Lee, I think you are right on. I think as long as your a/b/g network is working well, the students aren't going to care about 11n. In my mind this is still a very immature technology. I think it would be very hard to demonstrate any noticeable benefit to a typical student using wireless. Sure, you are going to see them coming in with 11n on laptops next fall, but my understanding is that it will be backwards compatible with abg. I wouldn't consider it at this point unless I was starting from scratch, and even then I think it would be a tough call. BTW, Meru claims to have 11n and I think I heard Aruba has it or is about to release an 11n solution as well. We are concentrating more on increasing our coverage for now, and watching and waiting on 11n. We may do a small pilot this summer.
Pete Morrissey _____ From: Lee Weers [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, November 13, 2007 3:42 PM To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] 802.11n Draft 2.0 For wireless we currently have an Aruba 2400, and a HP WESM xl module. About a year ago I did a comparison (mostly on paper) of a campus wide deployment of Aruba, Trapeze, Procurve, Xirrus, Cisco, and Siemens. It came down to Procurve for several reasons. 1. It is very simple to setup and maintain. 2. It has supported 802.1x a lot easier than our Aruba deployment 3. It is the least expensive to maintain year over year (Lifetime warranty). The only reason why he is pushing Cisco is they are shipping N now, and he is concerned there will be a politically backlash from the students with the technology fee increase. My opinion is the students won't care if it is a/b/g or n. They just want wireless. _____ From: Lee H Badman [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, November 13, 2007 2:36 PM To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] 802.11n Draft 2.0 Hi Lee- I would encourage an eyes-open, non-biased bake-off if you have no wireless now. Regardless of what APs you settle on, scrutinize the management component closely. You may end up with a whiz-bang WLAN, but if you become a slave to the management tool, you'll likely be looking for alternatives not too far down the road. The management component (and the hidden costs that you'd do well to ferret out before purchasing by grilling others who have gone before you), add a significant amount to your TCO. For us, we're seeing what early adopters have to say on 802.11n. Especially large schools with thousands of APs that also do 802.1x. You probably realize that 802.11n can impact your PoE and data wiring strategy, along with the number of APs, etc. Keep us posted as you proceed. Out of curiosity- did the push for Cisco by your supervisor come after a comparison with other vendors? Regards- Lee Lee H. Badman Wireless/Network Engineer Information Technology and Services Syracuse University 315 443-3003 _____ From: Lee Weers [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, November 13, 2007 3:25 PM To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: [WIRELESS-LAN] 802.11n Draft 2.0 We are looking at a campus wide wireless deployment, and my supervisor is pushing for a complete Cisco 1252 with N draft 2.0 capability. We would have about a total of 250 to 300 AP's in full deployment. Our wired infrastructure is currently 100% Procurve with about 90% of it being 10/100 switched. I'd like to know what other schools are doing with 802.11n. Thank you, Lee Weers Assistant Director for Network Services Central College IT Services (641) 628-7675 ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/.
