We currently have over 1200 APs, so my answers may not totally apply to your
situation. In late 2008, we had evaluated both Cisco & Aruba to move from fat
Cisco APs. We too are an all-Cisco shop vor newwork & voice, but we chose Aruba
for wireless. For Cisco, wireless is just another product line. Aruba's main
products are centered around wireless, especially for the higher education
sector.
1. How are the reporting features?
Aruba primarily uses their Airwave wireless management system for
reporting. Airwave is a cross-vendor wireless management system. When we tested
Cisco wireless, it was easy to get their management server confused and have
erroneous data. We have not seen that with Airwave.
2. Is the interface easy to use?
Aruba's master-local controller system allows you to make most
configuration changes from a central interface. Obviously, VLANS need to be
defined per controller, but most day-to-day tasks can be performed centrally.
When we evaluated Cisco, this was not the case. Their management server would
sometimes say that a controller config had been updated when it had not.
3. Are upgrades easy?
Aruba'sOS upgrades are extremely easy. If you use Airwave for monitoring,
uogades can be scheduled through the Airwave server.
4. 802.11ac early support?
No 802.11ac support that I am aware of. I know they are working on their
product offerings, though. If this is important to you, your Aruba account team
may be able to have you test some pre-release products.
5. What are your experiences with support?
Aruba support is generally very knowledgeable & thorough. Their advanced
field engineering team is superb,
6. How expensive?
For us, Aruba turned out to be slightly less expensive than Cisco, but
with more features.
7. How does it compare with Cisco’s offerings?
I have not kept up-to-date with Cisco's current offerings, but I can
infer some things from postings to this forum.
We have been running multicast IPTV video over Aruba wireless for many
years. My understanding is that Cisco's offering is not as feature comnplete.
From other recent threads in this forum, it appears that Cisco's
equivalent to Aruba's band steering is not as advanced. When Aruba frst
implemented band steering in 2008. Cisco told us that was impossible because
band selection and association are client decisions. Aruba directs these
decisions without affecting performance.
Bruce Osborne
Wireless Network Engineer
IT Network Services
(434) 592-4229
LIBERTY UNIVERSITY
40 Years of Training Champions for Christ: 1971-2011
________________________________
From: Joshua Strohschein [jstrohsch...@uttyler.edu]
Sent: Monday, March 11, 2013 3:26 PM
Subject: Wireless Vendor Recommendations?
Greetings to all,
We are considering a wireless refresh for our campus and would appreciate some
vendor recommendations. While we currently are a Cisco shop, that does not
necessarily mean we will be in the future.
Here is our current setup:
1. 3x Cisco 4404 controllers
2. Approx 150 APs. Mixture of 1142n and 3502i models
3. Average 1500 devices at peak hours
We have two options. Upgrade our Cisco gear or choose a different vendor. So
who do you like and why?
Here are the main points that we’d like to know:
1. How are the reporting features?
2. Is the interface easy to use?
3. Are upgrades easy?
4. 802.11ac early support?
5. What are your experiences with support?
6. How expensive?
7. How does it compare with Cisco’s offerings?
Note: This project does not include our dorms, this is handled by a third party.
Any other valuable insights are welcome!
Thank you for your time.
Joshua Strohschein
Network Analyst
The University of Texas at Tyler
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