I agree with Randy, definitely some quirks in the firmware, although I've been told by them that v1.23 is in the works. In terms of actual performance, assuming a solid deployment, etc., the Apexes work great. We have several DW in 11Ghz as well, which in comparison have given us zero problem. But, the Apexes are a lot cheaper and if they didn't have a quirky firmware and some hardware design issues, I'd come extremely close to considering them as solid as a Dragonwave.
..and by hardware design issues, I just really disliked the placement of the ports. If you're running direct power or using fiber, the ports are a real pain to get to. They're covered up by the same grommet/weathering as the Atlas/T-Link45 bridges, but the spacing is /really/ tight to try to get anything larger than a 16 awg power cable in, much less that and fiber. It uses the same type of molex power-plug that the Bridgewaves do, but it's much harder to get plugged in. Additionally, the Data and Management (copper) ports are at a 90 degree angle to one another on the actual unit, so one faces down, and the other faces left or right, depending on how you have it attached to the antenna. How you rotate the Apex determines its polarity (like a BW, etc), but due to the hardware design and having a port facing left or right, this means that it's impossible to plug into said port when you're mounting it in such a way that this port faces your mast, because the weathering piece (same type as the DWs come with) is too large. Dragonwave did it right by having both ports next to one another and on a plane of the unit that is free and clear of obstruction. Hope that helps -- bottomline, these work great but they still do need some important firmware tweaks and can be a pain during install. If you can get by with that, give them a serious look. Overall, we've been happy with our 4 pairs. Thanks. Randy Cosby wrote: > The one I have up works fine. There are quirks in the firmware, but no > show-stoppers. Inband management is still a work in progress. Don't > particularly care for the fiber port cover design, but if you're using > copper, it's fine (unless you use extra-large / heavy ethernet that may > not fit). > > Randy > > > On 2/11/2010 4:28 PM, Luke Pack wrote: > >> We have quite a few Dragon wave 11Ghz links deployed right now. We are >> looking at another path of 11Ghz now and have come across the apex >> system by Trango. We use the Trangolink45s on many links off the >> licensed path currently. I'm looking for people's "real-world" >> experience with the Trango Apex system (since they are relatively new) >> and a contrast of this system to the Horizon Compacts from Dragonwave. >> I know their implementation is similar to that of the horizon units >> however, what seems to be the Apex failure rate, software features, >> hitless adaptive modulation success, etc. >> >> Thanks all! >> >> >> >> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- >> WISPA Wants You! Join today! >> http://signup.wispa.org/ >> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- >> >> WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org >> >> Subscribe/Unsubscribe: >> http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless >> >> Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/ >> >> > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
