Ruckus Wireless opened a new R&D Centre in Bangalore. The new centre will be the company’s first development centre in India, joining the company’s four other R&D centers in Taiwan (Taipei), China (Shenzhen), Israel (TelAviv), and California (Sunnyvale).

“The Mobile Internet is driving fundamental change within the telecom industry,” said Selina Lo, President and CEO of Ruckus Wireless. “Integrating WiFi into cellular networks has become the most popular and cost-effective way to relieve capacity pressures being felt by providers around the world from a deluge of data traffic the likes of which we have never seen before.”

The company said that by tapping into a pool of highly skilled engineering talent in India, the new R&D centre will boost Ruckus’ capabilities to develop new technologies to serve the mobile Internet infrastructure market worldwide.

There are currently 884.37 million mobile subscribers in India according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. Many of them are currently using or going to migrate to mobile Internet devices like smartphones, tablets, and wireless-only devices alike, therefore causing tremendous data traffic loading to the cellular network.

Lo noted that service providers and enterprises in the Asia Pacific region are projected to spend up to US$1 billion on WiFi networking equipment by 2015. “India nests the world’s largest pool of engineering talent, and at the same time the country has been aggressively rolling out Wi-Fi infrastructure. Opening a development Centre in India further accelerates the growth we are experiencing today from this Mobile Internet phenomenon,” Lo said.

The new 23,000 square foot facility will house over 100 employees. Ruckus currently employs 50 people in its Bangalore development centre and plans to expand this workforce by more than 50 percent by the end of this year.

Since starting its operation in India in 2008, Ruckus WiFi is widely adopted by service providers, higher education institutions, luxury hotels, and hospitals. Ruckus has recruited over 200 authorized value-added resellers that are trained and certified to deploy Ruckus WiFi products.