5Oh.

About Pleckgate High School
 Pleckgate School is a multi cultural community of pupils, staff, parents and carers. T he primary purpose of the school is learning and all members are entitled to experience success. We value their efforts and celebrate diversity. The school comprises 1300 pupils and 200 staff (teaching and non-teaching) situated on the northern outskirts of Blackburn with Darwen. It serves the communities on the northern edge of the town.

About Meru Networks
 Meru Networks (NASDAQ: MERU) is a market leader in the development of mobile access and virtualized Wi-Fi solutions. Meru's MobileFLEX wireless architecture addresses the ever-growing need for higher bandwidth and higher client densities. The Meru Identity Manager solution greatly simplifies secure device on-boarding and the company's unique Context-aware Application Layers enable dedicated channel assignments for specific applications, devices and usage scenarios. Meru customers include Fortune 500 businesses as well as leaders in education, healthcare and hospitality. Founded in 2002, Meru is headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif., with operations in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia Pacific and Japan. Visit www.merunetworks.com or call (408) 215-5300 for more information.

©2014 Meru Networks. Meru and Meru Networks are registered trademarks and the Meru logo is a trademark of Meru Networks, Inc. in the United States. All other trademarks mentioned in this document are the property of their respective owners. Apple, Apple TV, iPad mini, iPad2 and MacBook Air are trademarks of Apple Inc. registered in the U.S. and other countries.