Just to add to this- I have looked extensively at AirWave as well, and we use WCS. Pay close attention to gaps between what the central management system can do and show, and what you still need to do directly on the controllers and even APs for config and debug. Sometimes you need to experience pain to get to where these differences are apparent, but the short takeaway: central management is usually not absolute, and it can be surprising and frustrating given the Cadillac price tags on these things.
-Lee ________________________________________ From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [wireless-...@listserv.educause.edu] On Behalf Of Hao, Justin C [j...@austin.utexas.edu] Sent: Friday, April 02, 2010 9:48 PM To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Aruba vs HP vs Meraki And in the thread of management and monitoring I highly recommend you take a look at airwave(now owned by aruba). It's a relatively vendor neutral management and monitoring platform that i find really useful (it will manage and monitor a variety of vendors, cisco, Aruba, etc). Ask your Aruba sales contact for an airwave demo if they haven't offered yet. It is comparable to cisco's wcs offering (but better IMO) and lee is right, almost all of those solutions should be transparent to your users. YOU will have to deal with the administration and performance quirks so decide with that in mind. --- Justin Hao j...@austin.utexas.edu University of Texas ITS - Networking On Apr 2, 2010, at 8:30 PM, "Lee H Badman" <lhbad...@syr.edu> wrote: > As for trying them- from the client perspective they will be > indistinguishable if set up right. The big difference will be in > management and monitoring- that's where you should concentrate. > > One man's Oh-Pinion. > > -Lee > ________________________________________ > From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv > [wireless-...@listserv.educause.edu] On Behalf Of Ethan Sommer > [somm...@gac.edu] > Sent: Friday, April 02, 2010 9:25 PM > To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU > Subject: Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Aruba vs HP vs Meraki > > As I said in another post we selected our "finalists" based on what > others colleges seem happy with (which by a wide margin seems to be > mostly cisco, aruba, and meru) and HP because we already have a HP > infrastructure. > > My assumption is that all of you are smart and there is a reason you > all > chose to go with those products. > > We are on a tight budget, so based on initial pricing we eliminated > Cisco and Meru who seemed to be the most expensive (plus we don't like > cisco for a number of other reasons). > > (As an aside, after posting here meru contacted me _and my boss_, > which > I believe is not allowed under this list's rules. In any case, I told > them if they could provide a quote for a 200 dual radio complete > system > in the same ballpark as the other systems we're looking at, then we'll > talk.) > > Our next steps are > * To get quotes > * And bring in the systems to do test runs in real life conditions. > (We're going to try each out in one of the dorms and the library, each > of which currently have 10 APs.) > > If we aren't in love with any of those systems, we'll widen our > search. > > We have very limited resources, so if one comes in much cheaper than > the > others the question will be "is that system good enough for us." > Otherwise we'll pick the system that we think will work best for us. > > Based on talking with schools running Aruba and Meraki, I think either > would be a great move forward for us. I've yet to hear of a school who > chose either and regretted it. > > Ethan > > > > Mike Hydra wrote: >> What I personally find interesting is the wide choice not from a >> manufacturing point of view but more from a Wi-Fi technology point of >> view. >> >> Aruba – Controller based (aka controller based) >> All data goes through the controller, centralized architecture. >> >> HP – decentralized (Controller in not directly essential) >> Data path is separated from the management path. >> >> Meraki – Cloud computing >> Centralized Cloud, not having to own controller hardware inside your >> own network. >> >> All three very different solutions. >> >> I’m looking forward to follow this email threat with the comments, >> thanks for sharing. >> I would recommend writing down a proof of concept and invite the >> vendors of your choice. >> In this way you’ve tested your requirement (out of your proof on >> concept) therefore convinced around the solution you buy is the >> right one. >> Good luck... >> >> >> Mike Hydra >> >> Cell: +31 6 29 07 18 96 >> Tel: +31 252 62 61 20 >> Fax: +31 252 68 88 37 >> E-mail: mhy...@2fast4wireless.com >> Skype: Flying-Wireless-Dutchman >> Web: www.2fast4wireless.com >> >> >> >> --- >> --------------------------------------------------------------------- >> *From: *Peter P Morrissey <ppmor...@syr.edu> >> *Reply-To: *The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv >> <WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU> >> *Date: *Fri, 2 Apr 2010 22:47:26 +0200 >> *To: *<WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU> >> *Subject: *Re: Aruba vs HP vs Meraki >> >> OK, so I'll ask. Why did you eliminate Cisco already? >> Pete M. >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv >> [mailto:wireless-...@listserv.educause.edu] On Behalf Of Ethan Sommer >> Sent: Friday, April 02, 2010 2:21 PM >> To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU >> Subject: [WIRELESS-LAN] Aruba vs HP vs Meraki >> >> We are considering replacing our 200+ AP wireless infrastructure >> with a >> controller based 802.11n system. >> >> I believe we have narrowed it down to Aruba, HP Procurve (we use HP >> switch gear), and Meraki. >> >> I have two questions: >> >> 1. Are there any hidden costs we should watch out for with any of >> these >> (particularly Aruba.) Will we hit major costs other than the up front >> cost for the APs and the controllers? >> >> 2. I know a lot of schools are very happily using Aruba, but I >> haven't >> heard of any schools using HP and very few using Meraki. >> >> Are there any schools who have gone with Aruba and regretted it? If >> so, why? >> >> Are there any schools out there using HP Procurve (formerly >> Colubrius) >> or Merkai? What do you think of them? Did you have any surprises >> after >> you deployed? >> >> >> Ethan >> >> -- >> Ethan Sommer >> Associate Director of Core Services >> 507-933-7042 >> somm...@gustavus.edu >> >> ********** >> 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/. >> >> >> --- >> --------------------------------------------------------------------- >> The information in this e-mail is confidential and may be legally >> privileged. If you have received this e-mail in error, please reply >> to >> its sender indicating "received in error" in the subject line, then >> delete the e-mail and destroy any copies of it. If you are not its >> intended recipient, any disclosure, copying, distribution or any >> action taken or omitted to be taken in reliance on this e-mail, is >> prohibited and may be unlawful. Internet communications are not >> considered secure. Information might be intercepted, amended, lost, >> destroyed, arrive late or incomplete, or might contain viruses. 2 >> Fast >> 4 Wireless and/or 2 Fast 4 Wireless Corporation (USA) will not accept >> any liability with respect to the contents of this email and its >> attachments. >> ********** Participation and subscription information for this >> EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at >> http://www.educause.edu/groups/. >> > > > -- > Ethan Sommer > Associate Director of Core Services > 507-933-7042 > somm...@gustavus.edu > > ********** > 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/.
